A retired Bible professor, and good friend of mine, recently brought to my attention that there are actually three requests here, though it is hard to recognize them in English. That needs to be the prayer and the longing of every disciple of Jesus. It is what is known about Him. People draw conclusions about who God is and what He is all about by watching us and listening to us talk about Him. Our mission is to be partnering with God to make sure that on earth — just as it is in heaven — His name is hallowed, His rule and reign is established, and His will is done.
In our words and our deeds, let us strive to make Him known. This is all still part of God teaching you. I am not rejecting what you say. It was your choice to come to this page, and your choice to text me back and forth. Every teacher was a student first. Know God so you can make Him known. You must know God so you can teach others about Him. The Bible believe it or not is the Word of God. To say otherwise is blasphemy. The say otherwise would cause silence and unanswered prayers. It would fill the whole world, but what is described in the Bible are actually events that took place.
Evey single one. His will became my will and now all my prayers get answered. And yes, God does speak to me. Again, it happens when one is fully submitted onto him. God has given me visions and dreams of events before they even happen.
Details they had never even told a soul and God will tell me to pray for Xxxxxx because they need prayer for xxxxx. Days, weeks, months later, the person will then tell me about their specific struggle that the Lord already told me about.
The Lord will tell me to call a person at the most random time of the day. No matter what, I obey. Because this just happened. One day, I asked God to reveal to me why a specific person suddenly stopped talking to me. In the letter to myself, the person went into detail about the struggles they were going through.
Drug addiction. Among others. After the Holy Spirit led me to write the letter, I went about my business. Not even a week later, the person messaged me and revealed to me verbatim everything the Holy Spirit told me in the letter about their life.
It blew my Mind! I was in shock. Now, These things happen to me all the time. I pray that you could experience it. By no means am I saying these things to boast. Hi Joy, I am one of those people who have never had a prayer answered. I so desperately need a connection to God like you described, direct and daily. I gave myself to God through Jesus 40 years ago and have only ever received silence from God.
I have prayed for God to make his will know so that I may do it, nothing. I have had a dream to help homeless people get off the street, and have prayed for God to make this happen. Still nothing. I have prayed for God to reveal what He wants from me, what my purpose is, nothing. All I can guess is that since I hate everything about my life and everything about myself. That I am persistent as the Bible says to do with prayers for the two things that would make me happy.
Am I supposed to not care about myself at all? Am I supposed to forget about being happy? I have also prayed for God to show me how to be content in this miserable life, nothing. What am I doing wrong? Thanks and God bless you, in Jesus name, Amen. Hello Brother Kenneth. Thanks for your response.
I believe the disconnect between you and God lies within these 2 comments. Could you elaborate more on this so I can get a better understanding? Thank you. I really want to help you connect with God, a 2-way connection, not just 1-sided. Joy O, What I mean by hate everything about my life and myself. I could keep going on this but I think you can get the point I am making. As for showing me how to be content with this miserable life.
I have nothing that makes life worth living. Just look at everything above to see that I do mean nothing worthwhile. Does that answer your question. Thanks God bless you, in Jesus name, Amen. I really wish I could help you. I just really want you to take time to reflect on everything you have written.
Heavenly Father, first, I would like to thank You for waking me up this morning. I would like to thank You for giving me a home in a world where so many people are homeless. Or people who have to go to dirty streams to fetch water. Thank You for the limitless supply of water you have blessed me with. Father God, I appreciate everything you have done for me, but there are a few things I would like Your help with to strengthen my relationship with You.
Father God, in the name of Jesus, I ask that You reveal to me my purpose in life. Father God, I ask You to remove the negative thoughts that I have towards the life You have given me and towards the way I perceive myself. Father God, I ask You to remove all hatred that I have inside about myself.
Remove within me everything that is making me unhappy. Father God, this unhappiness I feel is not from You. This is clearly the enemy at work trying to cause strife between us.
These are lies from the enemy, and in the name of Jesus, I ask that You silence him now so I can hear You instead of him…. During a time when I was lonely. In another country lonely. No family. No nothing. I began writing to God and God became my closest friend. God began speaking to me when I silenced everything else. Starting with the lies of satan. Rebuke him every minute of the day. Any time you get a negative thought, immediately bind it. The Holy Spirit led me to him back in September.
His story is incredible. An atheist to a Man on fire for the Lord. God bless you brother Kenneth. And when I say I am praying for you, I not simply saying words, I am going to pray for you. I will stand in the gap and intercede for you.
I am going to do everything I can for you to get a breakthrough. I cannot have you, my brother in Christ, living life like this any longer. In the mighty name of Jesus, satan, with all authority given to me by Christ Jesus, I command you to depart from Kenneth Gray now!
In Jesus name! Question: Have you read the entire Bible front to back? I want you to pray Ephesians every day, when you wake up. During the day. Lunch break maybe. And again at night before you sleep.
You are not the scourge of society. God is very real and very powerful. I have type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and sciatica. All incurable. I live in constant pain. I beg God to just give me some relief without having to use drugs. For a year and a half I was on oxycodone three times a day.
I weaned myself off it and have been clean for almost 3 weeks. But I live in Florida and I got my medical marijuana card. Aside from oxycodone that is the only pain relief I get. But I know that God does not approve of marijuana use.
My arthritis is getting worse daily. The pain in my left shoulder and elbow make my left arm almost useless. And my ankles are so weak I have a hard time walking without a cane.
I find it so hard to reconcile the idea that God is a loving father and yet is allowing me to have free incurable diseases that cause me constant pain. I keep asking myself what father would do that to his son. I always seem to have minor disasters that occur around me. For example: 3 weeks ago my main computer crashed with a blue screen of death if anybody knows what that is. I had a backup in the living room that I watch Netflix and other shows with. Tonight that one crashed out of nowhere too.
It had the same exact error. Today that was the final straw. I blew up at God. I told him if he was going to continue to beat me up why not just take me home.
I ended up yelling what the hell do you want from me anyway? I decided to check online and see if there were any answers there. So maybe he is a little more understanding of our human natures than we give him credit for.
I know this may sound like a cliche, but there is a quote that has stuck with me for many years. It goes like this. I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes. Then I met a man who had no feet. I know a lady who lives about a hundred miles from me. She has fibromyalgia. That disease is far worse than rheumatoid arthritis.
She is in constant horrible pain from her muscles and her nerves. I also have a friend in Pennsylvania who is about 40 years old, still lives with his father, is autistic and has multiple physical issues with his body which require constant surgeries and care. Yet he still loves the Lord. But he knows that the sufferings we have in this world are nothing compared to the glories we will experience in the next.
I have an IQ of I was even an altar boy and went to Catholic school for 8 years. Basically everything except Islam. I have read the Quran, the father. The Vedic scriptures, even the Tibetan book of the Dead. It is the most reliable document of antiquity there is.
Fragments of the Gospels have been dated to less than years after Jesus died. And they were written within 30 to 50 years later by the people that lived with him except for Paul who was given a revelation after he was converted. As Peter said in his epistle: we are not speaking cleverly made up fables but we ourselves are witnesses of his glory and his resurrection. That is paraphrased by the way. John and his gospel says that which we have beheld and touched referring to Jesus.
These men were witnesses. They were beaten, tortured, stoned and finally martyred for what they wrote. They gained absolutely nothing in this world from their testimony. All they gained was a life of hardship and finally execution.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most reliable fact in human history. Joy is not a feeling. And not just forgiven, he has made us adopted sons and daughters. When we are in in dwelt by the holy Spirit we are new creatures, no longer simply human. We are now children of the eternal God. No matter what we may feel like inside, or how miserable our life is in this world, that does not change. We still are subject to sin. And we will sin sometimes. But God forgives that too. I know I keep going back to him with the same problem over and over again.
And then I remember when the disciples asked Jesus how often makes you forgive a brother seven times? God forgiveness is unending. And he knows that. That means a personal relationship. That comes through the holy spirit that we are given when we believe. I know this is going to sound strange, but those who are born in the holy Spirit are no longer human.
This Earth is not our home. We are strangers in a strange Land. We are lights in a dark world. We are not to be tied to this world in any way. The absolute difference between someone who is a born again believer and one who is not is that the unregenerated live with a comatose spirit. Those who are born again have a reborn spirit that is in communion with the Holy Spirit.
But we are still subject to the curse on this world which includes disease, mental and physical. Just remember that no matter how bad things might seem, in this country we still have the right to go to church and to preach the gospel. In fact millions are being tortured as we speak and some killed. God will bless you through that as well. Become a prayer warrior. Pray for others. Ironically, I can say with confidence that God does hear my prayers for other people.
To that end I will add you to my prayer list. By the way I too have been poor. I was homeless for 2 years. And that makes me a lot more blessed then many people who have lost jobs and lively hood because of this pandemic. And I am truly blessed for having been born in a country where I can practice my religion and faith, freely and safely, so far.
We have many things to be thankful for if we stop to think about them. Think about this: if you are unable to go anywhere, you are in a great position to just spend time with the Lord with no major concerns taking your time. Just talk to him. Tell him how you feel.
He knows but he wants to hear it from you. Make him a part of everything you do. Joy is right about one thing. If you change your attitude, God will be able to help you.
God does not make junk. You are wonderfully and fearfully made. Did you know there are a lot of ugly actors? But there are moles they fill. I was a nerd in school. Got beat up a lot by the cool kids in school. I was an editor in the school newspaper and when I State award for a special series of articles I wrote. None of my so-called enemies ever achieved anything like that. So who cares what people think about you. You are a living breathing child of God.
And adopted son of the creator of the universe. Nothing anybody says will ever change that. Trust me I know. One thing I highly advise is that you should call a church that you trust and ask for some counseling and prayer. Sometimes others who pray for us are more effective than our own prayers. Remember James said if someone is sick to have the elders of the church pray over them. Perhaps I should take my own advice. But there are always resources to help us and God still does care.
I pray that he will reveal himself to you and to me and that you will learn to understand that this is a short tour of duty on this planet. And to an old song with a little change, God never promises us a Rose garden. He said in the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer I have overcome the world. That includes your physical issues as well and mine.
May God pour out his blessings upon you. Yours in Christ, Rick. I asked the Holy Spirit to give me the right words to minister to you and this is what I received. You give a child water. You give a child shelter.
You give a child everything they need to be comfortable in life. A whole book written about your love for them. Chapters and chapters of words of encouragement. You tell them they are your child. You tell them who they are to you. You love them with an unfailing love. You protect them from harm. But still, they say they hate their life and that they hate everything about who they are. You done everything you can to give this child, your child, a good life.
Despite the gifts you have given them, they say their life is miserable. Now, you continue to love this child. Because your love for them is unconditional. As you read my response. Completely position yourself as a father. When you look at darkness in the face, you will know.
The darkness in the eyes. The emptiness. The torment. God completely wrecked my life in the most beautiful way to show me exactly what is going on in the unseen world. Email me Kenneth: waiting4godstime gmail.
Joy I will be honest and say that I have always struggled with the Bible so no I have never been able to read it cover to cover. I dislike riddles and the Bible is full of them. I am trying again to read it through, have gotten to I believe Isaiah Thanks for your replies I appreciate them.
I used to have trouble reading the Bible, but during the most difficult time of my life, I said enough is enough and tackled it as if my life depended on it. Tbh, it did! The first time, use the NLT version and just read along with the audio. Put it on 2x speed. I did these 2 plans at the same time. If you dedicate an 45 minutes to an hour a day, to read the Bible, it will change your life. It did for me.
God speaks to me all the time now. Come to think of it, it happened when I finished reading the entire Bible. Make sure you complete it. Even if you have questions, keep going. When I got through it the first time around, I hungered for more wisdom and knowledge that I did the plan over again using NIV version. I think in a year, I read the Bible front to back 3 times.
The first time I finished reading the Bible, I was so excited! We had translations like KJV which I would never recommend for a beginner. It took me 5 complete bible translations before I was able to tackle KJV.
The next day, my mom calls me to tell me she was in an accident and she cannot remember what happened. Car totaled! She was in the car with my brother and neither one of them had a scratch on them. No pain. The accident occurred in the left side of the highway. God literally positioned an wheeler from one end of the highway to the other end so my mother and brother could make their way to the other side. They checked her alcohol level and blood sugar, and everything was fine. The whole thing left all of them speechless.
The day after I finished reading the Bible, Jesus literally took the wheel and saved both my mother and brother from what could have been a fatal accident. On Interstate , the deadliest Highway in the United States!! What are the odds of surviving such a thing? Oh, and the woman who knocked on her window, my mom to this day doubts it was a woman. The police never mentioned anything about a woman. Only God knows the answer to that. Wow, you really believe that. Yes,we have free will but the Holy Spirit does led people to do things.
I choose to be obedient. I was tired. I could have stopped but the Holy Spirit kept giving me words to say to you. I could have used my free will and remained silent, but I obeyed. Read your Bible. You lack wisdom. How about you help yourself first by reading the entire word of God? Then tell me what you think God can do or not do. I chose to help you because God led me to a page I had never heard of. The same way God leads me to pray for the sick. Buy I use my free will to do what God tells me to do.
I saved for many years, but being saved and giving your entire life to God is not the same thing. I was lukewarm for yeaaaaaaaaarrsssss! It takes more than prayer. It takes Submission. It was in the most difficult and uncomfortable situations that I found God. Minimum 10 times a day. I pray minimum 30 times a day. Thanking Him, asking for direction and guidance. Fasting now has become a part of me. I did a 32 day Water Fast once. I had to change my entire life around to make God 1 in it.
He should not adjust for me, I must adjust for Him. This makes Him happy. When He is happy with our devotion to Him, He does anything and everything we ask of him. The change must begin with us. It was in my weakness that God became the greatest in my life! I give gift cards to Walmart for a meal, clothes.
If I pass by someone who is asking for money. Turn my car back around to give it to them. Sometimes arriving late to my destination because I had to do what God put in my spirit to do. And every time I do something for God, I never get in trouble for being late. Often times, God will make that person I was supposed to meet late, I get there before them, they end up being the one who apologizes to me for their tardiness.
God and I will start laughing together. He makes me laugh all the time. Not religion. I want you to have it!! You may need to set your alarm a full hour before you are supposed to wake up. As important as food, water, a shower, brushing your teeth. Die to self. Skip a meal or two, and dedicate that time to prayer and reading the Word. Dedicate your meal time to watching a sermon on YouTube or watching a Christian movie. Pray for God to Bless them. He loves that and rewards it. To by things on Amazon you need a credit card.
Yes earplugs are relatively cheap there is transportation costs to get to the store. As it is I am lucky if I get to eat everyday. And that includes the food bank. Joy Obaseki. How can you call yourself a believer? If you answered no, then go back to the first question. Are you sure you believe in God? This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who has written them down.
And we know that his testimony is true. There are many more things that Jesus did. If all of them were written down, I suppose that not even the world itself would have space for the books that would be written. You are living in spiritual darkness. Jesus is light. I would find every excuse in the book to talk to them, to be around them, to hang out together. I always think of a broken heart like a physical wound. Matters of the heart can be too intangible to really know what to do with, so I think of it physically.
If I wanted to heal from something — from this broken heart, from this un-ending crush — the first thing I needed to do was to remove myself from the thing that was digging the wound deeper. But while being near them was hard, being away from them was even harder. Until I finally made myself get some distance. Sometimes it meant finding a different job, or going to a different church, or hanging out with a different group of friends. Sometimes these moments lined up perfectly with times when I was headed out of town for an internship, or even better, leaving the country!
This means no more talking on the phone, stopping the constant texting, unfriending them on Facebook, unfollowing them on Instagram. Whatever way you are constantly keeping tabs on this person, constantly keeping in touch, hearing about them or seeing them — the most important and of course, the hardest!
So distance is the very first thing. And trust me love, I know how hard this is. You can go back to that church at some point, or hang out with those friends without him, and maybe you can even be friends again one day. A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend who just met a new guy. She thought about the kind of person he might be, and the things they could do together.
Before long, she had this whole scenario mapped out in her brain — how they were going to meet again, fall in love, where their first date would be, and how he would propose. This time he was with a girl. He had been engaged that entire time, and when she found out, she was crushed. We have ALL done this. We really have. As women, with our beautiful, loving, hopeful hearts, we can think and imagine our way straight into love, even with a perfect stranger. But because we have this power, because we have this ability, we really have to be careful with where we let our thoughts go.
If we can fall in love with a perfect stranger just through the power of our imagination, we can certainly keep ourselves in love with someone for an infinite amount of time. Find yourself daydreaming? Change the subject in your head. Give yourself something else to think about. Our thoughts, our imagination, and our daydreams are where so much of this struggle takes place, and so we have to start watching our thoughts.
Stand at the doorway to those fantasies and hopes and dreams, and when you feel yourself start to walk down that hallway, lovingly turn yourself back. Think about the stranger my friend fell for a few weeks ago. He could have been the biggest jerk in the whole entire world, and she would have never imagined it. If she did, she might not have fallen so hard. You deserve so much more than that. Who are they really? Everyone has flaws, what were theirs?
And that someone great and also flawed can start to vie for that top spot in our lives and actually stand a chance. Not only have I been to therapy, but every single woman that I look up to, that I love, my best friends, my mentors, all of them have been to therapy at least once. Most of them, several times. And maybe you feel silly thinking about going to therapy about something like this — but love affects us so deeply and so powerfully.
I knew that if I really wanted to be able to love someone new, if I really wanted to be able to invite a great new guy into that top spot in my life, I had to work through this, and work through it well. This is important. I think it might help you start to imagine it. The last thing I want to leave you with is something that helped me immensely when I was trying to get over someone.
A good friend of mine told me something that his mom always used to tell him. Not even for a second. Which means, the person you do marry will be better than the person you thought was perfect.
Sometimes a distraction is so so helpful! If so, click here. That link will take you to a free download of my book, The Lipstick Gospel. Me too. Faithful Counseling is where I found the therapist who walked with me through the pandemic and our fertility journey! They help you connect with a licensed, vetted, faith-based counselor. At a much more affordable price than traditional counseling. And you can do it from home no need to change out of your PJs! The Lord blessed me so much through them — you have no idea.
Thank you so much for writing this. You wrote literally exactly how I feel. God totally spoke through this. Thanks again and God bless! Because at the end of the day, you want two good friends to be happy. This is exactly what I am going through! These words are things I have been learning through this time and reading them has really helped me move forward in confidence! Thank you! This is a choice of both people whether they want to be together or not.
And this is my own decision to stop being obsessed with that guy and simply to get over it. That was just a wrong guy. This is exactly what I needed to see!! Thank you so much! I believe God spoke so clearly to me through this!! I loved acknowledging this. I think it brings people back down to size. Thank you for writing this, Stephanie! I love what you said about God not making us love Him because it is so much more beautiful when we get to choose to love. I never thought about that in regards to love towards other people, however.
Thank you so much for sharing! Wanted to take a moment and truly thank you for this. About a month ago I got out of a relationship with someone I was convinced was the one. I prayed that same prayer to God and I have also prayed for healing and answers. This blog post is one of those answers. I randomly came across this just a few hours after I told my friend -turned crush- turned heartbreak that I needed to cease communication with him.
I prayed for some guidance and stumbled onto your blog. God surely does answer in our time of need. Anyways, wonderful post and you now have a new subscriber. Wow, God uses you in an amazing way. I never thought His answer to my prayer would be this clear. Thank you for following His calling for you. And for being sensitive to His voice. I pray that He can pour more of him in you! Thank you so much for posting this!!! I needed this so badly and the Lord knew it.
I am currently in strong like or may have even fantasized myself into love with Him. He is a guy who took me out and led me on and really knew all along he was not ready for a relationship. I have been single for over 4 years trying to heal from an extremely abusive relationship and his passing.
So he came along and my christian fairytale mentality decided this has to be it. The one im waiting for. Well hes not and really bad for me and not what God wants for me at all. However I know this and still struggle with the pain, rejection, and with getting over my feelings.
So again thank you I really needed this. This is certainly what I needed. Thank you for sharing. I needed answers to the exact thing I am going through and you have pointed them all out so clearly. Thank God for using you to share your experience as an encouragement to positive and brighter future for us all.
I just found you recently, and am just reading this post now. After scrolling through the comments, I realized the date was right around my first MAJOR heart break, which still plagues me today, which was 2 years ago, and you wrote this post less than 2 days before we broke up.
Just hearing this stuff on paper, it makes a difference. I just got out of a relationship 8 weeks ago. God is using you in a mighty way!! Thanks for writing this Stephanie. I can relate to the pain, heartbreak and distracted mind you share about. I also live my life believing the Spirit of God within me has been with me into relationships through choosing to end them.
Though not easy, He leads us with a loving gentle nudge into the exciting unknown. Bless you. You have no idea how much I have been needing these. God bless you, your husband, your family, your spiritual walk with Jesus, and your marriage. Thank you Jesus for always being on time. Thank you Jesus for being my Alpha and Omega. But I still pretend like it could work. I want to know him better, but it is not fair to him if I am still hanging on to the last relationship.
Maybe Guy 2 will still be available and interested by then — who knows? This post has helped me so much. I have come such a long way. I read this last night and have already started redirecting my mind towards imagining the future instead of dwelling on the past. I had been ministering to this 30 something sweet man. I know why my Pastor says not to talk intimately with the opposite sex, because it could lead to physical thoughts that get in the way.
Well it had been several years since I even enjoyed conversation with a male. Never about sexual thoughts, but all of a sudden when we talked he would take my breath away, especially When our thoughts agreed. My intimate connection with God is my ultimate love though. He has gotten me through things my whole life.
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