Question:
So I am unsure of rather or not this is the right place to put this, but I was wondering if in the honest opinion of people on this board, God uses things apart from the Bible to confirm what he says in the Bible. If God could speak to use apart from what he says in the Bible (as long as it aligns with the teachings of the Bible that is).
For instance, I have been having a difficult time with having faith and believing that God is working through something for me that is completely out of my hands. Here lately, it has been kind of difficult for me. I am unsure why, but it has been. Then today I received an e-mail from Joel Olsteen's website. It is a daily devotional thing that I have signed up for. It talked about having patience and letting God work in His own time.
Now do you think that just maybe that could be directed to me from God? I realize that it might be a stretch, but all things are possible. If the consensous is that God could be speaking to me through this, how would I go about verifying it? Testing its validity one might say.
Thank you to everyone in advance.
-L.E.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Gains238 Now do you think that just maybe that could be directed to me from God? I realize that it might be a stretch, but all things are possible. Of course, just because it was sent by a person to you, does not mean that God was not involved.
Originally Posted by Gains238 If the consensous is that God could be speaking to me through this, how would I go about verifying it? Testing its validity one might say. By comparing it to Scripture. Does it line up with the Word of God? Does it fit with Jesus teachings and life?
Answer:
Short answer is:
Yes it could and No it couldn't.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Blade84135 Short answer is:
Yes it could and No it couldn't.
I might need more of an explanation.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Gains238 I might need more of an explanation. Well yes in the sense that God is trying to convey a message to you. It could be the case that this e-mail was the vehicle in which he chose to achieve his will.
No in the sense that it could have been coincidence (if you believe in such).
Personally, when I'm 'spiritually dry' and I ask God for a sign of any sort, when he responds and I'm watching for it, I just know in my heart that it's a God thing.
I got a little 'faithy' there at the end but that's how I usually perceive such.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Blade84135 Well yes in the sense that God is trying to convey a message to you. It could be the case that this e-mail was the vehicle in which he chose to achieve his will.
No in the sense that it could have been coincidence (if you believe in such).
Personally, when I'm 'spiritually dry' and I ask God for a sign of any sort, when he responds and I'm watching for it, I just know in my heart that it's a God thing.
I got a little 'faithy' there at the end but that's how I usually perceive such. Well thank you. I thought that maybe I should do as such.
But what about asking God to tell you something through an action that you take? Such as saying, "If you want me to do this God, then let the coin land on heads." or something as such? I realize that sounds bad, but someone in the old testament did the same thing with sometype of skin on the ground. Just wondering what your opinions were on that...
Answer:
Let me quote something from C.S. Lewis, from The Screwtape Letters, of course.
"If you tried to explain to him that men's prayers today are one of the innumerable coordinates with which [God] harmonises the weather of tomorrow, he would reply that then [God] always knew men were going to make those prayers and, if so, they did not pray freely but were predestined to do so. And he would add that the weather on a given day can be traced back through its causes to the original creation of matter itself--so that the whole thing, both on the human and on the material side, is given 'from the word go.' What he ought to say, of course, is obvious to us: that the problem of adapting the particular weather to the particular prayers is merely the appearance , at two points in his temporal mode of perception, of the total problem of adapting the whole spiritual universe to the whole corporeal universe; that creation in its entirety operates at every point of space and time, or rather that their kind of conciousness forces them to encounter the whole, self-consistent creative act as a series of successive events."
Ok, WHY did I quote this? I think it ties in.
I think basically the idea is that God can and does work spiritual things through events with natural explanations. There is nothing extraordinary about receiving a newsletter, but it just might be that you receiving that newsletter was one of the reasons Joel Osteen was inspired to write it, which of course came about because of other perfectly explainable factors which may also have been orchestrated by God.
Or, in sum, God works through the ordinary. If it came at just the right time, and it's helpful to you, then I have no doubt that God caused it. That doesn't mean it's something extraordinary or supernatural. It just means that God is active in all the world, and all things work together for the good of those who love Him.