S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

The Bible teaches that God reigns over the nations from His holy throne in heaven (Psalm 47:8; Isaiah 6:1, 66:1; Hebrews 4:16). Even though we know that God's presence is in some sense uniquely in ...

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July 01 2013 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Seth Freeman Supporter

I think this is a very important question, and one that many Believers find themselves enduring through a crisis of faith when they no longer "feel" the Holy Spirit. 

As Christians, we go through times of consolation as well as times of desolation (and of course there are in between moments).

Consolation would be those times when we feel intimately close to the Spirit. It's when we are praying all the time and feeling the presence of God. It's when we can just pickup the Bible and feel so encouraged from basically anything we read. It's those times that our hearts are filled with joy and peace that surpasses comprehension. It's those times we see a homeless person on the street and we don't just hand them the cheeseburger we just bought, we grab them, take them home, shower them and take them out to enjoy a real meal. 

Times of consolation are very important to our spiritual walk and are some of the most encouraging and greatest "feeling" moments of our spiritual journey. But we can't forever live in that. Sometimes we enter stages of desolation.

Desolation is a time where we wonder where God went. Why don't I feel God? Where did His presence go? Why do I feel like nobody is answering my prayers? Why am I not feeling nourished from Scripture? What have I done wrong? God.... where are you?

Every seasoned Christian has endured a time of desolation. But here is the most important part of my overly long post. Please catch this - Both experiences are a blessing from God. 

It's great to enjoy a season of consolation. However, it's during the seasons of desolation that we actually really experience growth. It's during those times that we finally ask the hard questions. It's during those times that we take a real and honest look at ourselves, our sin, and we recognize our need for God. It is when our character and integrity is challenged, and if we prove faithful, we become stronger people. If we lived our entire lives in a state of consolation then we would never truly examine ourselves, we wouldn't grow as the Lord desires us to, and we would ignore important issues because we are just so enamored by the Holy Spirit.

Consolation and Desolation are both blessings from the Lord, and so long as we are able to recognize that, it should make enduring times of desolation easier, knowing that they are only temporary, and that God has not left us.

February 20 2014 • 3 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Brandon Hughes Supporter Regular Worker Guy

Where is God when it hurts? He is still there. As C.S. Lewis puts it in his book "A Grief Observed", maybe it is our own frantic crying that deafens us to His voice or blinds us to what is in front of our face.

"And so, perhaps, with God. I have gradually been coming to feel that the door is no longer shut and bolted. Was it my own frantic need that slammed it in my face? The time when there is nothing at all in your soul except a cry for help may be just the time when God can’t give it: you are like the drowning man who can’t be helped because he clutches and grabs. Perhaps your own reiterated cries deafen you to the voice you hoped to hear."

"On the other hand, ‘Knock and it shall be opened.’ But does knocking mean hammering and kicking the door like a maniac? And there’s also ‘To 
him that hath shall be given.’ After all, you must have a capacity to receive, or even omnipotence can’t give. Perhaps your own passion temporarily destroys the capacity."

February 19 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Lynda Hickman Supporter Homemaker, plumber, carpenter, all around gearhead

It has always made me uncomfortable when people would say that they could "feel" GOD's presence. Our awareness of His presence must not be subjective. We, as believers in GOD, in Christ, in the Holy Spirit must always be objective when it comes to an awareness of Him or His presence in our lives. 

To do otherwise is not faith, it's feelings. And I will borrow a line from Charles Dickens and his character Mr. Scrooge. When confronted with the spirit of his dead partner Marley, said that the apparition was more likely to be an "undigested bit of beef" or "an underdone potato."

Feelings are not faith and they are very apt to be effected by emotions, by preconceived ideas, even influenced by the unbelievers around us.

GOD, Who is omnipresent, even though He sits on His throne in heaven, is right where we (you) are. But if you are looking for a feeling of His presence, then you have wrong thinking.

God is where you & I are because He loves us. He is the friend Who "sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24), He is the One Who walks with us every mile of our lives, through the good times and the bad.

I know this to be true because for the last 7 years He walked with my husband and I as we went through surgery and 5 complete series of chemo treatments. 

He was there during the times in between when my husband's health would rally and we would do our morning devotions, or take our kayaks to the water, even when we would just sit out together talking of things we had done together, or enjoy a meal together.

And He was surely there during the final days of my husbands life, giving us both peace and comfort as we prepared to part for a while when he would be freed from the dungeon of pain and suffering.

Neither of us "felt" His presence, except that the peace was overwhelmingly real and the comfort that He gave to each of us was like a warm balm, almost like honey, poured down on us.

And now, as I begin to travel the last miles of my life without my beloved, I know, because of His Word that I have hidden in my heart, that He is with me. Hebrews 13:5 is His Word on that promise, for "He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5 

He has never failed me, never once left me alone, and I trust that as the days pass now in my life, if I walk before Him in humility and with a contrite heart, He will continue to be my most gracious Companion even to my final breath.

Always remember that to walk in the flesh is not faith. The flesh looks for signs and "feelings" and that is not faith. And according to Scripture, "whatever is not from faith is sin" (Romans 14:23)

Meditate on His Word in Psalm 119:10-11 which says, "With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments.
Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You."

His Word is an active force (Hebrews 4:12) and when we fill our hearts and minds with His Word, our faith will be strong and we will know that He is near.

February 11 2015 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Christabel N. Onuoha Supporter

God is Omnipresent, meaning, God is in all places at all times and in all times at all time - simply put, He is Everywhere everytime at the same time!

Therefore nothing escapes His view. Nothing we go through that He's not aware of. God is not surprised by our calamity and pain. He does not ochestrate evil, but in His Sovereingty He may allow or permit evil to happen, even to His own children. Because He sees beyond now, He knows all things (good, bad, ugly) will eventually work out His purpose. Purpose is everything to God - "He works all things according to the counsel of His will (purpose)..." Eph.19-11

Job is our first example: job was righteous, yet God permitted satan to strike job and his entire family and possession. Job lost everything, but didn't loose himself! God was not the author of the evil, but He allowed the evil, because He knew that the evil will eventually work for Job's good and God's glory.

Job 23:1-17- "Then Job answered and said, 
2  Even to day is my complaint bitter: 
My stroke is heavier than my groaning. 
3  Oh that I knew where I might find him! 
That I might come even to his seat! 
4  I would order my cause before him, 
And fill my mouth with arguments. 
5  I would know the words which he would answer me, 
And understand what he would say unto me. 
6  Will he plead against me with his great power? 
No; but he would put strength in me. 
7  There the righteous might dispute with him; 
So should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 
8  Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; 
And backward, but I cannot perceive him: 
9  On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: 
He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 
10  But he knoweth the way that I take: 
When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 
11  My foot hath held his steps, 
His way have I kept, and not declined. 
12  Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; 
I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? 
And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 
14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: 
And many such things are with him. 
15  Therefore am I troubled at his presence: 
When I consider, I am afraid of him. 
16  For God maketh my heart soft, 
And the Almighty troubleth me: 
17  Because I was not cut off before the darkness, 
Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. 

God may hide Himself, not FROM us but FOR us, so we can search and seek Him, for only then can we find Him - It's a divine principle. Pain, hurt often puts us in this seeking position. 

Bottom line: God is right there with us in all times and in all places, (in our good times and in our bad times) even when we can't feel Him or find Him. So we learn to love Him, worship Him, honor Him and follow Him even when we cannot feel Him. This is real faith... It does not work by sight or by feeling, it just believes and trusts God even when He slays me. 

He never leaves us even when we think He's not there. 

Every Christian must seek to understand the Sovereingty of God: it is the exclusive reserve of God to do whatever He wills, however He wills, to whomsoever He wills, whenever He wills, and nobody can question Him. His Sovereingty makes Him GOD. 

A man asked God after the tragic death of his son, "Where were You when my boy died?" And he heard God say to him "I was where I was when I lost My only Begotten Son."

Love God for who He is, not just for what He does or don't do for us.

Worship His Sovereingty! 

I hope this blesses you.

December 18 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Cassius D'Souza Learn More'>Supporter

This is a very good question. Jesus himself asked God our Father the same question on the cross, when our Lord was experiencing the worst hurt and pain. But the message that Jesus gives us is clear, that our Heavenly Father is looking after us at all times. He is the only one in the whole world who is always with us. We all have to go through bad times sometimes, but if you have faith in God our father you will rise again.

December 18 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report