Addictions

[Can't think of a name]

Two boats and a helicopter.

Another cryptic response from you. Well, Sir, I suppose your prayers are always answered.

 

[MrE]

I'm not blaming God per se. It's just that no matter how much or how hard I pray there is no response.

When my wife gives me that look-- and says "We need to clean out the garage this weekend." -I know that what she means to say, while speaking in wife-code, is that she would like me to clean out the garage.

It's the same when she wants to rearrange the furniture. She wants me to do the heavy lifting, and she will tell me where to place things.

Isn't that a bit like the way we approach God with our problems at times? Pick your addiction/problem. When we approach any situation with an attitude like--- 'Okay God-- I'm running late for my appointment. If you want me there on time, please let the traffic be light on the roads this morning, and please let their be a parking space open near the front entrance.' --And that's the nature of our prayers.

I mean, if God really cared for me-- He'd supply my needs, right? He'd do the heavy lifting.

Unless, I suppose, if perhaps what He really wants is to teach me to go to bed on time, to get up on time, to be responsible for my own self and to learn a lesson by facing the very real consequences of my decisions.

 

[Can't think of a name]

When my wife gives me that look-- and says "We need to clean out the garage this weekend." -I know that what she means to say, while speaking in wife-code, is that she would like me to clean out the garage.

It's the same when she wants to rearrange the furniture. She wants me to do the heavy lifting, and she will tell me where to place things.

Isn't that a bit like the way we approach God with our problems at times? Pick your addiction/problem. When we approach any situation with an attitude like--- 'Okay God-- I'm running late for my appointment. If you want me there on time, please let the traffic be light on the roads this morning, and please let their be a parking space open near the front entrance.' --And that's the nature of our prayers.

I mean, if God really cared for me-- He'd supply my needs, right? He'd do the heavy lifting.

Unless, I suppose, if perhaps what He really wants is to teach me to go to bed on time, to get up on time, to be responsible for my own self and to learn a lesson by facing the very real consequences of my decisions.

I think it would be very instructive and revealing to hear other people's views on how often they experience God and how often He answers their prayers - everybody on this website.

 

[Frankj]

Another cryptic response from you. Well, Sir, I suppose your prayers are always answered.

I kinda thought everyone, at least everyone on Christian forums, knew that story.

And yes, God always answers my prayers when I actually pray for his answer in the manner he wills it but not when I pray for him to do my will the way I want it done.

 

[Lamb]

I think it would be very instructive and revealing to hear other people's views on how often they experience God and how often He answers their prayers - everybody on this website.

Some of the answers to my prayers are "not now".

 

[Can't think of a name]

I kinda thought everyone, at least everyone on Christian forums, knew that story.

And yes, God always answers my prayers when I actually pray for his answer in the manner he wills it but not when I pray for him to do my will the way I want it done.

Very hilarious response. You seem to know I am telling God what to do when I pray. Ok, you are blocked.

 

[Frankj]

Very hilarious response. You seem to know I am telling God what to do when I pray. Ok, you are blocked.

I didn't say anything about you, I talked about myself in answer to your inquiry about my prayers being answered or not answered.

 

[Can't think of a name]

Some of the answers to my prayers are "not now".

And some answers which seem to be legion are "Ok then" and they happen instantly and some are "no". And?

 

[MrE]

And some answers which seem to be legion are "Ok then" and they happen instantly and some are "no". And?

When my Dad went through his ordeal, he read this book titled “What about those of us who are not healed?”

It followed the lines of the question asked of Jesus concerning a blind man— “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” — for him to have been born blind.

His answer was interesting.

Secondly, if all our prayers were answered immediately and all our troubles solved instantly, our experience would be completely different than the rest of humanity. It just doesn’t happen like that.

And so we have 150 Psalms.

 

[BruceLeiter]

Another cryptic response from you. Well, Sir, I suppose your prayers are always answered.

My prayers are always answered with one of four responses from God, @Can't think of a name: yes, no, not yet, and not the way you expected. God always knows best!

 

[Can't think of a name]

My prayers are always answered with one of four responses from God, @Can't think of a name: yes, no, not yet, and not the way you expected. God always knows best!

That's silly. If your prayers are always answered with a "no" you can't say your prayers are really answered. And how would you know anyway? If God speaks to you audibly and says "No" then you truly know the answers. Otherwise, you don't.

 

[BruceLeiter]

That's silly. If your prayers are always answered with a "no" you can't say your prayers are really answered. And how would you know anyway? If God speaks to you audibly and says "No" then you truly know the answers. Otherwise, you don't.

James says that if we ask God selfishly, he will say "no." You know whether or not the thing you asked for happens or not. He has never talked to me audibly in my many decades of being a Christian. He either puts ideas that he blesses in my mind, or he arranges my circumstances to show me that he has answered my prayers "yes." Read the whole chapter of James 4; here is the part I was thinking of:

Jas 4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
Jas 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

 

[Frankj]

James says that if we ask God selfishly, he will say "no." You know whether or not the thing you asked for happens or not. He has never talked to me audibly in my many decades of being a Christian. He either puts ideas that he blesses in my mind, or he arranges my circumstances to show me that he has answered my prayers "yes." Read the whole chapter of James 4; here is the part I was thinking of:

Jas 4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
Jas 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Two ways we can pray:

"Lord, how do you want me to handle this, what is your will for me in this matter that I might work to carry it out?"

"Lord I want you to do this for me, it is my will that it be done".

One, in whatever way you pray it, is substantially more likely to produce an answer than the other.

Sometimes though, it is actually difficult to know which one we are really praying for, intense soul searching and self honesty before taking it to the Lord is sometimes needed before or even during prayer.

My way of seeing this, maybe the right way or maybe not for others.

 

[Can't think of a name]

James says that if we ask God selfishly, he will say "no." You know whether or not the thing you asked for happens or not. He has never talked to me audibly in my many decades of being a Christian. He either puts ideas that he blesses in my mind, or he arranges my circumstances to show me that he has answered my prayers "yes." Read the whole chapter of James 4; here is the part I was thinking of:

Jas 4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
Jas 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

I am not asking for anything except to feel God's presence. I am asking for God himself. Not to spend that on my pleasure or for any selfish personal reason. So I don't see how that can be wrong.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

I believe I was saved or born again due to an experience I had around 11 years ago. It came while I was reading the Bible. I have been a different person since that time. But one thing didn't change. I had problems with alcohol for 15 years before that due to having bad anxiety and a past of mental problems brought on by smoking marijuana. The marijuana caused panic attacks and I turned to drink at the advice of my Dad who I was living with then as a way of relief from the fear. It worked temporarily but I would wake up the next day and the fear was still strong. After some time of drinking at night like this the fear grew worse during the days so that I was experiencing more panic episodes more regularly. It culminated in an attack so bad I'm lucky to be alive today. I was given Valium at that time which lasted 2 weeks. When it ran out I was told to take medication which would take 2 more weeks to start working. I continued to drink and settled on the medication eventually. But the habit of drinking continued.

The day I was saved I was very excited because of 2 things. One, I knew for certain that God existed. And two, I knew that I wasn't God. I was so excited I continued to drink as before. I also continued to read the Bible and pray. But I have never been able to stop drinking. I have gone to God in silent prayer and prayer during the day while active, I have read the Bible numerous times by now, and I have begged and pleaded with God to take away the craving for alcohol. But nothing has changed.

I do not experience God in any way. The only time I did was when I was saved. There's the desire to read the Bible all the time, there is a background general sense of peace in my life at all times, I want to talk about God all the time and be with other Christians, etc, but no matter what I do, how hard I pray, how much of the Bible I read, there is just a big fat nothing going on. I have prayed only for God's presence, and for freedom from alcohol and absolutely nothing else (except to ask for salvation for my family). I have never had any of my prayers answered. Ever. And I don't know why. The Bible is said to cause sanctification. I can testify that that has not happened to me. I am still always the same as I was the day I was saved. There has been no response to prayers, no response to Bible reading. Just absolutely nothing at all. Why do I bother to continue? There is nothing else. I have nothing to live for either due to my current life circumstances. I am constantly in pain, constantly have a headache, constantly paranoid, constantly irritated with this world, drinking myself to death slowly and it is all hopeless and I don't know why God will not help me.

Hey there "CTOAN" (Maybe a name for you? LOL!)
I know I'm late to the party here. First, I want to encourage you to hold fast to God through the working of the Holy Spirit. He is, indeed, already at work in you. You wouldn't have come to Christ in the first place if this was not true.
Habits/behaviors/desires are not easily changed. There is a difference between 'Justification' (forgiveness of sin through the life,death, and ressurection of Christ) and 'Sancitifcation' (Christ, through the Holy Spirit, continuing to work in us and bring about change). That's a very brief, unofficial, take on it

So, while you are 'Justified' (declared righteous through the working of Christ), there is still work to do if that makes sense.

Having said that, there's a bit of 'brain science' also involved. Areas of the human brain respond to cues in our environment that can motivate certain behavior. If I smell a good steak, cut into it and it's a perfect mid-rare, add some onion and mushrooms, then I'm all for it!
But why? Well, my brain has "learned" (in a sense) that steak=pleasure. There are neurotransmitters that are released when I see/smell/taste steak that is translated as "man, this is good". On the other hand, different chemicals we take into our body (alcohol, mj, other substances) brings about the same response, because we've leared to associate the substance with 'pleasure'. In essence it serves a purpose for us (stress and anxiety relief, and so on).
So how do we change that? In a sense we learn to "reprogram" the brain to recognize what is naturally rewarding and pleasurable. Steak instead of drink, going for a walk, eating well, exercise, play with the dog (if you have one)
While at the same time, and more importantly, continjuing in prayer, bible reading, communicating your concerns to God - 1 Peter 5:7 tells us "cast all your anxieties (worries, cares) on [God] because he cares for you"

Finally, seek out Godly men in your church/community, perhaps Pastoral counselling to help maintain the changes you want to make

I wish you well in your walk with Christ. Rest assured, He is with you for the long haul

 

[Can't think of a name]

Hey there "CTOAN" (Maybe a name for you? LOL!)
I know I'm late to the party here. First, I want to encourage you to hold fast to God through the working of the Holy Spirit. He is, indeed, already at work in you. You wouldn't have come to Christ in the first place if this was not true.
Habits/behaviors/desires are not easily changed. There is a difference between 'Justification' (forgiveness of sin through the life,death, and ressurection of Christ) and 'Sancitifcation' (Christ, through the Holy Spirit, continuing to work in us and bring about change). That's a very brief, unofficial, take on it

So, while you are 'Justified' (declared righteous through the working of Christ), there is still work to do if that makes sense.

Having said that, there's a bit of 'brain science' also involved. Areas of the human brain respond to cues in our environment that can motivate certain behavior. If I smell a good steak, cut into it and it's a perfect mid-rare, add some onion and mushrooms, then I'm all for it!
But why? Well, my brain has "learned" (in a sense) that steak=pleasure. There are neurotransmitters that are released when I see/smell/taste steak that is translated as "man, this is good". On the other hand, different chemicals we take into our body (alcohol, mj, other substances) brings about the same response, because we've leared to associate the substance with 'pleasure'. In essence it serves a purpose for us (stress and anxiety relief, and so on).
So how do we change that? In a sense we learn to "reprogram" the brain to recognize what is naturally rewarding and pleasurable. Steak instead of drink, going for a walk, eating well, exercise, play with the dog (if you have one)
While at the same time, and more importantly, continjuing in prayer, bible reading, communicating your concerns to God - 1 Peter 5:7 tells us "cast all your anxieties (worries, cares) on [God] because he cares for you"

Finally, seek out Godly men in your church/community, perhaps Pastoral counselling to help maintain the changes you want to make

I wish you well in your walk with Christ. Rest assured, He is with you for the long haul

Thanks for your kind words.

The trouble with reprogramming the brain is that when it is used to more intense pleasures you can't really get back to "normal" pleasure states. That's why I seek God to change my brain state. I don't know if there is any Christian literature that has ever talked about any brain changes when God regenerates a person but I can say that for me personally, the day after it happened to me I went to the fridge and decided to eat a raw tomato and it tasted delicious. I have never done that in my life because I'm not a lover of raw tomatoes. I also felt as if I was restored to a state of consciousness like I had when I was a child, in some way. So I continue to seek God. But He's not there when I try.

Perhaps my problem is sin and that is why God is not showing up. But that's like a catch-22 - grace forgives, God renews, and yet I'm supposed to stop drinking before He will show up. Am I not trying as hard as I could? Do I lack faith, sincerity, seriousness? Why does it feel fake when I pray to God? I know He is there, I know He hears what I say, even mentally, He is always present, but He's not revealing His presence to me.