Dear God, show us a sign.
Are you coming, or Not?

Sorry god is busy right now, please pray again later. There are so many bad things happening in the world he really needs to watch. You don't want him to miss the show do you? Stop disturbing him with prayers!

Chris, what ya gotta know is that challenges come and uncool things happen to everyone. Its how they react to it that either makes 'em better people or worse.
1. The thing with life is that it can't all be rosy. People blame God for stuffs and ask like 'why can't He do this blah blah'. I use the fire example. gold has a melting point of 1062 °. see it might blame the smith if it could talk buh the smith knows that only through that would it become gold, and He suffers with it, sweating, willing the bar to hold out till it purifies. Don't think He's just up there watching you. He's going through it with you! Trust me, God is not some aloof puppet master. If you got the time, Rom. 8:18 downwards.

2. You really need to stop letting people get to you. What your pastor says is very important, but your belief in God should stem from your faith. Its not insanity, its faith. You should have faith in God, (I'm ofcourse assuming you're bornagain), faith that He's looking out for you, faith that He's right there with you, faith cos He's your father, faith cos He's God.
Oh the many that don't believe cos of what they see and hear (or rather, what they can't see).
Wish i could explain more buh mehn, finger dey pain me. Pm me Chris, we should talk more. Hope that helped a little.

Jasoncage.
Coincidentally, Romans 8: 28 to 32, then 35 to 39 was what kept me together (sane) for quite a while now...

But as some point, it just stops adding up, when you keep hearing that the future will be better or when you assure yourself that you are here for something greater than where you are now... but you ask yourself..
When?
How will it be?
Then doubts arise into your mind, like, what if I have been trusting on something that isn't?
What if I have been wasting my time all along?
At this point, it becomes Faith against reasoning...

I will be the last person to say I blame God for what is happening, No, I blame myself for every consequences of my actions, but my query is.. if he has the power to stop it, Why let it linger more?
Perhaps if the blacksmith were to whisper to the gold, that it's with going through those pains with it, maybe the gold would understand better.. but living with just HOPE, it's too much.

[color=#006600][/color]

Idrismusty97:
Sorry god is busy right now, please pray again later. There are so many bad things happening in the world he really needs to watch. You don't want him to miss the show do you? Stop disturbing him with prayers!

i see

FrancisTony:

Onye Ara!

Chris,
It all bears down to faith. Hope in itself is a word that takes out the effectiveness of God. Faith is rooted. I believe (and maybe that's just me) that if you reach a point where a man's doubts about God totally overshadow his 'faith', he perhaps never truly had faith or he doesn't really know what it means to. Then, God, the bible, church and the whole christian stuff becomes a formality he eventually casts aside. There will always be God reality vs the reasoning of the unregenerated mind of man. I insist that true faith defiantly steps up in the mind of the believer at that moment. You cannot conceive the God reality without true faith.

That aside, "why does He let it linger if He can stop it?:" Say the smith gets tired and removes the gold before its pure, it would be worthless. There's nothing like 'half baked' gold, the time has to be complete even if the gold doesn't know when.
Perhaps likening God to a smith isn't the perfect example as he cant speak to his gold. But we have a God, a Father. He speaks! Oh how He speaks. We aren't listening! We aren't sensitive to His voice. We listen to the wrong things, the wrong voices and all the while His Spirit within us groans and wishes we could just listen for a minute!
So, i'd rather you live by a defiant faith, the true faith, than a lukewarm, weak and fragile, submissive and about-to-snap hope. It takes that to first accept that He's going through it with you and then, you'll start seeing His evidences.
Shey i never bore you so?

Jasoncage!
No I'm not bored!
My one problem is...

There are times when you get up to pray and then you go like "Are my even sure he is listening, why waste both our times?"

I don't know if it's just me... but that has always been my ish...
Your post above actually address it, it boils down to believing, I guess, Faith like you have said, maybe that I don't have.

It'll pass. Keep the fire burning. It's a phase, some people have been there before. Don't let this break you, let it make you.

.

The world is full of christians who wants the product but not the process. We have the manual the Bible in our hands. But we'd rather another person read it to us, even wen we r read to, we assume its crap, just like the OP says it is.
But we want a good life, yet we do the bad things. Its only a fool who will do the same thing but expect a different result.
As long as the Earth remains, seed time and harvest shall never cease. What you sow is what u'll reap.
James 4:3 says you ask and don't receive because u don't ask rightly, even wen u receive, u use it to gratify ur lust. You want everytin ur way. There's something that is specifically responsible for dryness and lack in the life of the people SEXTUAL SIN. Just look around the world, see what we do, see the perversion.
The OP wreaks with arogance, and God hates pride. You are wrong yet point accusing fingers elsewhere.
Ask the holy spirit to give u peace then u can ask God sincere questions, but u won't get any answers if u don't have the word living in u. He speaks through his word.
Shalom.

You are at the path of self-discovery. We all went through this stage before the truth downed on us: 'No one listens to or hears our prayers.'

Its all lies.

I'll post some of the bible verses to buttress my point. Its either I am lying, or the bible is lying...

Matthew 7:7


"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? ."Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!


Just how true is this? Notice that the world underlined said everyone. It even went further to draw an illustration with our own earthly fathers which it termed 'evil'.
Now who is evil? My father paid my school fees and saw me thru university education, fed me, clothed me, took care of medical bills and made me a better person. But the bible said he is evil and that God is a better father. Time to prove who the better father is, just kneel down and pray;
no answers, knock and knock no response.

But then the blind defenders will tell you that:
1. you didn't have faith
2. that you didn't pray the right way
3. That its not God's will
4. bla bla bla...

Now who is lying?

Anas09:
The world is full of christians who wants the product but not the process. We have the manual the Bible in our hands. But we'd rather another person read it to us, even wen we r read to, we assume its crap, just like the OP says it is.
But we want a good life, yet we do the bad things. Its only a fool who will do the same thing but expect a different result.
As long as the Earth remains, seed time and harvest shall never cease. What you sow is what u'll reap.
James 4:3 says you ask and don't receive because u don't ask rightly, even wen u receive, u use it to gratify ur lust. You want everytin ur way. There's something that is specifically responsible for dryness and lack in the life of the people SEXTUAL SIN. Just look around the world, see what we do, see the perversion.
The OP wreaks with arogance, and God hates pride. You are wrong yet point accusing fingers elsewhere.
Ask the holy spirit to give u peace then u can ask God sincere questions, but u won't get any answers if u don't have the word living in u. He speaks through his word.
Shalom.

Where exactly did the arrogance came from?
You don't have answer, just shut it.

simplex2:
Matthew 7:7


"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? ."Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!


Just how true is this? Notice that the world underlined said everyone. It even went further to draw an illustration with our own earthly fathers which it termed 'evil'.
Now who is evil? My father paid my school fees and saw me thru university education, fed me, clothed me, took care of medical bills and made me a better person. But the bible said he is evil and that God is a better father. Time to prove who the better father is, just kneel down and pray;
no answers, knock and knock no response.

But then the blind defenders will tell you that:
1. you didn't have faith
2. that you didn't pray the right way
3. That its not God's will
4. bla bla bla...

Now who is lying?

You have made loads of sense Bro, many atimes I ask and ask and knock after knock, there are no answers, but on other few circumstances, things happen in my life that I cannot attribute to chance, it's as though someone intervene, I have a lot of contradiction and query with the people, but somewhere did down, call it instinct (I don't know) and then with the things I have been able to identify, I just know deep down that there is a Supernatural being (God maybe) somewhere.