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Faith Quest

Does God speak today? How?

Nikita, I love this question! I personally do believe that God does speak to us today in many ways. The God of the Bible is a God who loves us, who sees us, who hears us and who cares for us. He is a God who wants a relationship and a relationship always involved communication.

If you had a friend who always does all the talking (husbands maybe you are thinking of your wives right now?!) but you never had the chance to respond then what kind of relationship is that. Followers of Jesus communicate with God through prayer, but prayer is not just us talking to God or at Him.

Prayer should be a two way line of communication. I believe today that three main ways God speaks to people are through His word (the Bible), through prayer, and through the local church. If God is speaking to you and you are unsure if it is from God or not one sure way to check is to align it with the Word of God. God will never tell you to do something that goes against what the Bible says to be true.

This is why it is important to always go back to God’s Word when we believe God is speaking to us. In addition to that God will speak to us through our times of prayer. As we speak to God in prayer and take time to listen the Spirit of God will also speak to our hearts during our times of prayer.

Finally, I believe that God also speaks to us through the local church. As followers of Jesus we were not called to walk this journey alone, but rather in gospel community. God has given us the local church to worship him and grow in our relationship with God as the family of God. God will use other believers in our life to point out sin in our life, encourage us, and help guide us.

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Does God endorse religion?

If we look up the word religion it is said to mean “the belief in a god or group of gods OR and organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods.” In all other religions in the world today we see a system of beliefs or traditions that require man to work to earn God’s love.

If you do this thing, give this money, say the right prayer, go to the temple, etc….THEN God will love you or give you what you are seeking. However when we look to the God of the Bible this is not the case at all. In fact what we see is His desire to actually have a relationship with man.

You see in the Bible that God did give his followers a list of rules to obey called the Ten Commandments, but he knew that they could never live up to this set of rules. In fact it was given as a standard to show mankind that they will never be perfect.

Basically the goal was set, but it is clear that mankind would continue to miss the mark. This is what the bible calls sin. In Romans 3:23 we see that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Each one of us have fallen short of this standard God has set. Now if the story ended there it would be one without a happy ending, one without hope, BUT it doesn’t stop here! God knowing that we would fall short of His standards made a way of forgiveness and restoration.

This way is through His one and only son, Jesus. Jesus lived a life we could not live and died the death that we all deserve for our sins so that we could enjoy a right relationship with God. We see this clearly in Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So to answer your question does God endorse religion I would say yes God does endorse a belief in him and a system of beliefs that point us to our need for a Savior. Ultimately however His goal is not that we would develop a long list of do’s and don’ts but His desire is for us to enjoy a relationship with him forever.

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What does it mean to be still in God?

Q: Many times as a answers to my prayers i get a answer as be still and know I’m god. What actually mean be still how God want us to be still? Kindly guide me. 

That response you are getting to your prayers comes straight from the Bible in Psalm 46:10 which says, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The meaning of this phrase “be still” in the bible literally means to stop striving, to let go, or to surrender.

So many times in our prayers we are desperately searching for answers to life’s great problems. What this verse reminds us is that when we let go and surrender totally to God’s will for our lives we will find that he is trustworthy, he is good, and he is faithful. Psalm 46:10 is often quoted by believers, but to understand this I think we need to look back to the beginning of the chapter in verse 1 which says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear…” The writer is reminding us that God can handle our burdens and our requests that we bring to him in prayer and we are to surrender those into his power. This does not mean that life will always be easy or work out exactly like we think it should, but it does mean that God will walk with us through these times. We can let go and totally surrender to God’s plan knowing that no matter what comes our way He is our refuge.

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I’m a Muslim interested in Christianity & a Male who loves to be Female

Q: I am 29 years old man, I was born and raised in Muslim family. My problem is I have interest in Christianity but my mind stops me every time I make a decision to convert. I am born male but I love to be female and wear female dress. It give me satisfaction. 

Thank you so much for your honesty in your question. Let me start by saying that God loves you!! It sounds like there is so much going on in your heart as you are coming from a Muslim family, yet interested in Christianity and wrestling with this desire to be female even though you were born male. God is not surprised by this difficulty and He doesn’t want you to feel alone—he sees you, hears your heart and cares for you!

As it relates to you being interested in Christianity, but your mind stops you I would challenge you to give God a chance. What I mean by that is would you be open to reading the Bible and allowing God to speak to you through His word? The book of John is great place to start to just see who this God of the Bible is and what He is really like. If you don’t have a copy of the Bible do let us know and we can give you one you can read or listen to depending on your preference.

In regards to your desire to “be female and dress as a female because it gives you satisfaction” I have simply two thoughts. The first is that God doesn’t make a mistake. In his perfect plan and will he has created you male for a purpose even if you do not understand that right now.

Often times those things that make us happy in the moment do not actually mean they are what’s best for us. The other thought however that comes to mind is that you would know that the God of the universe, maker of heavens and earth has created you…and he loves you! He loves you just as you are. He doesn’t say “Rabeel, change first then come to me” nor does he say “Rabeel, you need to be perfect, then I will love you.” It’s actually the opposite.

The God we see in the Bible says, “Rabeel, I knew you would not be perfect. I know you better than anyone else on this earth. I see your good and I see your bad. I see the things you think no one else sees and guess what? I love you anyway. I love you more than you can ever hope or imagine and I want a relationship with you. Would you trust me? Would you come to me and allow me to begin to change your life?”

My prayer for you would be that you would come to know this God of the Bible in a personal way as He wants to know you!

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How can I stop overthinking about my life?

As a natural “over thinker” myself I really appreciate this question Rushab!  If I’m not careful I find myself overthinking everything!  Asking questions of what if this happens or maybe I should have done this.

There are a few practical things that have really helped me in my life to stop overthinking things so much.  The first is to just recognize when I’m doing it and then remind myself that worrying about things will not actually solve any of my problems.  Another thing that I have found that really helps is evaluating what I’m over thinking.  Asking, what can I actually change, and letting go of the things I have no control over. There’s a passage in the Bible that really has helped me when I find myself overthinking things too much…

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even King Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious saying what shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or what shall we wear?  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient of the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

Whether you believe the Bible to be true or not, this message is powerful!  Worrying and overthinking things will not add a single hour to our life and each day has enough to focus on so why spend our time and energy overthinking things we cannot change.

– Julie

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What does faith mean to you?

Jatin, I love this question!  The dictionary definition of faith is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”

For example, currently I am sitting in a CCD enjoying my coffee.  Now when I came in I just looked for an empty table and sat down.  I didn’t turn the chair over and inspect it.  I just sat in it.  In that moment I put my compete faith or trust in the fact that the chair could support me.

I had confidence that if I put my full weight on the chair it would not let me fall…and fortunately I was right!   To look at my own faith then I must look at what I’m placing my complete trust or confidence in.  As a follower of Jesus, the object of my faith is found in the person of Jesus.

What I mean by this is that a perfect, holy God created this world we live in and he created man and women in his image.  In the beginning humans had a perfect relationship with God, but unfortunately this relationship has been broken because of sin.

We have all sinned—told a lie, disrespected our parents, cheated on an exam, yelled at someone in anger, the list could go on because not one of us is perfect—this sin is not only against other people, but it is against the very God who created us.

God in his great love for us, sent His perfect son, Jesus to restore this broken relationship.  Jesus lived a perfect life, the life I could not live.  He died the death I deserved because of my sin meaning I can now find forgiveness and my relationship with God has been restored.

This is the gospel message that is offered to all.  So faith to me means putting complete trust or confidence in the fact that Jesus has done everything necessary for me to enjoy a right relationship with the true living God!

The Bible states it like this,

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see…and without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:1,6)

– Julie

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FaithQuest is a safe place for you to ask any question you have about God, Faith & Life in general.

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