Doing Christianity wrong?

[bh9i]

Hi,

I've been a Christian for a few years but I almost feel that I'm doing it wrong. I hear other Christians talking about God speaking to them or telling them what to do, of a drastic overhaul of their life and worldview and I feel like I haven't had this. When people are talking about their faith it's almost as if they have a script that I don't have access to. I pray and read my bible daily, I do put effort in but I feel like I'm not having the experience that others do and am unsure why and feel that I can't really admit to it. Does anyone have any advice or a similar experience?

Oh yes. I used to go to a church where everyone seemed to have Jesus and the Holy Spirit on speed dial. For me it is much more subtle and based on feelings and images which need to be pondered on. Different personalities and different ways of approaching life.

I think sometimes it can be a matter of how people either feel God's presence or express it. As an example I went to a few times where when referencing a bible passage the speaker often said "as I reflected on this, God lead me to this passage/brought this passage to mind." I felt a bit of an underperforming Christian because I felt I'd never had that experience. I chatted to a friend at my usual church about it and she suggested that when at our church the speaker says "as I thought about this I remembered this passage..." it's really just expressing the same thing, but sounds less obviously "spiritual". I don't think either is really right or wrong, just individual churches and Christians will have their own way of expressing things.

I think how you're feeling is a fairly normal thing for Christians to go through at some point in their faith journey. I have an amazing group of Christian friends and all of us have felt we've been doing things wrong/God had gone a bit quiet at points. I think that you read your bible and pray daily is amazing! The only advice I would give is to find some Christian friends and be open with them so that they can help you and pray with/for you

Thanks, @mostlydrinkstea, I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. I'd love to have Jesus on speed dial as you put it but I think I might have to accept that that isn't the way it's taken me. What exactly do you mean by images (if you don't mind sharing)?

@ProbablyLate Thank you for your helpful message. Yes, I see what you mean. Now I'm thinking about it, I do feel that certain scripture comes to mind at times and it's nice to see that as a sort of communication even if it isn't what I expect (which might be half the problem). I find it hard to be open sometimes because everyone else seems to be doing so well but I might try to broach the subject. I didn't grow up in a church so sometimes feel a bit of imposter syndrome which I'm trying to overcome.

@bh9i I do think different people hear from God in different ways. The main thing is to ask him to speak to you. I feel like I hear God mostly through passages in the Bible which seem to apply to different situations but sometimes I just get a strong conviction about something that won't go away. Once in a while I get like a picture for someone if I'm praying for them but that doesn't happen a lot.

@BoundlessBean That's good to hear. I think my expectations of how I should hear from God might be stopping me from recognising when He's talking to me in different ways. I guess I've been expecting a literal voice in my head which I might have to let go of, or at least not attach so much importance to.

I don't think many people really do actually get a voice like that. And some of those who do are a bit crazy

Just treat other people as you would like to be treated.

It's harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

The essentials of Jesus Christ's message. You won't go far wrong in trying to live a good life if you are guided by these.

That's good to hear. I think I've been relying too much on Youtube/blogs instead of talking to 'real' people because I've been too nervous to raise the subject! I do have a friend that receives guidance on what to do in prayer, although I've never asked her what form this takes exactly. I think I'll ask her next time I speak to her as I've been assuming it was an audible voice sort of situation but am now rethinking that

@jeannie46 I do my very best to live by biblical principles but I do want to develop more of a 'personal' relationship too, although I do think both aspects are important.

@bh9i

That's good to hear. I think I've been relying too much on Youtube/blogs instead of talking to 'real' people because I've been too nervous to raise the subject! I do have a friend that receives guidance on what to do in prayer, although I've never asked her what form this takes exactly. I think I'll ask her next time I speak to her as I've been assuming it was an audible voice sort of situation but am now rethinking that

That's interesting about your friend, I'd love to know what she says!

I think God can and does communicate in all different ways with different people at different times. I had a friend at uni who had a very strong and genuine, but quiet faith who I'd never known mention any kind of "extreme spiritual" (don't really know how to express it!) experience. She then had a tricky situation where she had to make several fairly important decisions at once and they all kind of interplayed into one another and it wasn't easy to know where to start. She prayed about it and initially received no obvious answers. Then at three different events people approached her and said they had felt really led to speak to her about various things that contributed hugely to the decisions she made. One of the women began with "I'm so sorry to seem weird, this has never happened before but I really feel I need to discuss my hometown of ... with you" which then led to helping make the decision.

She'd never had anything so direct before or since but it was an interesting way God chose to speak to her that we don't fully understand!

@ProbablyLate That's really interesting! The same friend I mentioned before has had a couple of similar experiences with strangers telling her things about her situation/ offering her guidance. I guess I'll just take things as they come and stop thinking they have to be a certain way, as even from this thread I can see that people have a lot of different experiences.

Some of the Christians I know see to get messages from god that they want to hear.
Like a form of self fulfilling prophecy it internal bias being expressed

I think I am doing it wrong too as I have often wondered this and was in a church group but realised I couldn't actually raise this doubt which seemed so fundamental to me as everyone else was talking about how they hear god. I ended up feeling like I was doing something wrong and had to leave. I had no speed dial facility appear either. Oddly I have been left feeling worse off than when I started so quite frankly wish I hadn't entered the group at all.

@Leafy12 I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience and I know how you feel. I think as others have said that it isn't really helpful to compare yourself to other people even though it can be difficult when everyone expect you seems to be having amazing spiritual experiences. Since my post, I've reflected on what other posters were saying about the different forms that communication can take and looking at it this way I can see times I've been guided without recognising it at the time. I've also found that lots of situations/commands in the Bible can help me answer questions/guide me in what to do although I understand this isn't quite the same.

@Leafy12 sorry to hear that. Maybe you could find another, kinder group to be part of.

@bh9i that's great. Different people definitely hear in different ways and actually when it comes from the Bible I think it's more reliable anyway!

I think my friends would be surprised to know I'm very Christian at heart. I don't go to church as I don't believe in organised religion (been there, done that). I'd talk to anyone about being Christian but it's just never come up. My relationship with God is very personal. I've never spoken in tongues, seen any visions or been visited by any archangels. What I feel is real.