Have You Ever Felt the Presence of God?
If so, when and what did it feel like?
I have had what I define as a "religious experience." I still haven't found the words to describe it. The only reason I can give for that is the fact that the experience seemed beyond rational thought. Words seem inadequate. It was not intellectual but experiential. Psychologist Abraham Maslow did a lot of research on the subject, interviewing many people from all walks of life who had had what he termed a "Peak Experience." A very interesting study, if you'd like to learn more.
Yes, 2 days ago ... some man attacked me I thought I was going to get harmed or was going to die....but then he stopped what he was doing and ran away....
I pray that's the last time I see him...
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my experience was quite different from that picture...
which makes me think of nothing as much as a well lit Alfred Kinsey coaching a couple on not being ashamed or embarrassed about oral sex...
@sharp11
Its not all crap. It sounds like you need to quit searching outside of yourself and realize that when you were baptised the Holy Spirit entered YOU. It is the "living water" Jesus speaks about and sometimes we feel it and sometimes we don't. Talking about it, finding a good community to express your true feelings helps - but its not necessary to feel the presence of God or to be a Christ follower. I do not call myself a Christian most of the time, I prefer Christ follower. Maybe you can find a small group of like minded people and start a bible study. That is the church - WE are the church. The church is not a building - its a people and unfortunately the gospel of peace has been twisted by a lot of Christians into the gospel of judgement and fear.
I have experienced the presence of God, His angels, and His peace in my life. I see His perfection and beauty in nature, in a song, in a child's eyes and feel it in a good hug. I also take time to sit in silence and meditate so I can be open to hearing and feeling God. God is everywhere! We live under an umbrella of Grace. Be open to receive His Grace and it will come in His time (which is NEVER our time! so frustrating!). However, sometimes He may just knock you off your feet when you least expect it.
Yes. Unexpected, out of the blue. Unmistakable. Affirming. Lasted maybe a minute. I do not describe it or put it into words.
I believe he is always with us and it could be that we aren't conditioned to notice Gods presence. I actually really like the Eastern Chrisitan Churches which view moments of grace not so much as something God gives us but actually being the presence of God himself.
Yes. A few times. I am Christian, and as such believe God to be omnipresent, but I am also not foolish enough to suppose we can feel this presence always.
I mean, for example, this one time, at band camp.... Well, at youth camp: we all broke off by ourselves just to pray, and spend time with God; I just decided to humble myself. I prayed and had this really weird feeling like even though I was listing all this stuff I had done and thought, that it didn't matter. I was crying and making a blubbering mess everywhere. And then I wrote this sweet poem, and it was all good.
For me, after the few times I've gone 'yep, that's God', I've had this feeling of being "cool" with God; and then this kind of double whammy of emotions: on the one hand I'm like extremely grateful, over joyed and just plain ecstatic - I was at a conference one time and had this experience and everyone else was singing like this slow solemn worshippy kinda song, eyes closed, arms raised: I was dancing like a mad-man - and then I get this feeling like Isiah, of being sooooooo unworthy. So I'm like really happy, but then Kanye goes: "I'm really happy for you, but Jesus had the best life of all time, of all time." I feel happy, but then realise: I don't deserve this, Jesus did, and He died on a cross, He went to hell for 3 days!
For me, realising God = glee + guilt - kinda.
It's personal though, God is the same, but He has different relationships with everyone.
Maslow's other term for this was "Core-Religious Experience."