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His love is unconditional and his promises are wonderful. His mercies can been seen everyday, starting with the fact we awoke this morning to a beautiful day he created just for us and we will rejoice in it.

Pardon me please if I'm intruding into a discussion that has gone off from the OP. I haven't read any of this thread because the "trinity" is one of the hottest issues that come up on this board and it's a stupid fight if you ask me...so here is my question: How can a mortal understand an immortal? How arrogant it seems to me that mere humans believe we are capable of understanding (defining) the supernatural with words? but the real question, imo, is WHY DO I NEED TO "UNDERSTAND" THE TRINITY???? I met the Father through putting my trust in His Son and have been living with the Spirit of Holiness ever since. I don't pretend nor presume to know the details of how that works. God says "I AM" and that's good enough for me.

Interesting reply Onelight. If what I have said has come from God then are you blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Gary No he is not blaspheming, Gary. What Onelight says is 100% scriptural. You seem to view God as some type of taskmaster, rather than your Father who has charged himself with your complete and total care. Everything in his thoughts towards you is for your best interest. He gave Christ for you which is the ultimate demonstration that he will give you all things that benefit you, freely. Even when he disciplines you it is because he loves you. He is on your side, not against you. Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Rom 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Hi Gary - may I remind you that not everyone is at the same place of maturity and this needs to be taken into consideration. Some are still like babes in Christ, surviving on the milk of the word. These are still in the first stages of being changed to be more like Him, learning to trust God in their lives. The message you stated "He took me to these passages among others and explained to me that if I did not obey that which he has taught me then he would not only stop teaching me anything else, he would take away the understanding that I already had. I would be left to my own carnal understanding of a spiritual book and guided by devils rather than his Holy Spirit." does not follow scripture. When we read about His love for us, we read that "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." We also read "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”" To claim that God said He would abandon you could not of come from God.

That is a beautiful post winsome.

I try to keep an "attitude of prayer" going at all times, but I don't do formal prayer nearly enough. Hard to explain that. But in answer to your question, I have absolutely had direct, specific answer to prayers in my life. Interestingly, like Dani, one of the first that I can point to was a firm "NO" in answer to my prayer for healing for my mother. She died and I got mad about that. Had all the faith in the world that she'd be healed, prayed faithfully for that healing, along with countless others, but it didn't come. She didn't get up and walk out of the hospital. It took me a lot of years to get over that. All on me, of course, as God is and always will be utterly faithful and right. But I needed to learn that sometimes, He just isn't going to give us what we want, no matter how much we want it. I was young then, too, a fairly new Christian, so that played a part. Since then, though, I've learned to trust Him in all things and I've felt His direct touch in my life in answer to prayers. One that stands out strong for me was at my sister's funeral. We were very close. I loved her a great deal and while I"d prayed for her healing from cancer, I'd also accepted that healing might not be God's will for her life. So, when the call came that she'd died, I accepted it. I grieved, but I accepted it. Then, at the funeral, it just hit me like a kick to the chest. I was thinking about our mother, about my sister, about how very much I was going to miss her, how much I already missed our mother. And the weight of the grief was smashing down on me like a tidal wave. Losing my mother broke me in a lot of ways. Took me literally years to even start getting back to something even approaching "normal." By the time my sister died, I knew full well that I had clinical depression and that what it felt like when it was surging to life. I sat there, feeling it boiling up inside me, choking me, and I just closed my eyes and told God I couldn't do it. I was at my limit. I was literally a breath away from screaming out loud and collapsing in a heap. I told Him I needed Him to help me, to get me through it. And in that instant I was flooded with a peace and comfort unlike anything I'd ever known. The weight on my body just evaporated and the impending collapse vanished with it. I didn't stop grieving for my sister or my mother. I still grieve for them both today. Miss them like crazy. But God took the horrible darkness and just swept it aside. He gave me the strength I so desperately needed the moment I needed it. There have been other times He's worked in my life. Many other times. The real point is that the answer to your question is that God ALWAYS answers our prayers. Sometimes we just aren't willing to accept what He's said. Sometimes, we don't want to take "no" for an answer. I am so incredibly thankful that God is there, that He hears us and responds, even when we're too thick-headed to listen to His response. And I'm so glad that He loves us enough to abide our tantrums and pouts when we don't get our way. God is just so incredibly good!

Well some people celebrate later on that they didn't get their prayers answered. God knows the future so not getting a new sports car could be a good thing if you did get it and have a crash that injures you. Why should God grant every prayer and just say "Yes" to anything we ask Him? By God saying no to a prayer means that He is God and needs to be respected, trusted and obeyed. God even tells us how to pray in the Lord's Prayer. Matthew 6: 5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy KINGDOM come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the KINGDOM, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. But do Christians pray like the above?