Do you think that Jesus will talk to me about my plans?

Question:

Hi,

I’m a 19-year-old college student and have a close relationship with Christ. Lately, I have been having mixed emotions about life. (I’ve read what you said about feelings). It isn’t that I’m ungrateful for the gift of life, it's just that in looking at the world in a new light, you see how filthy and wicked this world is, and I know there is something better than this afterward. It’s like I’m ready to die but at the same time, I know that everyone on earth was sent to do a job. At this stage in life, I don’t know what my calling in life is, and I’m kind of lost. I have a billion-dollar plan, but if that’s not in God’s will I don’t know what to do in life. Also, my uncle is a preacher and has a gift of “reading” people, and said that God will start communicating with me in my dreams. I’ve been praying to have a dream where I can actually have a one-on-one talk with Jesus. Is this an unreasonable prayer? Or is it like who am I to ask Jesus to have a one on one?

Answer:

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:1-2).

I'm sorry to disagree with your uncle, but he has lied to you by telling you something you wanted to hear, but not what God has said (II Timothy 4:3-4). Because it was something you desired, it was easier to accept. But the truth is that God decided to deal with His people through the Bible. That word was delivered once (Jude 3) and is to last through all this age. "Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away" (I Corinthians 13:8). Yes, I know there are many who deny this truth, but their denial doesn't change what God has said. See: The Age of Miracles

What you don't realize is that God, the Father, the Lord, and the Spirit are all talking to you. They have been, but you haven't been paying full attention to what has been said. Perhaps because you want something more. See: God is Speaking to You. But as you suspect, God is treating all of us alike. He doesn't give you one set of instructions and me another. As Micah once told Israel, "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8). The question is if you are going to listen to what has been said.

In a sense, you are making the same mistake Job made ages ago. When catastrophe struck, Job thought that if he could just plead his case before God, the situation would get straighten out. Job's friends were certain that he must have sinned, but Job knew that wasn't the case. By the time you get to the end of Job, you realize that Job's friends were wrong for accusing without evidence, but Job also was wrong for thinking that God was answerable to anyone. "Then Job answered the LORD and said: "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, 'I will question you, and you shall answer Me.' I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes"" (Job 42:1-6). What is interesting is that God never does explain to Job why the disasters happened to him.

You have an idea, then do the best you can with it. Like everyone one else in this world, you'll have to take risks without knowing for sure whether it will work out in the end. In the long run, it doesn't matter. The things of this life are merely temporary. "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that"" (James 4:13-15). If the Lord allows you to see your plans to success, is something you and I cannot know in advance. But we are told that real success isn't measured by worldly goods anyway. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

Question:

Wow, I can't believe he misguided me like that. So that means all those people who claimed they had died and seen heaven and came back was a lie. (I know when the Bible spoke of Lazarus he asked Abraham to tell his brothers of Hell but Abraham wouldn't grant it because he said they still wouldn't believe.) I would like to thank you for answering my question. I used to pray every night for a better understanding of Christ and your site has helped me do such. I would also like to congratulate you for your understanding of the Bible so well that if anyone had a question of any kind you have a Scripture and answer for it.

Answer:

To learn from Christ simply means taking the time to listen to what he has taught in the Bible. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Timothy 2:15). God has told you everything you need to know for a good life that will be pleasing to Him in the end. "As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue" (II Peter 1:3).

It is because of pride that people want to claim to know more than others or to have some secret knowledge others can't gain. But, no, God isn't holding tours of the life hereafter for a select few. See: Do near-death experiences reflect the after life?

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