{"id":2067,"date":"2019-02-28T21:47:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T21:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=2067"},"modified":"2019-07-20T08:52:11","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T13:52:11","slug":"do-we-experience-god-in-a-present-way-or-only-in-the-past-tense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-experience-god-in-a-present-way-or-only-in-the-past-tense\/","title":{"rendered":"Do we experience God in a present way or only in the past tense?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\nGood day,\nIs the church not to experience God in a “present way,” or does it only need to be in a past tense manner through the Bible?\nThanks.\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

I had difficulty with your question because it was worded vaguely. The meaning changes depending on how you define the terms.<\/p>\n

God is ever present in this world. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me<\/em>” (Psalms 23:4). God answers our prayers. “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him<\/em>” (I John 5:14-15).<\/p>\n

But typically people ignore these and think that God must supply miraculous gifts, as He did in the past, for His presence to be felt. God is present whether He supplies miraculous gifts or not. But God has been clear that the time of miraculous gifts has passed. See:\u00a0Now Concerning Spiritual Gifts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Good day, Is the church not to experience God in a “present way,” or does it only need to be in a past tense manner through the Bible? Thanks. Answer: I had difficulty with your question because it was worded vaguely. The meaning changes depending on how you define the terms. God is ever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[428,363,1510,186],"class_list":["post-2067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit","tag-miracles","tag-prayers","tag-protection"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53927,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-we-be-confident-that-god-will-answer-our-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":2067,"position":0},"title":"How can we be confident that God will answer our prayers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question regarding prayer, one which I have submitted to numerous places. I've tried to present it in the most concise and intellectually understandable language I can think of but have received in response almost an outright refusal to acknowledge what it is I am asking.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26445,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-jesus-hear-our-prayers-before-god-hears-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":2067,"position":1},"title":"Does Jesus hear our prayers before God hears them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does Jesus send our prayers to God? Does he hear them before God hears them? How exactly does it work? Does Jesus listen, and then verbally repeat your prayers to God? Answer: Speaking of Jesus, the writer of Hebrews said, \"Therefore He is also able to save to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17470,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-do-prayers-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":2067,"position":2},"title":"Where do prayers go?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where do all prayers go? Does God answer all prayers, even those of Muslims, Hindus, etc. although they pray to false gods? I heard from someone that the Bible says all prayers and praise reach God only. Is there scriptural evidence for this? Thanks. Answer: There is only one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47122,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-think-god-hears-every-prayer-i-pray\/","url_meta":{"origin":2067,"position":3},"title":"Do you think God hears every prayer I pray?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you think God hears every prayer I pray? Is He busy sometimes answering someone else? Why does the Bible say in some verses \"God heard their shout?\" Is that just the way it was written? I could find the verses, but I'm sure you remember. Answer: \"Now this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29487,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-always-hear-our-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":2067,"position":4},"title":"Does God always hear our prayers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In John 11:42 it says God always hears you, but in the verse, you showed me in \"Should we pray for Satan's salvation?\" it says that God said that if people were to pray for the extreme idolaters then He would not hear their cries out to him? Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83340,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-wasnt-the-child-rescued\/","url_meta":{"origin":2067,"position":5},"title":"Why wasn’t the child rescued?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, First, thank you for your ministry and for sharing. I came across your site and read the timeline for when Jesus was raised in three days. I have a follow up question on this post: \"Why didn't God rescue my friend?\" The reader asked why God didn't rescue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}