So my question is "Who has experienced a change of life, who experiences the Spirit within, and what is the Presence of Christ like in your life?"
Interesting responses from interesting people.
I did notice, however, that all responses avoided the crucial question in the OP. Perhaps I have not been clear with the question. I'll try again.
Does God change lives? When you "surrendered to God" or "accepted Jesus" or "Asked God to take control of your life" (all of which, by the way, I have done multiple times over) did you experience a "presence of God" in your life? Did you, and or Do you, feel God's presence and participation in your life each day? Does he give you a "calm assurance" (whatever that means) that he is with you, helping you, daily.
When you come to a decision point in your life (large or small) and you bring the matter to God in prayer, what do you get for an answer? and how is that answer relayed? Does he speak to you in words you can hear? "Nadi, this is the right path for you." Or does he give you a dream, where someone or something comes to you with instructions? Or a vision or trance where God gives direction?
To say that God will answer your prayers with Yes, No or Wait, or to say that "In the end it all worked out" is to set the bar at the lowest possible level for an All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Loving God. For the intelligent, thinking person, it is no bar at all. Humanity sets the bar for other humans much higher. So this God is unable to render a clear, unmistakable answer.
The real point, however, is that I have never experienced any of the events mentioned above. No presence of God. No assurance of his care. No clear answers to my life predicaments or direction seeking. And I have never encountered anyone who displays such characteristics. The very fact that some of you are apologizing for behaviors indicates that you haven't either. And the fact that none of you have admitted to Gods clear presence, voice and direction also indicates he doesn't act.
And if you do say you have experienced such there are only two possibilities:
1. You're lying.
2. God favors some people over others.
I must also add that it is largely from my time on this forum, under various user names, that I recognized that God is neither in my life nor in any of the forum members lives. I cannot speak for you, but I have AGONIZED over having God's spirit, fasted and prayed, read Scripture, pleaded in prayer....all to a deaf and uncaring God.
Now, none of this bothers me anymore. You all keep up the in-fighting, the defense of a weak and unresponsive God, the squabbling about "false doctrines" and "Sunday Laws" and "Mark of the Beast" and all the other stuff I used to take such interest in.
Not that I'm any better that you.
I just don't care....
Would you be master of your fate, captain of your soul, if you really had no choice? If God is so uncaring and impotent, how is it that you have been lurking in the shadows for so long? What have you been looking for? Where did you find the will to come here? It would have been so much easier to just crawl back into the bottle? Why bother with a site packed to the brim with comatose Laodiceans, Peter, puddle walker, wannabes, and hypocrites? Did you believe someone here could restore your faith? I thought you had read the Bible? Don?t you remember what Christ said, don?t put your faith in people. People will always let you down. How many stood by Him? None! Are you really surprised? Those words apply to you, too.
So "Nadi", you want someone to model Christ for you? I wish I could. Sadly, I?m not worth the dirt between His road weary toes.
Have I experienced a change of life? When, I was eighteen or nineteen (I?m not sure which, I was drunk and high most of the time), I was an agnostic, unfaithful husband, and lousy father to my new born daughter. Late one night, between "social functions", I was laying in bed thinking about one of those people who you never see, or almost never.
He was a young Mennonite man. Strong as an ox, I once saw him playfully flatten a guy over six feet tall against a wall with one hand. Yet he was one of the most gentle, patient, and good natured souls I had ever encountered. He was constantly challenged and ridiculed for being a Christian, in a decidedly unchristian small northern town. Many times, he was placed in situations that would have justified physical confrontations, he would have easily won. Yet, through humour, patience, wisdom, and faith he always found other ways. I came to admire his character which was far stronger than his arm. This led me to search for truth in a place where it had never really occurred to me to look before.
I asked God to show me why my friend had so much peace? I had never in my life held a Bible, and certainly never read one. But that night, I saw Christ nailed and bleeding, staring into my eyes. Through His agony, He poured His love, His life, His soul into me. Did I change? I thought so then, but soon it became all too apparent that the only change was that, like Adam before the tree, my eyes had been opened. I quickly returned to my unwholesome habits. Only, now I was aware of my sad state.
After decades of running, I finally realized the ugly truth. A Christian is not perfect, far from it. The constant attacks on my faith, the steady diet of discouragement from failure after failure, fall after fall, the silence and ice cold stares from "loving" church members after my marriage finally disintegrated, convinced me that we are all too far gone, too accustomed to steering our own ships, most of us will never stand back and let Jesus take the wheel.
Sometimes, I think about the friend from my youth. I still don?t know how he stayed so strong, so connected to God. Such people are few and far between, but there have been others over the years. The metal guitar lead in an up and coming band who surrendered his life to God. Now, an acoustic playing Adventist pastor, so filled with gratitude and joy that members follow him and his family from place to place, from church to church, as the conference continually reassigns him. The metro street worker who gave a barefoot homeless man the shoes off of his feet and continued with his daily rounds in socks.
What is the Presence of Christ like in my life? Well, I know He loves me. Otherwise, I wouldn?t be here. I wouldn?t be the master of my fate, captain of my soul. The devil?s voice is sweet, indeed. But, he only offers a single choice, death. He would never offer his life for me, never reach out through white hot pain to wipe a tear from my face and with a shaking finger, write his name across my heart. He would never bless me with his dying breath.
Has my life really changed? Does God have any power in the real world? I don?t have any answers for you, Nadi. The platitudes and euphemisms of religious folk fall flat in the real world. All, I can tell you is that for most of my life, I have been a drunk, a drug addict, a thief, an adulterer, and a violent criminal. I certainly was not the sort to apologize over hurt feelings. Unlike, the good people of this site, I was never someone you would want to invite over for dinner. And still, through all of that, Jesus kept calling out to me, whispering His love to me through the haze of pain that I had inflicted on Him.
After decades of running, giving God the silent treatment every time satan called, I gave up or maybe I just got too tired to run anymore. I decided to keep right on talking to God, even if I was not following Him, even if I didn?t sense Him, I decided to not let Him go. He would either heal me or He would kill me. Either way, I was done with running from Him.
I?m not sure how to describe the intervening years... They have been a sort of slow motion falling away. Changes coming so gradually that I hardly notice. Over time, I found myself not wanting to steal: returning a lost wallet, trying to return overpayments to strangers online. Parties and drugs just sort of lost their shine as their shallow appeal became slowly apparent. Suddenly, lies that we?re always so easy and natural, caught in my throat, making my heart pound, and engendering a feeling of nausea. Monogamy become a precious, even sacred thing. Violence is something I came to abhor. The more calamitous the world becomes the more I long for peace. Perfect is light years away, but I know I?m forgiven. I have seen the power of my God.
What draws you back to this place, Nadi? Why do you care what we flawed and hurting Christians experience? Somewhere, deep inside, you must hear the voice of Love, pleading through the pain you share.