Will a Christian Always Experience the Presence of God?

Will a Christian always experience the presence of God in their life? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833 the core. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us your question anytime.

Here's the email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com. Well, Adriel, yesterday one of our listeners asked if God still speaks to people in dreams, and I know in your marriage you kind of have a unique situation when it comes to dreams, and I understand it doesn't always turn out so well for you. Yeah, this is one of the reasons why you just don't want to trust in your dreams.

Go to the Word of God. I was teasing yesterday, I was saying, you know, sometimes I asked you, Bill, have you ever had a situation where you wake up in the morning and your wife is mad at you because of something you did in her dreams the night before, and Bill has never had this problem. Maybe you have had this problem.

I've had this problem before, where I'll wake up and, you know, my wife and I will be going to get coffee in the morning, and she just looks at me like, I can't believe you did that, and of course, it's like, what did I do? You know, but it's always, you know, in the dreams, and so we were teasing about that. Yeah, don't trust in your dreams. Go to the Word of God.

That's where the truth's at. Okay, I'm not going to try to psychoanalyze that. Yeah, please don't, Bill, not here live on the air.

I don't think that our audience would appreciate that. Okay, Isabel, if you ever had any more bad dreams about Adriel, just be nice to him, okay? Yeah, yeah, that's the advice I think that we should all take. Just be nice.

Just be nice to me. Yeah, that's right. Okay, all right. Let's get to our first call of the day. This is Mike from Kansas City, and Mike, welcome to Core Christianity. Thank you, thank you. I listen to your show often.

I love it. Yeah, I just had a question about if God knew that Lucifer was going to betray him, why did he create him in the first place? Yeah, an excellent question, and, you know, the why question there. Sometimes, you know, we have these really complex issues in Scripture, and God doesn't always reveal to us exactly why it was that God did this or that God allowed a particular kind of suffering or why he created Satan even though he knew that this creature, this angel that he created, was going to rebel and lead people astray. But Mike, there is one verse that I do go to that I think does give us some guidance, and it's in the book of Colossians, in Colossians chapter 1. This is in the context of Paul really emphasizing the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus Christ as the creator of all things, and he says in Colossians chapter 1 verse 15, He, that is Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and, get this, for him. That is, everything that exists in the created order that Jesus created was made through him and for him. So in one sense, everything, even the angelic hosts, were created for the sovereign Son of God. Now, the devil is God's devil. I think it was Luther that said that, and God is completely in control over the evil one. Another great church father many, many years ago talked about how God doesn't permit any evil, that he doesn't first determine how to resolve, how to bring good out of it, and so we know that God is able to use the evil actions of people and even of angels for his own glory. But again, oftentimes we're confronted with the terrible events that take place in the world, sin, destruction, those kinds of things, and God doesn't always give us a real clear answer, but I think one thing that we can say is that the Lord is in control and that all things, Mike, were made through Christ and for Christ, and in the end, in one way, God is going to receive all the glory.

Mike, thanks so much for your question. Follow up for you, Adriel. Do you believe that Lucifer, we talk a lot about free will and how God gives us as human beings free will, we have the choice to accept him or reject him, and that a truly loving and all-powerful God would not control us like robots, would not make us want to love him because that wouldn't be a loving God. What about Lucifer? Did Lucifer have a choice, do you believe? Yeah, I believe that, I mean, yeah, that in terms of the rebellion, that initial rebellion, that there was a choice that was made by the fallen angels to rebel against the Lord, you know, rooted in pride, rooted in sin, and so, and you think about Adam and Eve in the garden, you know, they were left to the freedom of their own wills.

They chose to go astray as well, and all of us in Adam are bound to sin, really, because of what we refer to as original sin. So it gets us into a lot of other things there, but the reality is God made everything good, including the angels, and he gave them freedom, and they turned from him, and God is able to take even the evil that they do, the destruction that they bring, and turn it around for his glory and even the good of his people, and that's something you see throughout the pages of the Bible, certainly most clearly exhibited in the cross of Jesus. Man, starting off with a big old metaphysical question, aren't we, this morning? Let's get to another question. This is, by the way, here's a phone number to call if you'd like to talk to Adriel, if you have any questions about the Christian life or the Bible.

It's 833-THE-CORE, that's 1-833-843-2673. We're taking your questions right now live. Hannah from Escondido, California, how are you? Thank you both for having me. My question was, as one who's recently engaged, I'm wondering, are there any biblical models or principles that I should look to for resolving conflict in marriage? Yeah, well, congratulations on your recent engagement, Hannah. That is really, really exciting, and when I'm taking couples through premarital counseling as they're getting ready to be married, some of the things that we focus on are, what is marriage to begin with? I think that's really important, because in our culture today, there's a real lack of understanding related to what marriage is all about. It's this ordinance that's given to us by God, and ultimately, in Scripture, it's this beautiful picture of the relationship that exists between Jesus and His bride, the church. The passage that I typically go to is Paul's words in Ephesians, chapter 5, beginning in verse 22, where he said, Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

Right there, I mean, it's just so beautiful. The words of the Apostle Paul there, when we want to think about what marriage is and what should guide us as believers, as we think about what ought the relationship that I have with my spouse look like, well, we go to the gospel of Jesus. That sacrificial love that Jesus exemplified for his people, that humility, that's where we go. Hannah, I would say, first and foremost, you look to Christ, you look to the relationship that exists between Christ and the church, the longsuffering, the patience, the forgiveness, the goodness that we find there in the gospel. It's from that place that we're given the strength to love each other as we ought to love each other in marriage.

One other resource that I would recommend to you as you're entering into marriage is C.S. Lewis's book Mere Christianity. His chapter on Christian marriage is just absolutely wonderful. He talks about what love is and the importance of love being rooted in something deeper than just our feelings, but love being rooted in this commitment that's given to us by God and before God.

And so that's another good resource. And as I was saying, the focus being on Christ and the relationship that Christ has with his bride, the church, our love for each other coming from the gospel. I heard one pastor put it this way. He said we're moons, not stars. We reflect the light and the love of Jesus to each other in our relationships, in particular in the marriage relationship.

We're moons. We're reflecting the light of the sun. We don't generate that light and that love within us. It comes from the Lord. And so keep your eyes fixed on Christ, on his gospel. And as you rest in that love, that goodness, you share that with your husband. I think that's what makes a strong marriage. Hannah, congratulations on your engagement.

Thank you both so much. That was so helpful. We're going to send you one of our resources here from CORE Christianity. It's called Seven Things You Need to Know About Sex and Marriage, and we'll send that off to you.

So hang on the line for a second. We'll get your contact information from you. This is CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we want to say a huge thank you to our listeners who have joined our inner CORE. Your financial support makes this program possible. Here at CORE Christianity, we aren't supported by a particular church or denomination. We rely on people just like you to make donations to keep us on the air. And if you find this program helpful, we'd ask you to prayerfully consider making a gift of any amount. You can do that on our website at corechristianity.com.

Just click donate at the top of the page. Let's go to Bruce in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hi, Bruce.

How are you? Fine, thank you. I have a question. My wife and I are Christians and are pro-life, and recently some pastors at our church had said not to vote a certain way. And as we're listening to what the new president is doing, we're becoming more and more angry and just wondering if that's grounds for leaving our church, or should we let time go by, or what do you think about that? Because we're very upset about the pastor's political endorsements.

Yeah, yeah, Bruce. And my personal position is that it's not the job of pastors to make political endorsements. I mean, we endorse the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ himself.

The job of the pastor, the minister of the word, is to point people to Christ. There's, you know, a certain level of liberty of conscience that we need to exercise, and we're thinking about things like voting. Always, you know, in our minds, you know, asking ourselves the question, what's going to be good for my neighbor, for the good of the people around me? You think about God's law, the commandments that God gives to us. But the question here, really, is when is it right to leave a church, and ought we to leave over political divisions and differences?

Well, I think that might depend. I think if a ministry is focusing so much on politics that they're endorsing a candidate and they're not preaching the gospel faithfully, well, that would be, I think, a significant issue, and you'd have to sit down with your wife and think about that and pray about that. I do think, too often in the church, we divide so quickly over things like politics without holding fast to the unity that we have through our baptism in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am always blown away when I consider the initial disciples that our Lord Jesus called. You think about him calling Simon, the, you know, the zealot, and Levi, the tax collector.

Now, these two guys are not the guys that you would invite to your birthday party, right? Like, because you knew if you invited Simon and Levi to the party, there was probably going to be a brawl, a fistfight, and yet Jesus looks at these two people who are totally different on opposite ends of the spectrum, we might say, politically, and he says to both of them, follow me, follow me, and ultimately he transforms them, right? We know that his word is transforming them, that his gospel is transforming them, but I'm so taken aback by the fact that the Lord is able to bring together people who ordinarily would never be in the same room, and that's what the church does and is. It's this place where sinners of all different backgrounds and stripes come together, united by the blood of Jesus Christ at the table of the Lord. And so, Bruce, I think it's something that you and your wife need to pray about to think through, you know? Is this something where we're just maybe splitting over something that's not too big of an issue, or is it really a gospel issue where the gospel is not being proclaimed faithfully and the word is not being taught because we're so sidetracked with these other things? First and foremost, right? The marks of true churches where we know that Christ is present.

It's where the word of God is being faithfully taught and where worship is happening in accordance with what Jesus said. And so, keep your eyes on the Lord, on his gospel, and I pray that the Lord gives you wisdom, brother, as you think about this very difficult decision. Thanks, Bruce. We appreciate your call, and thanks for being a regular listener. Thank you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone number, again, if you want to connect with us and ask a question right now is 1-833-843-2673.

If you want to spell it out on your phone, it's 833-THE-CORE. Now, today we want to offer you a very special resource. This is something really cool. It's actually, Adriel produced it, and it's called Seeing Jesus. Yeah, I wrote this really devotional booklet called Seeing Jesus prayerfully hoping that it would bring you into an encounter with Jesus through the pages of scripture.

I take four different accounts from the gospels that show us a glimpse at the life of Jesus, things that I think we oftentimes miss about our Lord and that I particularly wanted to highlight for believers because I think it is a great comfort for them to think about the Lord in ways that maybe we haven't thought about him before. So, Seeing Jesus is a devotional resource which we really want you to get your hands on. Bill, you can tell them how to get a hold of this. If you go to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash Jesus, that's corechristianity.com forward slash Jesus, you can find that. You can also call us for this resource or any one of our resources.

Here's the number 833-843-2673, 833-THE-CORE. Here's a question that came in through our website from David. He says, I don't feel spiritual enough. Is God calling me to pray more through that feeling? How can you tell what feelings of the supernatural should a Christian have, like during spiritual disciplines or congregational worship?

Can you feel the supernatural? What does the Bible command and say that we should experience? Well, the Bible doesn't command us necessarily to feel anything. I mean, we can't conjure up feelings, or at least true, genuine spiritual feelings. It's not something that you just sort of sit down and really try to feel the presence of God, that kind of a thing. And the reality is, for believers, feelings come and go in the Christian life. I remember as a brand new Christian walking with Jesus and having this real sense of the presence of God in my life like I had never experienced before. And that lasted for some time, maybe a couple of months. And then I remember waking up one morning and that feeling being gone and thinking, Oh no, what's happened?

Lord, have you left me? That kind of a thing. But the reality is, I think God teaches us to rely upon, to rest in, not how we feel, but His Word. And that's way more stable.

And I think that's what we have to focus on. The reality is, the people of God throughout redemptive history have experienced times of real drought, spiritual drought, not really experiencing or feeling the presence of God. I think of the Psalms, in particular the Psalms of Lament, where the Psalmist is crying out to God saying, God, where are you? Psalm 88, for example, just the darkest lament in all of the Psalter. Psalm 88, the Psalmist says this, But I, O Lord, cry to You in the morning.

My prayer comes before You. O Lord, why do You cast my soul away? Why do You hide Your face from me? Have You ever felt like that?

Like God was hiding His face from You? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer Your terrors. I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me. Your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long. They close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me.

My companions have become darkness. Now, what I think is so amazing about the words there of the Psalmist, and this is often missed by people who read Psalm 88, is the guy who wrote Psalm 88, his name was Heman the Ezraite. We're told that at the very beginning of the Psalm. You know who he was? He was a worship leader. 1 Chronicles 25, it describes Heman.

He was one of the chief singers. I mean, this was a guy who was supposed to be a spiritual giant, we might say, and yet even he experienced this spiritual drought. It doesn't matter who you are, how long you've been walking with the Lord, whether or not you have a quote-unquote ministry that you do, there will be times in your life where you feel distant from the Lord. Sometimes it's because of our own sins, right, sort of quenching the Spirit, but sometimes it's just circumstances and just where God has us. And I think what we have to do in those moments is learn to rest, not in how we feel, but in what God has said in His Word. It's true regardless of how we feel, and that's where we need to derive our comfort.

And I think this is really important for some of you as you're listening now. You're faithful to the Lord when you really have those spiritual highs, the feelings of the presence of God, and then when you lose that, he just, yeah, well, you know, I don't really want to go to church today. I don't really feel like obeying Jesus, that kind of a thing. We need to rest in the Word of God, regardless of how we feel, and continue to pursue the Lord and be faithful to Christ, even when we don't feel it. So important, and just so you know, there are times for you, Christian, where you're going to experience that lack of feeling, as it were. The question is, when that happens, do you run to God's Word, or do you run away from Him?

Run to the Word. Amen. I get concerned when there are churches that focus so much on feelings and the warm fuzzies of the faith, because I think oftentimes, and I don't know how you feel about this as a pastor, I feel they're kind of setting people up for frustration and failure. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And I think that one of the reasons why a lot of churches focus on feelings is because, at least initially, it's really powerful, you know, if we can conjure up this emotional experience in people's minds and sort of get them hooked that way, great.

But the problem is that, like we've been saying, the feelings come and go. And so we have to learn to have an ordinary, faithful walk with the Lord that isn't dependent upon how we feel, but upon what God has done for us in His Son, Jesus. And that's the long-term sustainable Christianity that we want to see cultivated in the lives of our listeners. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Mark from Lenexa, Kansas. Mark, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, thank you for taking my call. My question comes from the book of Matthew, chapter 27, verses 52 and 53. And it says, And the graves were open, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. And my question is, was this an actual occurrence, or is this metaphoric or symbolic? And if you could clarify that for me, I'd really appreciate that.

Hey, Mark, thank you for your question. We actually received a call about this very verse earlier in the week, and so it's one of those verses that a lot of people have questions about. I mentioned earlier in the week that Matthew is the only Gospel writer who mentions this event.

And so, you know, there are two ways that people have understood this. One is that, yeah, it's this sort of spiritual thing that's happening, you know. The idea is that Jesus, through His resurrection, conquered death, and so that's really what Matthew is trying to communicate. But I don't really buy that in particular, because I think if you spiritualize that resurrection, you may spiritualize the resurrection of Jesus. And we know with absolute certainty that Jesus wasn't raised spiritually, like as a sort of phantom spirit, but that He was raised bodily. And so I think that this was a real resurrection, and I know that that poses other questions, but I think that the focus here for Matthew, what really is being communicated, is the fact that there is a close relationship between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that of His people. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection, because He was raised.

We know that we too will be raised, and that's one of the things that we see here in one sense being foreshadowed in Matthew 27, that that close connection, and ultimately what we all have to look forward to as believers in Jesus, the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, because Christ was raised, you will be raised as well. Thanks, Mark. Thank you, Mark.

We have time for one more question. Frank in St. Louis. Hi, Frank.

Welcome to CORE Christianity. Frank, are you with us? Thank you so much for taking my call. How are you doing? Oh, hey, Frank, good to hear from you.

What's your question? Hey, my question is, I was at a Sunday school, and you remember the story with the G, when Jesus, the four men, let down the guy through the roof? That's right. And Jesus made a statement, that sins are forgiven. Well, one of the ministers in our class said that only God can forgive sins, we don't have the power to forgive sins.

Is that true? Or does the Bible says forgive us our deaths as we forgive our deaths? So what is the difference between those two, between God's forgiven sins and we're supposed to forgive others as well, right?

Yes, great question, Frank, and you're referring to Mark chapter 2, where Jesus healed the paralytic. And, you know, we're called to forgive as we have been forgiven. God is ultimately the offended party when anyone sins, right? And he's the only one that can truly forgive sins, because we don't have, as individuals, the power to forgive sins. Forgiveness comes from Jesus, who is God. And that's precisely what the religious leaders said, you know.

Some were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?

And so that's the reality. And I think one of the things that Mark is communicating for us here, Frank, is that Jesus himself is God, and that he has the ability to forgive our sins. Jesus forgives. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.