I have been on the receiving end of that very thing many times in my own life. Something I heard someone say or something I read that another person wrote which completely altered my life in a dramatic way! I am meaning dramatic in a spiritual sense, and so perhaps this blog could have the same effect for someone else. I will give a couple of personal examples.
After I became a Christian, in the mid 70's it did not seem to make much of a difference in my daily life, other than going to Church on a semi-regular basis instead of staying home. This went on for a couple of years, and then I went to a campground that was holding a "Jesus Festival" for a week. There were different speakers and performers at various places in the camp, and one afternoon I sat on a chair in front of a band stand out side, and a person walked on stage, and began to sing. I thought he was a terrible singer, but it turned out he was there to preach. His name is Brian Rudd.
He told his testimony of how he was a preacher's kid, and how he got into trouble with the law living a rebellious life, and ended up in solitary wanting to kill himself, and how God came into that cell, and transformed his life. By the time he was finished his message, it was like nobody else was there but me and him. He talked about being delivered from cigarettes, and to come up front to get what God had for you, so without thinking I walked up to the stage and threw my cigarettes on the stage.
There was more to that day than just being delivered from smoking. (I did not have another cigarette after that day for some 7 years, but that is another story) The fact is that something else more important happened on the inside to my spirit man! All of a sudden without any expectations, I began to take a great interest in spiritual things! I started going to church on a regular basis. I started to study the bible. I even felt a call to ministry, and began to take courses to study for that purpose!
I have come to believe that I was filled with the Spirit on that day. I did not speak in tongues, and since that is a problem for some, I will just say that while I believe speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit, I also believe that THE gift is to receive "power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Power to live the Christian life.
Having received the gift of the Holy Spirit, no matter how you look at it, does not mean that your life just takes on a trouble free path, by no means! That is where the Human Journey kicks in! It is then where you really start to experience God, and relate to Him through your experiences. I have often quoted someone else by saying that a man with an argument is no match for a man with experience, and once you begin to have experiences with God, there is not even any argument you can make in your own mind to convince you differently of the reality of God!
There are times you might try! Times when you almost wish God did not exist because you are mad over something you think He should have done differently, but deep inside you know that you know that you know He is real.
We are spiritual beings first and foremost, and we hear from God with our spiritual ears. Jesus said: "He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying...." Jesus was obviously not talking about hearing with our physical ears. We must learn to hear with our spiritual ears the voice of God, and while sometimes it can be dramatic and life changing, other times it could be something as simple as starting a blog....
Somehow, this post has taken a completely different track than I first intended, so I will just flow with it, and consider that it is the way it should be. And rather than write lengthy posts, and extend this beyond any reader's quick perusing, I will break this thought up into smaller readable bites allowing anyone to read on, or pause here. And I hope you will read on..... perhaps you will hear something?
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