But how are we, as a practical matter, going to come into an experience of this love? We are going to experience this love by listening to the Holy Spirit. All real progress in the Christian life comes through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. How does this work in practice?
First, we must pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us in the way. “Heavenly Father, I know that I should love you with all my heart, but my heart is like a stone. Please send your Holy Spirit to teach me the love of Christ, so that I may begin to respond to Your love.” This is how the Holy Spirit is most likely to answer that prayer.
You will be going about the business of your day when the Holy Spirit speaks to you. It might happen during a quiet time or a worship service, but it is just as likely to happen when you are driving to work. Suddenly a thought will come into your mind that has something to do with spiritual things. If you accept this thought as the product of your own wandering mind and allow your mind to move on to other things, you will have missed the moment.
What you have to do with that thought is to cooperate with it. Start to think about that idea. Ask the Holy Spirit if He is speaking to you and ask Him to make what He is saying to you live in your heart. Over time you will come to recognize the difference between a Spirit directed thought and a product of your own mind. A growing ability to recognize when the Spirit is speaking is the first step in your deepening relationship with Him.
Your next step is to think about whatever it is that the Holy Spirit brought to mind. When you have a chance, you want to write it down. If an awareness of the Spirit’s voice is the first step, responding to that voice as if it is the most important thing in your life is the next step.
Think about it, write it down, pray over it, and read passages of Scripture related to it. God is speaking to you. He is beginning a process by which He will transform you. What could be more important than this? His very Godhood demands that we give him our most respectful attention.
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