Be filled with the spirit

In my last post about discernment, I talked about asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in your search for the truth.  To me, my immediate question is, how can I be filled with the Spirit?  How can I ensure I am listening to the Spirit?

I do not have all the answers, but some things I have found that have helped me in my journey:

1. Getting into the Word - The Word is God's holy doctrine, its essentially a guide to life and how to live it properly.  To know the Word is to know God' desires and plans.  Life is so much easier to discern good versus evil if you have the Word in your heart, mind, and soul.  If you need a Bible, the YouVersion app is great way to carry one with you at all times with many translations at hand.
2. True humility in prayer - This isn't just the "please bless my food, Amen" prayers but I mean completely heart felt dedicated prayers.  These prayers are far more powerful and useful than even many Christians believe.  We are tasked to pray without ceasing, but part of that is some very still and quiet times in complete dedication to the time with the Lord.  The goal is to have a relationship with the creator God, he wants this, he loves you, he enjoys spending time with you so do it more often!
3. Guidance from other Christians - This doesn't mean to place more weight on their thoughts than what you're feeling you are being told by the Spirit, but more often than not if they agree with what your wrestling with discerning it is another layer of confirmation the Lord is sending.

This is not an exhaustive list, but if you apply these three things I feel it is a great start, as you grow closer to the Lord it is like walking closer to a person talking.  From a distance you might get the idea of what is being said, but as you get closer the words are more pronounced and the facial expressions and body movements indicate more and more about the words being said.  The closer you are, the easier it is to discern what God's will is, the easier to know what is right and wrong, and the easier to be obedient.  Great joy comes from obedience.

Verses for consideration:

'All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.'

2 Timothy 3:16-17

https://my.bible.com/bible/1588/2TI.3.16-17

'So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people]. Be miserable and grieve and weep [over your sin]. Let your [foolish] laughter be turned to mourning and your [reckless] joy to gloom. Humble yourselves [with an attitude of repentance and insignificance] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up, He will give you purpose]. '

James 4:7-10

https://my.bible.com/bible/1588/JAS.4.7-10

'Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) is able to accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power]. '

James 5:16

https://my.bible.com/bible/1588/JAS.5.16

Discernment

So now that we have talked about truth, what it is, and who the source of it actually is - the next thing we need to discuss is discernment.  If we cannot discern truth or make no attempts to discern it, its of no use to us.  What is discernment?

dis·cern·ment
/dəˈsərnmənt/

1.  the ability to judge well.
"an astonishing lack of discernment"

If your like me, the thing you may key on  in that definition is the word "judge."  We hear a lot about judging others, we aren't supposed to judge others right?  Well that is only partially true, we aren't supposed to be judgemental in a way to assert ourselves above others, but I think we would all agree that we are also told to be discerning (judging) about who we choose to lead the church.  You have to choose people of good reputation, moral standing, who walk with and listen to the Lord.

So this leaves us in a predicament when discerning truth, how can we judge and not judge at the same time?  The answer I think leads us to reliance on the Holy Spirit, the spirit that we receive when we accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour.  As Jesus said:

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. 

John 14:16-17
https://my.bible.com/bible/100/JHN.14.16-17

It is through the guidance of the Spirit that we can know truth, this helper is much like Jesus was for the disciples in shaping and forming them into Godly men.  As pure as our intentions may seem, they are often full of our own desires and quite often we do not even realize it, but the Holy Spirit helps us to discern the right answers if we just ask for them.  It will convict us when we are wrong, and affirm us if we are right, and point us to the answers when we are perplexed.

So, if your like me, at this point I am asking - how can I be filled with the Holy Spirit and discern truth?  I'll try to help with that on my next post.

Why truth is important, and what this blog is about

First, what is truth?

The definition I like best is:

truth /tro͞oTH/ 

that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. 
noun: the truth "tell me the truth"

What I like about this definition, is that its based on reality or fact.  It is irrefutable, it is simply what it is, rather than someone's interpretation, opinion, or feelings.

Why is truth important?  There are many reasons, but the main reason is that it is impossible to make efficient and positive changes without knowing the truth.  It is impossible to discern where you are versus where you are going if you live in fantasy.  As humans we can rationalize and alter anything to make it fit our agendas, but the truth is a constant that never changes.

If you are like me, there have been times when I thought bending, altering, or adjusting the truth was perfectly ok to do in order to bring about what I thought was a more positive result.  I felt so strongly about part of a story of truth, that I would not acknowledge the parts of the story that did not align perfectly as I wanted.  Those were minor details, what I wanted the result to be was more important than those minor details...

However over the years I have come to understand that any compromise of the truth is a dead end road in the long term.  There really is no way to hide truth in the long term, the truth will come out and the longer we have tried to hide it the more damage that can be dealt or the more time we will waste on a road to nowhere.  This is why trying to alter, change, or hide truth is a futile action - if what we believe is true, it will prove itself with time.

Having said that, we cannot always know exactly what the truth is at every single moment, and I believe each of us may see some parts of truth easier than others, so this is why we must work together to find the complete truth.  You see truth is made up of many facets, one facet may be completely true but that isn't the only truth and sometimes truth depends on context.  It can be confusing, but it does not have to be.

This is why we need to develop our relationship with God, he is the source of all truth and wisdom, and he will give of it freely to all believers:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without
reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5 ESV
https://my.bible.com/bible/59/JAS.1.5.ESV