Trust your instincts

When it comes to spiritual right or wrong or knowing God's will, Christians don't usually trust their instincts or act on feelings. Maybe we should be more open to those feelings. I don't trust my own self instincts as far as I can throw myself, but I have learned to trust the Holy Spirit. Self is always fighting for control, and we need to always be vigilant and guarded there. Self is a gift to be sacrificed, not a voice to be followed. 

I trust the feeling of my relationship with the Holy Spirit. I trust that small voice in my spirit telling me that something about what I hear or see is incomplete or not quite right. This is an instinct that will grow with the relationship. The more I open myself to connect with God's Spirit, the more he is able to lead me and speak to me.

That warning or prompting or feeling is a signal to stop and pay attention. It's an indicator that we need to dig in and find the truth that may be hidden. It's often incomplete in a sense because the Holy Spirit's voice is always leading us to more. More learning, more experience, more feeling, and more connection with God. 

I will often read an article or hear a sermon, or some theological position and I get a feeling like something is not quite right with it. I trust that feeling because I know how the Holy Spirit works in my life. I've followed that voice and obeyed those promptings enough to know it's usually right when I hear it. That prompting leads me to seek the truth which will undergird those feeling. The key is to set aside the pursuit of your own agenda. If I go at that wanting to prove its wrong in some way so that I can be more right and feel good about myself, then I will fail every time.

I'm learning to always move forward with an open mind. I am always willing to be wrong and willing to change everything I believe. If you think about it, that's the only way to truly receive from the Lord. If you don't come like that, like a little child, then you will put everything in a box of your own making forcing that truth to fit your limited, incomplete, and infinitely small view of God. 

I trust the Holy Spirit. I trust that if I lay down my faith like Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his own son, then I will see God rescue me and make himself real to me on his terms again and again. My faith is not a doctrine, it's an ongoing relationship where God's Spirit lavishes his love on me, build me up, and wants to know me and connects with me in new ways every day.

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