In our culture we’ve so removed the meaning of what a teacher should be. I’ve been in education for most of my working life and watched lecturers teaching subjects that they have not had a shred of experience in. I wrote the course, assessments (and model answers), for instance, for courses as unrelated as nursing and financial planning and I’ve no background in either. These days, knowing the theory is more important than being involved in a practical way with a subject.
It’s the same with God. We have so many teachers about the theory of God, but very few with the personal and practical experience of God, and yet, if you haven’t experienced God, you can’t know Him! God isn’t a theoretical construct. He can’t be defined in human terms and with human limits of understanding. God must be encountered.
Paul had this very problem with the Corinthians:
14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. 16 So I urge you to imitate me.
17 That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. 19 But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. 20 For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. (1 Cor. 4:14-20).
Encountering God means that you can live in His power. In this case, knowledge is not power. Power comes from confession of sin and having a real and personal deep relationship with the living God - all of which will result in His Spirit living within you.
I urge you to press in to know our ever-loving, ever-forgiving and generous God and keep on asking Him to fill you with His Spirit. The Father heart of God will respond to His child who seeks Him with all their heart and we will receive the Holy Spirit in the same way we have received salvation - through faith.
9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:9-13).
The Holy Spirit is a gift - a gift that will bring freedom from bondage, trauma and sin so that you can be shaped into the image of Jesus.
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. (2 Cor 3:17-18).
With the Holy Spirit within, we will exhibit the fruits of the Spirit:
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23).
Living in His presence will mean that we will live and move in the gifts of the Spirit:
To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. (1 Cor 12:8-10).
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