Do it - ask!

1 Corinthians 14:1 (NIV)
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts,
especially the gift of prophecy.

This spiritual gift of prophecy has been on my mind and heart a lot lately. Not only that but also gaining more understanding or insight into who the Holy Spirit is. There is so much i have yet to grasp but i'm so thankful for the revelations i've had recently. In my last blog, i talked about this prayer: "God extend me, expand my boundaries. I want to be capable of so much more". My buddy aaron tweeted a prayer that prayed for a release from our projected selves - I've bottled myself into a form that is not who God said i should be. there is so much goodness in listening to the holy spirit. So much comes from it! My life has been transformed because i've finally decided to sit and listen to his words. So much clarity has been brought into my life. Clarity in words and images all pointing to who God has called me to be.

I've also been attending church with my girlfriend, Jen!! (Holla!) and it's been really cool to see how her church pursues the word of the spirit. God speaks! He wants us to hear him! But we have to do our part too - allow ourselves to be vulnerable and fall flat on our face in humility. I have to say, the main push for my prayer life was Jen. And hears the deal - it's been so good! God has spoken to me, loud and clear! If I could encourage anyone right now, it would be to say take time to listen to the spirit. Not just listen, but ask to be spoken to. All i see happening from that is communication that is beyond what we've imagined. It's right.

Here are some words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

"Above all, it is not necessary that we should have any unexpected, extraordinary experiences in meditation. This can happen, but if it does not, it is not a sign that the meditation period has been useless. Not only at the beginning, but repeatedly, there will be times when we feel a great spiritual dryness and apathy, an aversion, even an inability to meditate. We dare not be balked by such experiences. Above all, we must not allow them to keep us from adhering to our meditation period with great patience and fidelity.
It is, therefore, not good for us to take too seriously the many untoward experiences we have with ourselves in meditation.
It is here that our old vanity and our illicit claims upon God may creep in by a pious detour, as if it were our right to have
nothing but elevating and fruitful experiences, and as if the discovery of our own inner poverty were quite beneath our
dignity. With that attitude, we shall make no progress."
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954]