What About Life in the Spirit?
Loving God with all we have can be a mystery. How do you love God with you soul? What about life in the Spirit? I have some thought here, but would gladly accept more.
Jesus said we should
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a]
Are you loving God with all your Soul?
The Apostle Paul notes that we either live in the Spirit or in the Flesh.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[a] you want.
I see some of us live by our mind while others live by their heart. Can we live by the Spirit? What does it mean at the deepest levels?
Let me tell my experience and think more.
What About Life in the Spirit? What Does it Look Like?
In the fall of 1995, I was learning Chinese in Chengdu China. I had tried to learn Chinese while teaching English in China 1991-93 but found it impossible. So in 1995, I refused talking to people learning English and focused on learning and memorizing characters. At noon, I would get rice with a dish from the cafeteria. I would read Understanding the Times by David Nobel while I ate. and then pray for people I knew using pictures I had of them. I read the Bible one chapter like I do now each morning. My only contact with humans other then class was a Church fellowship on the south side of the city. I would bike down there every Sunday morning.
Four months later, I was deeper in the book and deeper in speaking and reading Chinese.
Suddenly in the afternoon, I sensed a presence from God giving me guidance for my actions moment by moment. This lasted for 20-30 minutes while I was alone in my room and then went away. About 10 days later it happened again, and I was excited and curious. It lasted only several minutes, however. Not long after that, I left that school and rented a house using my growing Chinese. I started to be with people a lot more and that never happened again.
How Much Do We Know?
From this experience I have some thoughts that I cannot prove, but rather believe. The Holy Spirit is talking to us all the time. However, the noise in our heads and our surroundings keeps us from hearing. The problem is we are unable to get there.
Likely, Christian monks could say much more on my limited experience. I am not a Charismatic/Pentecostal Christian. They might also add here. It is possible that my experience was not God, but it certainly felt that way to me.
God is always with us and not silent. He has more for us then we know. I do not think my life should be about seeking such experiences. We must be in this world and loving it like God does. While we yet have breath in our bodies, we glorify and enjoy God and his creation. In faith, we have many mysteries as God is Spirit and is so much greater than we. We can know him, but we ought not be proud as we know so little compared to the vastness of who He is. See also Loving God With My Heart.
