As I have awakened into a new understanding of life and God, I have found myself many times in territory that has been deemed taboo, or places a Christian should not go. I have positioned myself on ground which the church has deemed sand but I have found to be rock. I have pondered many of the hard questions and found new direction and reassuring answers which many times are in conflict with mainstream religion. Is it some form of arrogance that has allowed me to arrive here? No, it wasn’t that at all. This place I had arrived at was comfortable, it was peaceful, it was like home. Arrogance can’t produce that feeling, that’s not how it operates. But there was indeed something holding me up and saying “Yes! that is the way, continue forward”. I have since come to know this “something” as the Holy Spirit, the Indwelling Spirit or God in me.
A Course in Miracles speaks very simply about the Holy Spirit:
“As God communicates to the Holy Spirit in you, so does the Holy Spirit translate His communication through you so you can understand them”
“The Holy Spirit is the spirit of joy. He is the call to return with which God blessed the minds of His separated Son.”
I am also, as you will quickly come to know, very fond of Richard Rohr. In his daily devotion entitled The Indwelling Spirit on Wednesday, April 22, 2015 he writes:
“Paul understands that Jesus left us his Indwelling Spirit as a permanent, strengthening gift. So the Christ, for Paul, is not out there; the Eternal Christ is in here, inside us in the form of his Indwelling Spirit. I cannot say this strongly enough. God has implanted in us a true “homing device” that we can depend upon. Paul believes that we’ve been given a source for a true inner knowledge, which becomes a calm inner authority whereby we know spiritual things for ourselves (see 1 Corinthians 2: 1-16).”
This source is where we find the likeness of our Creator, it is where truth can be known, it is where the mind of Christ resides in us. This “God in us” is our guide, it is our homing device that will always point us toward the Will of God. It might help some to know that for me the voice of the Holy Spirit does not come from “above” but emanates from within. “Listen” may not be the best word to use when we talk about hearing the Spirit. It might work better for some to say, stand ready to feel it, stand open to allow the Spirit to move from within you, that is how it speaks to me, not in words but in assurance.
So how do I know that I am tuned into the right station? How do I know that I am really hearing the Spirit and not just listening to my ego and allowing it to send me off on a wild goose chase. I like to say that you will know its guidance by the peace it brings. Even when the direction from the Spirit goes against what is “acceptable”, you will still have a peace in your soul. Another sure sign that you are getting the right direction will be the absolute lack of fear. You might find yourself moved by the Spirit to do something that would normally be out of your comfort zone. But, if it was truly directed by the Spirit there will be no fear associated with what you are asked to do. It will be the voice that allows your mind to open, and be set correct, allowing you to look at your fellow brother and sisters and see the God in them, as they are then able to see the same in you. When we let it arise from within it will naturally expand out to touch others as that is its nature. When the two meet, well that is when miracles happen, when mountains can be moved. That is when the Kingdom of God gets a little bit bigger, here and now.
I finally took a listen to my homing device, and the more I listen the more direction I get. This blog is a direct result of listening to that bit of me that retains the knowledge of the Will of God. It simply waits for us to awaken, to “remember”, who we are and have always been, children of God. Most of what I will write comes from a conviction of the heart that has been arrived at through the direction of the Spirit (or whatever you would like to call it). I won’t normally have a large amount of “scholarship” backing my statements and beliefs. I hope some day to have that, if indeed I find that it is helpful. My direction will come from the Holy Spirit, my homing device, and my validation will come from the peace that it brings.