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What is the secret ingredient that the Holy Spirit can NOT resist?
The sincerity of heart in a seeker of God. It is what gets God's attention...in time with
persistent practice it turns to purity.
Then, the love in the heart of a lover of God is irresistible to God...
He is like a Moth to a flame.
Have you not experienced God directly?
Be still until you get in touch in the silence within your essence that longs for Him, and only Him;
get intimate with the hole inside you that misses Him...that needs His Divine Love.
It is there inside you, raw.
If a little inspiration on Sunday or reading the Bible satisfies you...He will never visit you...
He will give you a drop if that will satisfy you.
Like a mother gives a pacifier to her baby..but when that doesn't satisfy him anymore...she
gives him herself.
If you will settle for no less than HIM...watch and see what happens.
Interesting way to put the question, OP. I spent a number of years believing that what I had been taught was dead wrong, including the very existence of God, but now realize that the Spirit was never absent: I just needed to realize the nature of that Spirit and how it was working in my life. Perhaps that is something worth looking into.
I felt that way probably 30 years ago when I was lost in the churches and people could manipulate me with words. There is no reason to believe God has taken himself away from you -- it is simply a mis-perception that can be due to issues you have about trust. If you've ever laid yourself bare before God (and only you know this) then he will lead you. The mind is the devil's playground though. Put it OUT OF YOUR MIND to think God is withholding his love or grace from you if you are sincerely seeking him with a repentant heart.
You will abide in my love if You keep my commandments just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.
If you remain in me and my word remains in you, you may ask what you will and it shall be done for you. My Father is glorified in your bearing much fruit and becoming my disciple.
I am the vine and you are the branches and my Father is the vine keeper. He pruned away every garden branch but trims clean the fruitful ones to increase there yield. Yet you are cleansed by the word I have spoken to you. "
I know some people who feel like they have utterly lost the Holy Spirit, or like God may have cut them off for being unfruitful. and I was wondering if there is anyone who has been through something like this and came back to God. someone who felt like Saul and God gave a second chance. who felt empty in their hearts after knowing God.
Once you believe, the Holy Spirit is a permanent fixture in you........you've been listening to the blind and confused.....
Once you believe, the Holy Spirit is a permanent fixture in you........you've been listening to the blind and confused.....
Regardless what you believe or do not believe, the Holy Spirit is a permanent fixture in you. The only difference is your sensitivity to it and whether or not it resonates with who you are becoming.
Occasionally, yes. God knows I have a great need to feel comforted and loved throughout the day. A few times I have been made to feel quite distant from God. Ultimately, such a thing has served a constructive purpose - i.e., to show me what I was doing wrong. Correcting my behavior has not only fixed these temporary downturns, but elevated me even further in faith compared to where I had been.
If you seek Him with all your heart, God will never truly abandon you. You will be faced with certain challenges that are designed to grow your faith. It's not always pleasant to be confronted with these challenges, but that's how character is built. Just keep in mind that God is with you every step of the way.
If you have truly accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are truly a child of God, and He will never let you go.
Once you believe, the Holy Spirit is a permanent fixture in you........you've been listening to the blind and confused.....
This is what I think I may be starting to realize, and I've recently read some cogent theology affirming exactly that.
I am quite sure I personally accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior around ages 12-13. This is what I did because I read the Bible independently. It required something more from me than merely attending church or going to CCD classes. It was a personal relationship with God. I am sure I felt the Holy Spirit at that time in my life.
But I was led astray, particularly as I got more interested in the Catholic religion with which I was raised. The Catholic idea of God was just wrong to me. So at the age of 14, I began to subscribe to specious ideas that would deny that existence of God, and I started considering myself an atheist. I began to detest Christianity.
Well, long story short, now at the age of 28, having recently reaffirmed my Christian faith, I am starting to see just how the past nearly decade-and-a-half followed a trajectory totally conducive to my present realization of God's love and His amazing grace. I don't see how all this happened by accident.
The most profound signs from God came in recent months, although I was still an atheist. I think I understand now exactly what God was trying to communicate to me, and it was a message that my specific life experience equipped me to understand. I have an inescapable feeling of having been snatched right back by God. In other words, it's not that I endeavored to regain my Christian faith. It's that I was practically hit over the head by this faith, and shown the Light so clearly that even my obstinate mind could be changed and brought back to God.
I do know my life feels so much more fulfilling now than it did until just recently. As I began this new journey, I also had the notion that I was unsaved during my period as an atheist. In fact, it is quite possible that may not have been the case, insofar as there had been a specific moment of salvation in my earlier life. I never would have understood it before, but that idea rings so true to me now. Whatever the case may be, God had an amazing plan for me!
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You will be faced with certain challenges that are designed to grow your faith. It's not always pleasant to be confronted with these challenges, but that's how character is built. Just keep in mind that God is with you every step of the way. 
