How to Cultivate Receptivity to the Holy Spirit (Part 1 of 2)

Like many things in the Christian life, coming to an understanding and awareness of the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit is just the first step.  We have to develop receptivity to his presence.  Just like a farmer sows seed and then cares for the plants we must cultivate receptivity to the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It isn't something that just happens to us all the time, yet with learning and practice we can become far more aware of God’s manifest presence and learn to experience his manifest presence far more often.

We may have a special experience at a camp or an altar call or a retreat but those moments are generally highlights and are relatively few and far between.  Cultivating a regular receptivity to the Holy Spirit has the potential to change our day to day lives.  As I mentioned last week, receptivity to the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit is something that can be increased by exercise or destroyed by neglect (Tozer The Pursuit of God pg 64).

Sometimes we wonder why God seems far off and why he doesn't seem to be acting in our lives.  Seeing as he is the all-powerful God and we are limited human beings, it is more likely that we hold ourselves back from a close relationship with God, perhaps through simple unawareness or perhaps through neglect.  We will never fully understand God, but we have to trust him and his actions.  Isaiah 55:8-9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  God is always trying to get our attention, he always wants to reveal himself to us and he always wants to communicate with us, though we may not understand how he goes about it or why something occurs (Tozer The Pursuit of God pg 65).  We only have to choose how we respond.

As I discussed last week, choosing to respond to God and seek the manifest presence of God will require surrender on our parts.  It is one of those paradoxes of Christian faith that surrender here brings us a new level of spiritual awareness.  Following Jesus is never about oneself so seeking the manifest presence of God for selfish reasons will not work.  A selfish person will never really accomplish much because they are only ever out for their own interests.  On the other hand a person dedicated to a cause is far more dangerous.  Someone dedicated to the kingdom of God holds the keys of change in the world.  Next week I’ll conclude this series with some practical steps we can use to cultivate receptivity to the Holy Spirit in our lives.