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Often, when I talk with people "out in the world," and suggest (for example) that children should be encouraged to study what they are *moved* to study, the response is, "You mean just let them do anything they *want*??? Wouldn't they just sit around and watch tv all day, or otherwise waste their time?" And, of course, I then have the opportunity to explain, "No, I mean that they should study what they are moved to study by the Holy Spirit." Hopefully ... at least over time, if not immediately ... it will actually "seem right to a child" to study what the Holy Spirit moves them to study, and they will actually *want* to study such things, but it certainly doesn't *always* work that way! As with the rest of us, acting upon what the Holy Spirit moves us to do can be difficult, uncomfortable, etc. Our boys, for example, have known for a *long* time ... literally since before they can *remember (!) ... that they are *called* to study music. I wish y'all could see how *difficult* it can be for them, though, when they are suddenly asked to "move to the next level." That almost always requires more of their time, for instance, which *reduces* time for things they truly do love "in the natural." It's been inspiring to me to see the way in which they have continued to fight to do what they feel profoundly *moved* to do, even when it is *far* far far from what they "want" to do! (They've shed many tears over this, tears of frustration and sometimes anger ... but they've always come out the other side of it and experienced such things as the joy and victory with which our Lord often rewards obedience, patience and diligence!) I hope and pray that we will *all* grow into higher and higher levels of *wanting* to do what the Holy Spirit moves us to do, moment by moment, throughout the course of our lives. Speaking for myself, it seems to me that I've grown in the requisite willingness, and even eagerness, but I've hardly "arrived!" (Got a *looooong* way to go!)
In any case, I would hope that when I use the word *moved*, it is understood that I *always* mean "moved by the Holy Spirit." One area that it is of *fundamental* and *huge* importance to spend *substantial* and *daily* time with *Scripture*! It seems to me that, when we make every possible effort to steep our souls in Scripture, it becomes *much* easier to actually *hear* what the Holy Spirit is saying to us, instead of hearing what "the world" might be saying, or what" the natural man" in us might be urging. It seems to me a little like keeping a piano as well tuned as possible. If a piano is *not* "in tune," it's never going to sound right, and it is impossible to tune *other* instruments by it. My experience has been that, the more time I spend with Scripture, the more "on pitch" I'm able to stay in my *life* ... and the more that the promptings of "the world" and "the natural" sound *off* pitch to me. I wish that I would have entered a personal relationship with our Lord earlier in my life than I did, and that I'd been "better tuned" at an earlier time in my life, since *so* many of my earlier participations now seem to me to have been "off pitch," and are *not* things I would even *consider* engaging in again. There are, of course, things which are evil and wicked ... and also things which are "good, but not the *best*" (less edifying than other things). The Holy Spirit, in my experience, advises us at *every* moment of our lives. It is important, to understate it, to be able to *hear* what the holy Spirit is moving us to do, such that we can *act* on that, instead of acting upon lesser things. -- JRice (JRice43497@aol.com) |