(June 18, 2012 at 10:00 pm)teaearlgreyhot Wrote:(June 18, 2012 at 9:32 pm)Drich Wrote: If you are alive I can say that you have not asked sought or knocked as protrayed in Luke 11. That means if you have not received a measure of the Holy Spirit it is because you have not sought after God as perscribed.
I assume you're talking about these verses: 9“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
I don't see anything specific in this verse regarding a precise exact formulaic way of asking God. At best all I see is just a general principle of prayer. And I don't see how it relates at all to nonbelievers getting proof of God's existence.
I can assure you that myself and probably many other atheists have specifically asked God in prayer for proof of his existence many times and got nothing
Luke 11:5
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
(the next part is the promise)
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
In the story of the persistent neighbor did the neighbor get what he wanted after the first attempt? No, The neighbor asked and kept asking/knocking till he got what He was looking for. Christ is saying if we ask for a measure of the Holy Spirit we will get what we persistently ask for.
Why do you want a measure of the holy Spirit? Because it is a Literal part of God who lives/becomes apart of you. If you want 'proof' of God Having Him be apart of you will be a large part of that 'proof.'
How do you know if yoou have a measure of the holy Spirit? There are Spiritual Fruit or rather there are physical manifestations of the Spirit of God being apart of you.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things.
i know and paul knew that anyone could manifest these attributes, but the key to these signs of the indewellment of the Spirit is an overwhelming portion of these attributes.
Know that at first you might not even notice what you have been given. At first you might just see oppertunities to exhbit one of these attributes, and if you are faithful to the oppertunity you have been given you may be given another and another, till at some point you will develope a Spiritual Gift. Spiritual gifts are also found listed in scripture (one step at a time) They are often times based on one of the Spiritual fruits that you may be more inclined towards.
But before any of this will happen, most likly there are a few sins that you will feel weigh heavy on your heart. Before the Smallest measure of the Holy Spirit can be given to you must first repent of those sins. Not go to confession or Go before a congergation nor even to me. Just you and God, proclaim your desire to be seperated from the sin that owns you, so you and he can come together. ask that all obsticals/sin be taken down between you and mean it. Understand and don't feel bad if you can not seperate yourself from it completely (yet.) The Important thing is to have a contrite and repentant heart. Once you have done this I recomend unloading your bagage onto God ask Him why, then fill in the blank with every question you have and see what you can answer in your 'Seeking' as perscribed in luke 11. Reading the bible is going to have to be apart of this process, because God is identified in the bible. The only way to identify him in your life is to learn to look for Him in the scrpture. Then you will see what is written on page playout before you.
