March 11 I Monday

Deuteronomy 13-15

Mark 12:28-44

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by
human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit….”     

—1 Corinthians 2:13

There are those who read the Bible with a sharp and studious mind but do not believe it, while others not only believe it, but it changes their lives. What makes the difference? Why is the Word of God life-transforming to some and to others merely a compilation of writings conceived in man’s imagination?

God says in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” God looks upon our hearts and sees our motives. If we are genuinely seeking the truth about creation, our existence and the meaning and purpose to life, we are seeking God and are being drawn by His Spirit.

To understand this, we need to go back to the Garden of Eden when God withdrew His Spirit from humankind. We are the only form of life God created with the capacity to question. Plants do not wonder when they will get watered, and pets do not wonder what life is all about. This capacity to question is unique to human beings and is our spiritual side, which God intended to be filled with Him. He is the fuel we were made to run on, and our reconciliation to God is His desire for us. When earnestly seeking Him, the Holy Spirit does a work in our hearts whereby we become open and receptive to not only the existence of God but to what He says in His Word.

Paul writes, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14). Every accurate detail we believe about God and Jesus Christ is by revelation of the Holy Spirit. We may have questions and doubts, but God welcomes them, for they pave the way for the Holy Spirit to give understanding and bring life to His word.

But how do we know the voice of the Holy Spirit and if He is doing anything at all in our lives? The fact that we are seeking is evidence itself, but the voice of the Holy Spirit is that tugging in our hearts that says there is more to life than our three score years and ten. There is more than family, friends, work and routine. For many people, hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit begins with a restlessness, a pondering and searching for what makes life make sense. God says if we seek Him with all of our hearts, we will find Him, and in a way unique to each of us, we will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit of God.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for your Holy Spirit who gives life and understanding to Your Word. I pray for everyone seeking the truth to experience Him.