All of us are constantly looking to find a faster track. It might be a faster checkout line, way to raise our children correctly, the process of healing our bruises (for me it is grieving the loss of Connie), reading an important book, building wealth, and the list goes on and on. The same search goes for a faster way to become spiritually mature—that being in the full stature of Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:13). I’ve thought many times that I wish I had learned what I now know 50 years earlier. I possibly could have helped more people become stronger and spiritually productive. The reality is the information I have learned wasn’t available 50 years ago. By the same token, I suspect I would not have been open to learning those things earlier. As Solomon wrote, for everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1, NLT2).
Some things we can learn faster if we know how to position ourselves to be open to what we hear. Let me brief you on how this can happen to you.
Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, was a medical doctor who was fascinated by the work of the Holy Spirit. His words, more than the other gospel writers, were most heavily laced with accounts of the works of the Holy Spirit. He begins the book of Acts with these words, In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:1-2, NLT2). The words that caught my attention were after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus had promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would guide them after His death. The evening He arose, He appeared to the disciples, breathed on them, and commanded them to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). Although the Spirit’s infilling would follow (Acts 2), the Spirit opened their minds so they could understand all Jesus had said and was now saying. With this elevated level of supernatural light, they experienced a surge in spiritual maturity.
Through my personal experience, as well as working with hundreds of other people, when the presence of the Holy Spirit is heavy upon a person, they are able to download far more in a short time than is possible otherwise. This dimension of supernatural presence radically changes a person exemplified in Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul described this by writing, so all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT2). When we are in His felt presence, and only then, the Holy Spirit downloads His love and wisdom and all the rest of who He is.
The fast track to spiritual maturity is not experienced in a classroom, listening to podcasts, sermons, conferences or through reading books. For certain, the Holy Spirit uses those great times to enlighten us, but real growth in our inner being happens when He makes what we see, hear or read become dynamically alive in our spirit in a very personal way. It is a form of experiencing God rather than simply hearing about Him. You get on the fast track by positioning yourself to encounter the Spirit of God on a regular basis. I have had multiple holy moments in the last 10 days that have brought me healing and transformation. His presence changes things.