Mushroom
Puritan Board Doctor
Having first come to faith in a charismatic deliverance type church, I had experiences that I thought were the workings of the Holy Spirit that I now believe were mostly not. One legacy of those experiences is that now I am not always certain that I know the Spirit, which has devastating effects on my assurance at times. I used to think the warm fuzzies was the Spirit, and maybe sometimes it was, but that was often enough related to biblically unsound practices that I'm never sure now.
From reading the scriptures, it seems as though we should be intimately familiar with Him, so as to walk in Him and receive His comfort. So much so that we can refer to Him as a person rather than a thing or a doctrine. After all the error I was a part of back then, I'm leery of anything other than purely objective fact, so I'm sure that affects my perspective, perhaps negatively. I want to know Him as Comforter and Guide, as Paraclete. Maybe I'm approaching the whole issue from an erroneous direction borne out of my past experience, I don't know.
Is the way we know Him by the affect He has on our consciences, causing us to desire what is good and eschew what is evil? Is it by scripture coming to remembrance when we need it? Is it by recognizing that the love we have for God and His people is His work in us? Is it by seeing His fruit in our lives (boy, I'm in trouble with that!)? Is there something more intimate, or am I hanging on to mystical ideas from my past?
Anybody have any counsel, or could point me to some applicable resource that might help?
From reading the scriptures, it seems as though we should be intimately familiar with Him, so as to walk in Him and receive His comfort. So much so that we can refer to Him as a person rather than a thing or a doctrine. After all the error I was a part of back then, I'm leery of anything other than purely objective fact, so I'm sure that affects my perspective, perhaps negatively. I want to know Him as Comforter and Guide, as Paraclete. Maybe I'm approaching the whole issue from an erroneous direction borne out of my past experience, I don't know.
Is the way we know Him by the affect He has on our consciences, causing us to desire what is good and eschew what is evil? Is it by scripture coming to remembrance when we need it? Is it by recognizing that the love we have for God and His people is His work in us? Is it by seeing His fruit in our lives (boy, I'm in trouble with that!)? Is there something more intimate, or am I hanging on to mystical ideas from my past?
Anybody have any counsel, or could point me to some applicable resource that might help?