Knowing God's Spirit

In John 14 Jesus tells his disciples that we are to know the Holy Spirit

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. - John 14:16-17

That sounds great. We’ve got God’s Spirit inside us and now we’re set.

But wait, let's think about what Jesus is saying.

When we say we “know” someone we often mean we either A) know of them, or B) have a close, personal relationship with them. Which describes my relationship with the Holy Spirit? I know of Him, but I want to have that close personal relationship.

[you see,] We can’t say we truly know someone unless we speak with and listen to them on a regular basis. If we ignore what the other person is saying, or never talk with them, then no relationship is going to develop.

What is on God’s heart? What is He doing today? What would God like me to be doing?

Most days I can answer these about my wife because I’ve spent time with her. But if I don’t spend time with the Lord like I do with her, how can I hope to know these things about Him?

In addition, if I spend all my time talking at my wife, I’d never know what she was thinking. Sometimes my prayers are just a list of requests without any time spent listening quietly to hear from God.

God already knows what I want, I am the one that really needs to listen.

It’s also possible to have known someone closely at one time, but to have drifted apart. Relationships aren’t static.

God’s will for you is to really know the Holy Spirit. We need faith in God. Not just faith that he exists, but faith that when he says he loves me, he really wants to spend time with me.

To hear God’s voice we need to spend time with him and believe that He actually loves us personally and will speak to us as he has said.