"And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart ... to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul" (Deuteronomy 30:6)
Obedience is both the evidence and the definition of our love for Christ and the condition for receiving the Holy Spirit. We demonstrate our love not simply in an intellectual comprehension of Christ's teachings but by applying them to our lives.
A young married man once called on me expressing a desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Prompted by the Spirit, I said, "God and do the next thing God tells you to do!" He left my study hurt that I had not taken more time with him.
For several weeks I did not see the fellow. When he called again, I knew by looking that God had fulfilled the desire of his heart. He confided that at the time he had called on me, he and his wife were estranged. The "next thing God told him to do" was to go to the city where his wife was staying and be reconciled to her. He obeyed the voice of God, and his obedience resulted in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As one preacher put it, "Obedience is always followed by blessing!"
God being who He is must have obedience from His children. Man being who he is must render that obedience.
~A. W. Tozer~
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