Daily writing prompt

Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

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My most influential teacher was and is and will always be the Holy Spirit. He taught me and continues to teach me, not by lecture but by demonstrating His presence, power, and love in my heart. When I start to go off track, He lovingly leads me back to Himself. One of the Holy Spirit’s teaching methods is godly sorrow.

It’s good to be sorry, to truly be sorrowful, to experience godly sorrow–to be sorry for any wrong you’ve thought, said, or done (not just to feel sorry for yourself because you got caught). Godly sorrow sounds the alarm that we need to repent and where possible to make amends. It makes us ready and eager to make things right with God and with other people.

Godly sorrow happens in our heart when we allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of wrong. When we’re willing to humbly pray like King David: “Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind,” and “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me,” we experience it.

Healing happens when a human heart opens up to godly sorrow. Both history and current events clearly display the evil that is part of human nature. If you were an alien visiting the planet, would you consider earth people to be good? Or would you agree with the ancient prophet Isaiah? “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.”

Will we be like the Pharisee in the temple whose religion kept him from seeing his own sin, but clearly saw the sin of other people? Or will we be like the tax collector and cry out with godly sorrow, “God have mercy on me a sinner,”?

Accept the call of godly sorrow. Embrace the responsibility to repent. Any time you sin in thought, word, or deed, quickly admit it, confess it, renounce it, turn away from it, and receive God’s mercy and forgiveness.

My most influential teacher resides within me in an objective, non-material way. He speaks clearly to me through the objective conscience He has given me. (If my conscience is subjective, why does it disagree with me so often?)

Language is immaterial, it is so much more than sounds and letters. Language creates order in our mind and enables us to comprehend and communicate the immateriality of information. Through the inner objectivity of Spirit-given rationality and supernatural revelation we can connect heart-to-heart with the Word (the eternal Communicator) who spoke all that exists into being. (See John 1:1-18.)

Science and technology can transmit information artificially, but they have no information about how information originated. My most influential teacher does!

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26.)

“As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him.” (1 John 2:27.)