Amen Brother Beacon! It ought not be a mystery as to how we are saved, converted. If we would look, we would live. Another truth that is important and helps us along the way is understanding that conversion is a point in time, but it will not come without a response to the wooing of the Holy Spirit which is a patient protracted process. Yes, sanctification is also a protracted process, but it is after conversion which is a point in time. Yes, we need to die daily, but conversion is a point in time when the heart is fully surrendered to God. Then, being sanctified we will continue to learn of God's ways and develop a stronger character. This process after the conversion process is the work of a lifetime and is perfect at each stage. All of the fruits come at conversion and in the sanctification process the fruit becomes more abundant. That is, we become more patient, more loving, more kind. God allows the trials to grow in strength in the same manner that one lifting weights will grow stronger as the weights are increased.
The wind is heard among the branches of the trees, rustling the leaves and flowers; yet it is invisible, and no man knows whence it comes or whither it goes. So with the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart. It can no more be explained than can the movements of the wind. A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or to trace all the circumstances in the process of conversion; but this does not prove him to be unconverted. By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working upon the heart. Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon Him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus. By many this is called sudden conversion; but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God,—a patient, protracted process. [/b]