Rom 12:11-12 – Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer.
Our ability to understand the truth and hear from the Holy Spirit is primarily hinged on the quality and consistency of our time spent in prayer and devotion to the Lord. A Christian who does not have and maintain a strong and consistent *daily* prayer life, as well as time spent meditating on the word of God, will NOT have a good grasp on the truth and will develop flawed doctrine. Things will always seem perfectly right and reasonable in our own minds no matter where we are at, so we need the Holy Spirit to teach us, enlighten us and correct our thinking where it is flawed and incorrect in areas that we are currently blind to.
Besides Jesus, there will never be a man who sees everything perfectly and holds flawless theology and the knowledge of God, so we have a continual, ongoing dependence upon the Lord to open up our eyes and reveal His truth to us. We cannot learn our way out of this blindness as a function of the intellect. Study methods, exegesis and systematic theology will not accomplish it, it must be a work of the Holy Spirit as we humble ourselves *daily*, pray and seek His face. The lack of that time is why there are such widely differing views and disagreements amongst Christians on theology and doctrine, each being fully convinced in their own minds. We will never come together in the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace absent a deep work of the Holy Spirit that happens in each one of us individually in the day to day pursuit of Him.
As we do that faithfully, the Holy Spirit will work in us and we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And we must continue that practice. The day that we begin to get complacent is the very day that the eyes of our understanding begin to darken. Wisdom in the things of God is progressive, not only to obtain, but to maintain. There is no have and hold, we are either growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ or we are diminishing in grace, wisdom and knowledge and all of it is dependent on the vitality and consistency of our daily devotion to Him in faithfully praying, seeking His face and diligently following after Him.