Finding Christ: Things that I probably should do, and things I probably shouldn't

Reading the Bible last night was a calamitous failure. It was so painstakingly frustrating that recollecting the event is making it difficult for me to type this post out.

It would be naive, however, for me to say that no good came of it. I admit, I felt no guidance from the Holy Spirit while reading John. Undoubtedly this is the reason that many believers will point to as being the fault to the tremendous difficulty I had while reading, and since I am trying to become a believer, I am going to fault myself for lacking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

So I ask myself, "how can I feel the guidance of the Holy Spirit?" Or "how can I feel the presence of God?"

Perhaps there I things that I am doing that are getting in the way of a personal connection with God. Perhaps there are things that I should be doing to improve my ability to personally connect with God. I've given it plenty of thought (read: a solid five minutes) and have compiled a list of these "things" that I probably should do, and should probably stop doing.


Things I should do
Pray
Read The Bible
Seek counsel from strong believers
Help people
Obey the Ten Commandments
Ask for forgiveness
Give thanks
Forgive past trespasses

Things I should try to stop doing
Looking at Pr0n
Breaking the Ten Commandments
Lying
Being prideful
Hating people
Judging people
Alienating people
Watching objectionable material
Listening to objectionable material
Doing anything to get my way
Swearing (definitely going to need help with that one)
Holding grudges
Seeking/starting confrontation
Satisfying myself at others' expense
Drinking (granted I haven't had a drink in awhile)
Sex (definitely won't need help with that one)


Will I be able to do (or not do) all of these things? Probably not. Are there more thing that should be listed? Probably so. However it can't hurt for me to try to change my ways for the time being, can it?

I suppose I can only pray that doing so will help show God that I truly want him in my heart.