Evidences of Having Received the Holy Spirit
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he does not belong to Him.” (Romans 8:9)
“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”
(2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
Did You Receive the Holy Spirit When You Believed?
In Acts 19:1-2, when the apostle Paul met some disciples in Ephesus, he asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” They received the baptism of water by John the Baptist, but had not received the Holy Spirit as a gift by accepting Jesus Christ in their heart.
So the apostle Paul preached to them of believing in the one who was to come after John (the Baptist), that is of Jesus Christ. They heard it, and were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. The apostle Paul laid his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied (Acts 19:4-7).
God said, “I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2:28). It has been fulfilled. Today, those who have received the Holy Spirit have gathered and
formed churches. But there are many people who attend church and say they believe in God without even knowing what the Holy Spirit is and what the baptism of Holy Spirit is.
The Holy Spirit is the gift of God that God gives to those who gained the right to become His children by accepting Jesus Christ. So if we do not even know what the Holy Spirit is, how can we say we are God’s children? Today, only when we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and He dwells in our heart can we be called God’s children.
Therefore, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
Acts 2:38-39 says, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Namely, whoever confesses that he is a sinner and believes in Jesus as his Savior will be forgiven and receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.
Also, Luke 11:13 says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” In the Bible, when it was unlawful for Jews to have fellowship or interact with the Gentiles, the apostle Peter went to the house of Cornelius and preached Jesus Christ. Cornelius was a Gentile, but he feared God.
Then, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and those who longed to listen to the Word of God (Acts 10:1-46). This tells us that God does not look at the appearances of men but gives the Holy Spirit to those who fear God and believe in Him as their Father.
The Holy Spirit is gift of God given into the hearts of those who recognize themselves as sinners, accept Jesus Christ, and receive the forgiveness by believing in His name. If we understand this fact, we must have received the Holy Spirit when we believed.
2. The Evidences of Having Received the Holy Spirit
Among those who attend church and profess that they believe in God, there are many people who do not know whether or not they have received the Holy Spirit. So, let us consider the evidences that follow children of God who have received the Holy Spirit. We should be able to check our faith and have assurance that we are God’s children who have received the Holy Spirit.
1) We try to keep God’s Word
Before receiving the Holy Spirit, we could not love God because we did not have peace with God due to our sins. But once we receive the Holy Spirit, we come to love God. 1 John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”
Those who have received the Holy Spirit become thankful for the love and grace of God who has forgiven them, so they come to love God. Also, because their dead spirits were revived, they come to communicate with God and thus realize God’s will. They come to know that God’s commandments were given to His children with His love.
Before being born again through water and the Holy Spirit, it is hard for us to understand the Bible and God’s Word because we read the Bible and listen to God’s Word with human reasoning. But once we receive the Holy Spirit, we come to hear and read God’s Word with inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so we realize God’s will and keep it in mind spiritually.
Therefore, God’s children, who have received the Holy Spirit, must try to keep God’s commandments. This is the way, truth, and life, and leads us to the way of eternal life.
2) We want to obey God’s Word with joy
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). If we realize this love of God, we cannot but love God and obey His Word.
Those who have become God’s children by receiving the Holy Spirit should want to obey God’s Word because they are so thankful for the love of God who redeemed them
from their sins. We become more thankful as we understand His love. As we feel more thankful in our heart, we will obey God’s Word with joy.
God accepts this obedience pleasingly and loves us. Among those who have received the Holy Spirit, there are also people who have weak faith. They are willing to obey God’s Word, but due to their own thoughts and theories, they cannot come to obey with action. Even in this case, God is delighted with their willingness to obey His Word. These people should grow in spirit through prayers so that they will be able to obey in truth and joy.
3) We want to live a clean life
1 John 5:18 says, “We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” If we are born again by receiving the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit dwells in our heart, so we come to hate sins and evil and try to stay in goodness and light. This way, we come to resemble the purity of the Lord. God protects us from the enemy devil, and the devil is not able to touch us to the extent that we do not have sin.
What, then, is sin? 1 John 3:4 says, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” Just as we become a criminal if we break the law of a country, there is the law of God who is spirit. It is the law of the spiritual realm. It is the never-changing Word of God, the truth. The law is the word of God that is written in the Bible. If we violate the law written in the Bible and commit sins, God will not protect us.
Sins can generally be divided into ‘things of the flesh’ and ‘deeds/works of the flesh’. Romans 13:14 says, “…make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Things of the flesh refer to attributes of sins that can come out as action. Such things as envy, jealousy, hatred, and an adulterous mind that have not yet come out as action are the ‘things of the flesh’. When we actually put these things into action, it is called ‘the work of the flesh’.
That is why Galatians 5:19-21 says, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
If we commit works of the flesh in this way, it is to do something lawless. It is the action of committing sins. God considers as sin not only ‘works of the flesh’ that are seen or demonstrated by an action, but also ‘things of the flesh’ that are in one’s heart. He also tells us to get rid of all kinds of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
Before we were born again through the Holy Spirit, we did not receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit and we followed the desires of the flesh to bear the fruit of sin and evil. But if we are born again, we follow the desires of the Holy Spirit, so when we commit lawlessness, we can hear the groaning of the Holy Spirit. We can then follow the truth and try to live a holy and clean life.
4) We begin to love brothers in faith deeply
1 John 4:20-21 says, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” If we are born again through the Spirit, we know those who are born of God are our brothers and come to love them. Because we love God, we love and try to serve the church, which is the body of Christ, its pastors, and our brothers and sisters in faith.
5) We overcome the world with faith
1 John 5:4 says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith.” Once we receive the Holy Spirit, gain the right to become God’s children, and give birth to the spirit through the Holy Spirit, we come to have spiritual faith. We gain hope for Heaven with the help of the Holy Spirit and follow God’s will. We do not compromise with the world that causes us to commit lawless and unrighteous acts. Putting the truth into practice with the faith in Jesus Christ, and not compromising with the world, are the evidences that follow those who have received the Holy Spirit.
6) We come to have assurance of salvation
If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we have the witness in us (1 John 5:6, 5:10). It is the evidence that we have received the Holy Spirit. We keep God’s Word by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Lord, so we gain faith, hope, and assurance about the kingdom of heaven. We can then have the assurance of salvation when we see the
evidences that the Lord is with us. On the one hand, even if we have been a believer for a long time, we cannot have the assurance of salvation if we have not received the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, once he is sealed in his heart with the Holy Spirit even a new- believer would have the assurance of faith and salvation.
7) We gain assurance that we will receive what we ask for in prayer
1 John 5:15 says, “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” Once we become God’s children by receiving the Holy Spirit, we know that God is our Father, so we naturally ask Him and believe He will answer us. The Holy Spirit lets us realize that God answers us only if we love our brothers, keep God’s commandments, and ask God with the assurance of salvation.
8) We put our first priority in God
Once we realize that God loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son for us, we can put His will as our first priority and follow His will. Namely, if we were liars, we stop telling lies; if we hated others, we come to love others; if we were not peacemakers, we become peacemakers. We come out from darkness into light and follow the way of truth with which God is delighted. Our lives change into the ones that God wants, and this is the evidence that we received the Holy Spirit.