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When one enters the covenant with God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he receives the Spirit of God, that lives in this person since that moment. Together with the Holy Spirit, people receive spiritual gifts, that are special abilities, received for serving others from the Church, that is the Body of Christ. At the beginning of the first Epistle to Corinthians, Apostle Paul says about them:
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:4–7)(NASB)
Even if they were enriched in all ways, and didn’t lack anything, it seems that some misunderstandings concerning spiritual gifts appeared among Christians from Corint. That’s why, Paul writes to them about this subject, about spiritual gifts, in the 12th chapter, so that he might solve the problems that appeared in the church from Corint.
It seems that some Christians from Corint said that if the others didn’t have a certain spiritual gift, he didn’t have the Holy Spirit, who, in their opinion, was manifested only through that gift. Today there are still some similar opinions. Right from the start, since Apostle Paul begins to touch the subject of spiritual gifts, he clarifies how we can know if a one has got the Holy Spirit of God or no, and he says:
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:1–3)(NASB)
According to this passage, the proofs of God’s Spirit’s presence in one’s life are these:
The Christian who has the Holy Spirit can not accept to remain ignorant about the things of God
Pagan people are very comfortable in their ignorance concerning spiritual things and they have interest neither in their idols or in their religion, or in the true God. They are pleased to respect some traditions they have received from their parents, and that’s all. The same things goes for those that say they are Christians, but in name only. We live in country where 97% of population declared themselves Christians. But most of them are very, very far from God, and as pagans, they feel themselves comfortable in their ignorance concerning holy things.
When one becomes God’s child, he will seek to know Him, as Apostle Peter says:
…like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. (1 Peter 2:2–3)(NASB)
When I was a student in the first year at the History Faculty, the teacher of antique History advised us to read the Bible to be good specialists in future. I listened to his advice and I have hardly got a Bible, then I set myself to read it entirely and this took me some years. Then I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ from my heart and I entered the covenant with Him, even in the second day I went to buy a biblical enciclopedy from a church shop and I read the Bible again in the next two weeks, looking up the meaning of each unclear word in that biblical enciclopedy. This was a proof of God’s Spirit in my life.
Christians who received the Holy Spirit don’t woship idols anymore
After we have passed through communism and atheism, it seems to us that there is no more idolatry in this world. Here is what I have seen in Nepal and what people were worshipping there.
But don’t think that people don’t worship idols in our world too. An idol is every thing that takes God’s place, or what has the first place in your life, that has to be God’s. This thing can be a person, a position, a career, some values, etc. One who has the Holy Spirit will not accept any other thing except God to be the first thing in his life. And if I have mentioned Nepal, look at those who became children of God and whom I had the great opportunity to teach from the Word of God. It was winter, there was no heating in that room, and the wall was just the ground. But they, were coming every morning until late at night to study the Holy Scriptures with much zeal, because they have God’s Spirit.
The Christian who has the Holy Spirit doesn’t deny the Name of Jesus Christ
“Anathema” means denial, disavowal and when authorities were persecuting and torturing Christians, they were asking them to deny the Name of Jesus in front of witness. The Christian that has the Holy Spirit will not be able to do this. Eusebius from Caesarea is a Christian historian who lived in the IVth century and he wrote this about a martyr, named Sanct:
And Sanct passed with great courage through the sufferings that were above human power and that he was put to by people. The wicked hoped that they would manage in that way to impose him to say forbidden words, that they tried to squeeze out of him with permanent oppressive tortures. But he was so unflinching in his decision, that he even didn’t tell his name, what people he was from, his native city, or if he was a slave or a free man; but he answered all questions only this in Latin: “I am Christian”. (Eusebius from Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, 20)
The Christian who has the Holy Spirit testifies Jesus as the Lord
Again, in our world people declare themselves Christians, but they don’t live in obedience to Christ, and they don’t even care what Christ waits from them. This is not true Christianity, but one limited to traditions. The true Christian, who has the Holy Spirit, will live in full obedience to the Lord Jesus, seeking to do all things as they are written in the Holy Scriptures and to live a beautiful life.
Spiritual gifts are also a showing of the Spirit, as Apostle Paul says in chapter 12 of the I Epistle to Corinthians. But, the first things that prove if one has the Holy Spirit or no, will be those listed above.
What are the proofs of the Holy Spirit in your life? When did you enter the covenant with God? How was your life changed since then until now?
Translated by Djugostran Felicia