How can you know if you have received the Holy Spirit? (3 manifestations)

I have received this question from a reader of our portal and I will present some manifestations from which a person can know if he has received the Holy Spirit.

1. The person who has received the Holy Spirit confesses Jesus Christ as the Lord and the Savior

Before he begins to explain the subject about the spiritual gifts, Apostle Paul wrote:

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)

Christians from Corinth were taught a wrong teaching by someone, who told them that the manifestation of a certain spiritual gift, such as various kinds of tongues, or prophecy is the proof that one has the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul crumbles this false doctrine from the beginning and he says that the proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person is the full obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ firstly, and this is manifested that this person doesn’t worship the idols anymore and doesn’t speak anything against the Savior, inversely, he testifies to everyone that Jesus Christ is the Lord.

2. The person who has received the Holy Spirit confesses boldly about the Lord Jesus Christ

Before His ascension to heaven, the Lord Jesus told his disciples the following about the Holy Spirit, whom they were to receive:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)(NASB)

After the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, the witnesses heard them speaking wonderful things of God in their own languages. Apostle Peter, who denied the Savior in the evening when Jesus Christ was arrested and tortured, after he had received the Holy Spirit he began to confess very boldly about the Lord Jesus Christ and he did that for the rest of his life.

3. The persons who have received the Holy Spirit are passionate to know the will of God

The Book of Acts relates us that after Peter’s sermon in the Day of Pentecost

those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:41–42)(NASB)

After a Christian receives the Holy Spirit, he has a great passion to know God’s will and he studies deeply the Scriptures to apply all that he studies. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is the One who makes us understand the Bible, as the Lord said when he still was on the earth:

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (The Gospel of John 16:13)(NASB)

So, the main manifestations of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life are:

• He doesn’t follow and doesn’t worship the idols, no matter what is the nature of these idols

• He listens to the Lord Jesus Christ in all things

• He confesses about the Lord Jesus boldly to all people

• He studies the Holy Scriptures daily to know the will of God to fulfill it in his own life and to tell others about it

• He doesn’t accept the presence of sin in his own life

• He serves others in accord to the gift he has received from the Holy Spirit

Have you received the Holy Spirit? How is His presence manifested in your life?

Translated by Felicia Djugostran