“You know Him for He dwells with you....and He will be IN you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:17-18)...”and from within your innermost being, your heart...shall flow rivers of living water...but this He (Jesus) spoke concerning the Spirit whom those who believed in Him (as the scripture has said)...will receive...for the Holy Spirit was not yet given...”(John 7:38-39)

So...”have you, or did you...receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2)

You should in no way...feel bad or even embarrassed or ashamed if you take pause here and hesitate to even answer that question. In fact, I would think it is a good idea for anyone who is reading this to take a moment and give serious consideration and look within and ask yourself...”Did I? Is the Holy Spirit of God truly dwelling in me, leading me, transforming me to walk just as Jesus walked?” Paul even admonishes us to look into that proverbial mirror (God’s word) and to ‘examine ourselves’ (2 Cor. 13:5; 1 John 2:6)

Some might be genuinely asking about now...”How would I know?” And that is a great question to ask and work through. Let me also tell you up front- this could be a tad uncomfortable for you at first to do, but the end result could potentially be one of the greatest and most life changing things that ever happened to you. But you’re gonna have to be honest with yourself, and with God here. And we will use God’s word to help enlighten us and keep us in His ‘lane’.

To begin with, just because you have ‘felt goose bumps’ in the past and/or shed ‘sincere tears’ before, maybe while singing a hymn or worship song in church...does not mean you were ‘filled with the Spirit of God’. I’ve experienced such ‘emotional responses’ watching a beer commercial ...to be perfectly honest with you.  So there's that to consider.

But you are convinced that you were ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ because you ‘spoke in other tongues’, just like they did on the Day of Pentecost back in Acts 2:4? Okay, great...but as I mentioned yesterday, while I don’t want to dismiss this ‘spiritual phenomena’... nor do I want to make this about ‘speaking in tongues’ either. As Paul pointed out in 1 Cor. 13:1- you could possibly be speaking in the tongues of both ‘men and angels’...but if the true ‘agape’ love of Christ is not abiding in you, then you are nothing more than a ‘sounding brass or a clanging cymbal’. Reading on there in vs. 4-7, you’ll see exactly how that ‘love’ manifests. I know it makes for great wedding material to have read, but you might want to look it over again.

Did Jesus not make it clear: “by this all will know that you are My disciples...if you have love for one another?” (John 13:35)...even specifying that it would be similar to the same kind of love in which He first loved us? (34, & 15:12)

Going back to our passage there in 1 Cor. 13:1-3, Paul even took time out to explain other ‘evident signs’ that might be present in our lives, but it's not the true validation that God’s Spirit is working in/through us... if we fell short in demonstrating this God kind of love. He mentions having ‘spiritual gifts’ like ‘prophesy’ and understanding “all mysteries and all knowledge”, even ‘having all faith to move mountains’...of all things. And get this- one could dedicate their life to ‘selling all to feed the poor...and if it came to it...giving one’s life to be burned’...yet...the in the absence of this kind of ‘God love’...all those things mentioned above would ‘profit you nothing’. His words, not mine.

Which takes us back to Matt. 7:22-23 (yeah, that passage again). Here we see these ‘many’ people who will stand before Christ one day and rattle off all these seemingly good, spiritual things they did...”in HIS name” even, like casting out demons and prophesying and doing many ‘wonders’. And what will the sobering response be that they are greeted with? “I never knew you, you who continue to practice sin...depart from Me!”

Didn’t Paul warn us all of the danger in being ‘deceived by the serpent as Eve was’...and if we were not careful, we might be led astray by ‘another gospel’ which in turn could cause us to ‘follow another Jesus’ and yes...even ‘receive another spirit’, (2 Cor. 11:3-4). This might be a good time to flip over to 2 Tim. 3:1-5 where Paul describes what ‘perilous’ things will be happening in the ‘last days’ along with a list of ‘evident fruit’ that men would be bearing, all the while ‘walking in a form of godliness’ but ‘denying its power’. And yes, there’s that same word for ‘power’ being used again, that speaks of a supernatural, miraculous power that will clearly be void or absent in these same people.

Still scratching your head and trying to ‘assess’ whether you ‘got it (Holy Spirit) or not’ abiding in you? For the record...just because someone ‘told you that you did, and to never doubt or question it’, does not mean that you actually received it, or have it. Take a look at James 3. We know from what Jesus taught us, that ‘from the abundance of the heart...the mouth speaks’ (Luke 6:44-45). You just can’t hide what’s in your heart, because it will manifest. So when James touches on this very subject, he starts stepping on our toes when he points out how we tend to ‘bless God’ and then turn and ‘curse men’, ...‘coming from the same mouth’. (James 3:9-10) You might want to underline that next part where he says: “Brethren...these things ought not to be so!” But don’t stop there...there’s more – “Can a spring/fountain send forth both fresh water and salt water”, or can a fig tree bear olives?”. He doesn’t wait for us to answer as he clearly answers this question for us: NOPE! (James 3:11-12).

Interesting, James’s use of the word picture in talking about a ‘fountain’, because that is exactly the same word picture that Jesus first described the giving of this Holy Spirit back in John 7:38-39. (I’m going to go a tad longer today because this is so important for us to grasp).

Some of you about now may be experiencing what many who were listening to Peter felt, back on the day of Pentecost, when they were ‘cut to the heart’ and asked: “What should we do?” (Acts 2:37). This is when Peter commanded them to ‘Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins...and YOU SHALL RECEIVE...the gift of the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 2:38).

Repentance must first begin in the heart, where there is a total ‘turning to the Lord’. And when we do this, we can expect and anticipate a true ‘refreshing that comes from the presence of the Lord’ (Acts 3:19). And here’s some good news for anyone who knows this happened to you...maybe long ago- It’s one of those things that can reoccur, just like those apostles experienced...first on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:40)...then look over at Acts 4:23-31 where it happened again (31). I mean really...did filling up the tank in your car the first time you drove it off the lot...last you? Or have you had to go back to the station repeatedly and ‘fill up again’? :- )

One last example from scripture that reminds us that God does not need our help in seeing people be filled with the Holy Spirit. It took place with Cornelius and his family where it becomes clear that this gospel message was being sent to all, both Jews and Gentiles. I’ll let you read that on your own in Acts 10:44-48.

Anyone out there beginning to ‘thirst’ for something more to empower and transform you and your walk of faith about now? Finish up reading Luke 11:9-13. It’s that story Jesus used to explain how “if we being of an ‘evil’ nature know how to give good gifts to our own children...how much more... will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those ...who ask Him?”

When He told us to ‘go and sin no more’ (John 5:14) and to ‘be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect’ (Matt. 5:48)...He never once for a moment intended for us to try doing this on our own. In fact Jesus said ‘apart from Him...we can do nothing’...there can be no fruit produced (John 15:4-5).

So here’s a novel idea...why not humble yourself, draw near to Him...and...just ask Him? (James 4:7-10)