To know if you have the Holy Spirit, you must look at:
1 Corinthians 12:3 – Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Saying “Jesus be cursed” is not done with your lips. It is an action where you decide not to believe in Jesus’ teachings and choose to follow your own compromised interpretation of Jesus’ teachings that suits you.
Saying “Jesus is Lord” means to agree with Jesus’ teachings and his interpretation of God’s word, without manipulating or compromising them. It means to obey his teachings by living your life by his standards of right and wrong and not your own compromised version that suits you.
Luke 6:46 – “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
We must discern whether we are in agreement with Jesus’ teachings.
1 Corinthians 2:14 – The person
without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
We should examine ourselves to see if we are indeed of the faith.
2 Corinthians 13:5 – Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
Lamentations 3:40 – Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 11:28-32 – Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
We must test ourselves to see if we are indeed aligned with Jesus’ teachings such as:
Luke 14:33 – In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Other translations:
Luke 14:33 NLT – So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.
Luke 14:33 NASB – So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
Jesus instructs us to give up all of our possessions in order to be considered his disciple. This is what all of the disciples did. Anyone today who is a Christian, is a disciple of Jesus. This instruction is for every Christian believer.
Matthew 19:27 KJV – Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Luke 18:28 KJV – Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.
The very basis of Jesus’ entire ministry was to teach us not to compromise the word of God by adding exceptions to His words. Jesus came to teach us to follow the word of God without exceptions and compromise. And wherever we fall short, we confess, repent and ask God for forgiveness. Simply put, we must never blur the lines about what Jesus has taught us to be right and wrong by lowering his standards.
We must not be like the Pharisees and scoff at Jesus’ teachings and make excuses.
Luke 16:13-14 – No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus.
We must be willing to follow all of the Bible’s teachings, even if we don’t agree with them personally. Otherwise, we cannot claim to have the same spirit as Jesus, if we disagree with him.
Luke 6:30 – Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
We cannot disagree with any of the teachings of Jesus and claim to have the Holy Spirit.
When we accept all that Jesus has said without manipulating and compromising his word, and apply it to our everyday lives, then we know that we have the Holy Spirit. If we accept all that Jesus taught, then we know we have the same spirit that Jesus had. Until then, tongues can be manufactured which the weak take as a sign that they have the Holy Spirit. This is dangerous because if you believe you already have the Holy Spirit, you will stop looking for it and so you will never receive it.
Matthew 7:7 – “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
In order to receive the Holy Spirit, we must make seeking and asking for it, the first and only priority in our lives.
Matthew 6:33 – But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…
Having the Holy Spirit is not as easy as just speaking in tongues. Jesus himself states how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God, which is receiving the Holy Spirit.
Mark 10:24 BLB – And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answering says to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter into the kingdom of God!
Speaking in tongues is not evidence that you have entered the kingdom of heaven, meaning you have received the Holy Spirit. I encourage everyone to keep pushing forward in your faith. Don’t settle for what the church tells you out of a motive not to offend, so that you will come back week after week. Many churches have compromised speaking the truth because they see a decrease in church attendance and tithing whenever they have tried. Through their own evil nature, people simply change churches to one that speaks an easy, uplifting message of what they want to hear.
2 Timothy 4:3 – For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Lamentations 2:14 – Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.