Indwelled by The Holy Spirit

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Enoch111

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Is being indwelled by the Holy Spirit taken on faith or evidence?
Both. Firstly the Holy Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. But then there are certain actions and behaviors -- all spelled out in the first epistle of John -- which confirm to us and to others that we are children of God. Children of God are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, given as a GIFT to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive Him as Lord and Savior. John calls believers "little children" because they are in fact little in the sight of God and Christ.
 

FactsPlease

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Is being indwelled by the Holy Spirit taken on faith or evidence? There seems to be several differing views on this. It would be nice to know who thinks or believes what here.
Personally, I believe we receive His Spirit upon conversion, through faith.

“In him (that is Christ) you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” – Ephesians 1:13
Being born again means (IMO) being sealed till the day of redemption if we finish the race "set before us" therefore, we are saved.

There are those who do not believe one is born again unless they manifest tongues. If this were true then, myself and many others are not saved. So, since I know that I'm saved by grace through faith, how can this be true?

There are many more things that happen when we receive His Spirit upon conversion like:
-becoming bold in Christ to preach the gospel. Acts 1:8
-gives us the "want to" to obey Him and to praise Him Acts 5:29-32

Yes, we are to seek spiritual gifts though love is the highest pursuit we should have: 1 Corinthians 14:1

So, do you believe we have His Spirit through faith or evidence or both??
Thanks for any reply's.
What is the Holy Spirit to you?
 

quietthinker

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Indwelled by The Holy Spirit​

Where and How we place emphasis determines which Spirit inspires us.
 

amadeus

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The following verses say that certain things must be done. The first one might be construed by some as applying only to that first 120 in the upper room, but God is no respecter of persons.

"And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me." Acts 1:4

If we do need to wait, then how long is our wait to be? What do we wait for? Will it be for exactly the same time period and for the same things that each of us waits? Perhaps our wait is dependent on our repentance, which is also mentioned?

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." Psalm 27:14

"Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it." Psalm 37:34

"Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually." Hosea 12:3

Then some ask Peter a question. Some might say that only the children so pricked in their hearts for having crucified Jesus need to ask. But... have not all of us sinned and come short of His glory? Should not every person need to ask of God? Surely this asking is something that we need to do!

"Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 2:37

Then when we read Peter's answer, some actions seem to be required:

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:38
 
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Triumph1300

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First of all I must say that I did not read the whole thread.
Here is my experience:

I was "saved" (as they call it) at a Full Gospel Bus. Men's Meeting in the fall of 1980.
How did I end up at this meeting?
Well...being a Graphic Designer and Printing Bus. owner I was contacted several times to do the posters and tickets.
The lovely lady ordering these items always gave me a free ticket when she picked up the order.
Somehow my wife ended up attending several meetings and managed to get me down into the restaurant on a Friday night.
There were several issues before I went, it's a long story I will not get into.
Anyhow I "accepted the Lord" as they say.
The speaker, a Seattle evangelist, assisted me to say the "salvation prayer" (as they call it).
I remember the guy inviting me up front, I declined.
Not wanting to make fool out of myself, I asked him to go elsewhere, and we ended up in a janitors closet.
I sure as heck did not want to be up front in this restaurant where there were some people I knew well (pride....)
So....I started to go to a church and was about 5 feet off the ground for a long time. Exciting stuff.
I even started writing letters to the guy in Seattle. Asking things.
The church was a Pentecostal Church (PAOC) and at that time a pretty exciting church.
Lots of messages in tongues by people in the pews ......lots of translations by others.
So, that was my first experiences about tongues and I sure started questioning tongues.
A pastor and some new friends I made started pointing me towards scriptures.
Hm, I needed to know more and started to pray about it.
One night, late, by myself sitting in my easy chair I asked God "If this tongue speaking stuff" is real, reveal it to me, because if it is real I want it. If it's not real let me know.
Later I went to bed, upstairs in the log cabin, a long way out of town in the bush.
When in bed I could not sleep. Prayed again. Ended up praying in tongues for a long time.
My wife, already sleeping, woke up and kept silent listening (she told me in the morning)
Ok, this is my story and I stick to it.
I know there are all kinds of opinions about the tongue issue, that's fine to me.
I know a few United Pentecostal Friends putting a condition for salvation on tongue speaking. I think they are wrong. I know these days the PAOC has been moving away from tongue speaking. They even removed the word "pentecostal" out the churches names. When asked about it, I was told because "pentecostalism" has a bad name "in the world". I say who cares what "the world" thinks. Bless you all. I have seen miracles in my life.
(Excuse my spelling errors and style, english is not my mothers language and in our bus. we use proof readers).
 
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Pearl

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I believe that the first 'contact ' we have with the Holy Spirit is when He opens our eyes to the truth and we 'see' Jesus revealed to us only by His Holy Spirit. From then on the Holy Spirit is with us always to some degree - depending on our closeness to God.

It is the Holy Spirit who will guide us in all things if we allow him to; it is also the Holy Spirit who will teach us and give us understanding of the scriptures. But I also believe that we should regularly seek to be filled and not take for granted that we always have the same level of indwelling. Ephesians 5:18 Be being filled.

I also believe that at a later date we can ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.