A woman said to her pastor, "Someone told me that I needed to receive the Holy Spirit. I know that I am a believer in Jesus Christ, but do you think I have the Holy Spirit?" Her pastor said, "According to the Bible, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit immediately upon believing in Christ." Then he read a verse to her from Ephesians 1:13. "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."
She listened carefully. Then she said, "Well, according to that verse, there is no doubt the Holy Spirit is in my life. That removes any question about it." If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is in your life also. The Christian life is life in the Spirit.
No one can become a real Christian without the Holy Spirit. He enables us to receive Jesus as our Lord. "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Those who do not have the Spirit of Christ are not Christians. "Now if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
How can we know for sure that we have received the Holy Spirit? We know by faith in Jesus Christ. The very faith to receive Christ is an abiding gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13). Our hope in Christ for the future is likewise an abiding gift of the Spirit. Yet, the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit is God's love in our hearts (Romans 5:5). These three abiding gifts are sure evidence that the Holy Spirit of promise has been received.
Father, we receive the Holy Spirit of promise through our Lord Jesus Christ..
