Must I Have the Holy Spirit to Get to Heaven?
and Have I Received the Holy Spirit?
and Give Me Evidence that I Have Received the Holy Spirit!
 
Biblical References...
Isaiah 11:2... the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Luke 11:13... If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
 John 3:5... Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
 John 14:15:17... “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
 John 14:26... But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Acts 1:7-8... He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 4:31... ...and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 13:52... And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit
Romans 10:9-10... If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 
Romans 12:6-8... Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;  if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;  the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
1 Corinthians 2:14-15... But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit.  It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.  Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.
Galatians 5:22-23... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
 Ephesians 5:19... Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart
 Ephesians 5:20... giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
 Ephesians 5:21... submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
 Jude 1:20... But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit
 Revelation 4:5... From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.

Discussion thoughts and conclusions...
Question number 1... Must I Have the Holy Spirit to Get to Heaven ?... we look at this one first because it is the easiest to answer!   John 3:5 is very specific... Jesus said... I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

Question number 2... Have I Received the Holy Spirit?
 Isaiah 11:2 is a fascinating, beautiful scripture ... and is used by many scholars to delineate the "seven gifts" of the Holy Spirit as listed below (Revelation 4:5 also talks about seven Spirits but my belief is that those are seven different spirits):
     1. The Spirit of the Lord
     2. The Spirit of wisdom
     3. The Spirit of understanding
     4. The Spirit of counsel
     5. The Spirit of power
     6. The Spirit of knowledge
     7. The Spirit of the fear of the Lord
The number "seven" is interesting... "seven" is referenced in scripture than any other number (over 800 times)... the most common understanding is that the number "seven" is used to designate wholeness or perfection.

When we receive the Holy Spirit (whether it be at baptism or some later time) it can be recognized by the fruit it produces... Galatians 5:22-23 states that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control... if we find these qualities growing in our lives, it is a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work within us... BUT, if we see none of these qualities... something is terribly wrong!... the first question to ask ourselves is have we put our trust in Jesus for forgiveness of sin?  The Holy Spirit abides in us when we have a personal relationship with Jesus and we are obedient to his commands!

Here are a few indications that we have the Holy Spirit within us...
     Ephesians 5:19... we sing and make melody to the Lord with our heart.
     Ephesians 5:20... we give thanks for everything to God the Father.
     Ephesians 5:21... we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
     Acts 4:31... we speak the word of God to others with boldness.
     John 14:26... we listen to the Helper, the Holy Spirit, which will teach us all things.
     Jude 1:20... we work to build up our holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
     John 14:15:17... we keep Gods commandments.

Jude 1:20 is a fascinating scripture... what it says is that when the Holy Spirit abides in us, our prayers are not dispassionate prayers asking for something... our prayers become a conversation with God!

Worth repeating here is a sermon in 1950 given by evangelist Billy Graham in a massive stadium in Los Angeles, California where he preached on the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit.  He shared the fact that some of us believe one thing about the Holy Spirit and some another... that does not negate the fact that God has commanded that we be filled with the Holy Spirit.  He knew that in order to live in victory and not defeat, in blessing and not the lack of, and in peace and not torment we must have the infilling of the Holy Ghost... talking to tens of thousands of people, Billy Graham stood and boldly declared... You Christians, are you filled with the Spirit?  If you are not, he said, you are in sin!

The following is copied from the Internet... I could think of no way to say it better!!!  You must be cleansed of your sin.  If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you must do what you can to plug the holes in your life that are keeping you from being filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.  These holes, or sins, don't include just sins of greed, pride, adultery, and lust, but also the following sins of omission:
     1. ingratitude (not saying "thank you")
     2. lack of love for God
     3. neglect of the Word of God (not reading the bible)
     4. unbelief that there is a God
     5. neglect of prayer
     6. failure to attend church
     7. lack of passion for lost souls
     8. neglecting your family duties
     9. these are just a few... many more could be added... you know what they are!

SO... the answer to question #2 is found in Romans 10:9-10 and Luke 11:13 tells you all you need to know!  Keep in mind that what you are asking for is spiritual blessing... not a man-made blessing, what you are asking for must be received by faith in God.  You must believe in your heart that God will give you the Holy Spirit, as it says in Luke 11:13!  Prayer is the answer... pray sincerely that God gives you the faith in your heart that God will answer your prayer!

Question number 3... Give Me Evidence that I Have Received the Holy Spirit !
Repeated from question #2 above are specific indications that we have the Holy Spirit within us...
     Ephesians 5:19... we sing and make melody to the Lord with our heart.
     Ephesians 5:20... we give thanks for everything to God the Father.
     Ephesians 5:21... we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
     Acts 4:31... we speak the word of God to others with boldness.
     John 14:26... we listen to the Helper, the Holy Spirit, which will teach us all things.
     Jude 1:20... we work to build up our holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
     John 14:15:17... we keep Gods commandments.

Research in trying to find specific events that people experienced are hard to find... maybe because they don't like to talk about themselves... Different people have different experiences with encounters with their Holy Spirit.  We list below a few specific examples where people have experienced specific personal examples of the Holy Spirit being a part of their life.
First a few experiences from others found on the web:
(1) Martin Luther King, Jr. received a life threatening phone call at midnight... deeply shaken he cried out to God for help... God said to him... "stand up for truth, for justice, and for righteousness... I will be with you, even to the end of the world"
(2) A 17 year old boy who believed in God said repeatedly "God Help Me"... then suddenly God's presence commanded me to be quite... and He spoke and told me that He loved me... the "voice" was not in my ear... the "voice" was inside by body from my head to my heart with an awesome presence!
(3) R. Gano was addicted to drugs... he went to a minister who agreed to pray for him... in the prayer, the minister asked God if He would let me hear His voice... suddenly a voice (somehow I knew it was God, as I felt his presence) said to me... "I am with you.  I will never forsake you"... and I burst into tears!
(4)B. Carleton was diagnosed with cancer... on her way home she thought to herself "I cannot manage this"... but then God said, "I'll take care of it"!  I am now a cancer survivor!
(5)B. Nelson was driving south on Highway 61 when he heard a command "STOP"... thought it was the radio so I turned it off, and I heard it again "STOP NOW"... shaken, he pulled over to the shoulder, walked around the car and found nothing... resumed driving and in 100 feet saw a pavement eruption 2 feet high... turned around and standing in my headlights waved the next car to stop... there is only one explanation as to where the voice came from!
(6) J. McCoy... I was in my apartment preparing lunch when a "kind of darkness" came over me... I cried to the Lord... "Please Help Me"... a soft voice spoke in my head... "I am with you always" and the darkness vanished.
(7) J. McCoy... I went to a movie involving sex... afterward, I stood outside on a clear night... I looked up to the stars and said... "God forgive me for what I did"... the guilt lifted and I began to weep uncontrollably, and I said "How is it possible you would forgive me"?  That same small voice that I had heard before in my head said: "Because you are my son".
 Now a few experiences from my own personal experiences:
(8) 10-22-19 6:20am I was startlingly awoken to the words "Fear Not, the Lord is with you".
(9) 12-26-19 was fixing breakfast and started singing "It is well with my soul".
 (10) In the year 2020, in my evening prayer, I asked God what could I do to further spread the word of God... God immediately said... "start a website bible study"... not a "voice" that you actually "hear" but a voice that is put in your mind just as if someone was right beside you and said it verbally... a bit hard to explain!  I dared to not do his command... thus this website!
(11) 4-1-22 I was concerned about starting cancer treatment... at 3:40am awoke with the words "I am with you"... brought tears to my eyes!  Sorry to get personal, but this is what you can expect when the "Holy Spirit" is with you! 
(12) Numerous times I awake with song lyrics in my mind... such as "Hallelujah", "You ask me how I know He lives... He lives within my heart", "When nothing else could help, Love lifted me", "The Old Rugged Cross", "What a friend we have in Jesus", "Surely the presence of the Lord in in this place", "He leadeth me", "How Great thou Art", AND MANY MORE!
(13) 10-5-21 We were on a camping trip and I totally exhausted myself on a rugged trail, then in the evening wolfed down 2 poorly cooked hot-dogs... by 10pm I had a very upset stomach, my chest hurt, and I was chilling... realizing I was in trouble, I told God I was sorry for abusing my body... please heal me... INSTANTLY all problems ceased, I felt great and went to bed!... God does answer prayer!
(14) My dad was forever concerned whether or not he had received the Holy Spirit... one evening in June 1950 he spent all evening in prayer... sometime after midnight dad retired... (following are dad's description of what happened)... in just a few minutes after I retired and was just starting to fall asleep a vision with a very bright light, like a flash of lightning, came into my room and stood about 4 steps from the foot of my bed... there stood a person dressed in a long white robe with long blond curly hair.  The sight of this vision like a shock went thru me like high voltage electricity... I did not yet know what was going to happen to me... at first I took it to be a vision of Jesus... he had such a pleasant kind looking face with beautiful long curly hair hanging down on each side and eyes that expressed kindness and his wonderful love so clearly... on his beautiful face was much sweat mixed with dust and gave the appearance  of a man who had just walked a long dusty road on a hot summer day.  His robe showed signs of sweat and dust.  From this a thought came to me afterwards that Jesus showed signs of weariness from so many years of waiting patiently for many just like me who had closed that door in this face that he had knocked on so many times... yet he looked so sweet, kind, and pleasant.  Suddenly this wonderful vision started walking to the foot of my bed, very slowly taking four steps and with every step bringing another wave of joy which made an increase of something that had already centered in my chest and made it feel like it was going to burst wide open as tears of joy rolled off my face.  Then after he made his last step there came the answer to my long prayer very distinctly and slowly from the most beautiful and wonderful person that my eyes have ever looked upon... these are the words that were spoken... THAT IS THE HOLY GHOST.  After those 5 words were spoken, like a flash of lighting disappeared just like it came and left me weeping for joy and praying again that the spirit would never leave me and this joy I had just received would never cease.

Final Conclusion to Question Number 3... a few people (very few) who have the Holy Spirit speak in tongues, a few people (very few) who have the Holy Spirit have seen a vision, a few people who have the Holy Spirit dream dreams, a few people who have the Holy Spirit are spoken to by God, most people who have the Holy Spirit do not speak in tongues, have visions, dream dreams, or are spoken to directly by God... Most people know they have the Holy Spirit because they do the seven things listed at the start of Number 3 (Ephesians thru John) plus the seven things listed at the start of Number 2, AND they do NOT do the 13+ things mentioned in Number 2... and also realize that none of us are perfect... we all sin, which is why Jesus died on the cross to allow our sins to be forgiven!

Personal Beliefs... My beliefs are usually stated separately, but not this time... my beliefs are incorporated in the discussions above!  Please notice in the 14 specific instances above that when God speaks to a person it is with a voice that is not heard but instead goes into the persons mind that understands what was said!  When God speaks, that is the Holy Spirit talking!

Also read our study "When did the Holy Spirit first exist?" That study discusses that many, many "Spirits" were given to people for various reasons... some for wisdom, some for prophesying, some for writing, etc., etc. etc. --- None of the old testament "Spirits" were permanent... they were bestowed for a specific purpose and then expired!

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