Question:
Dear Greg,
This
may seem like a silly question. Is
there any tangible evidence that one can be assured of that he or she has
received the Holy Spirit?
Thanks,
Nick
Answer: Dear Nick,
There
is no tangible, concrete, physical evidence according to the Bible.
Some seek evidence in what they call “manifestations”, but the Bible
says no such thing. The presence of
the Holy Spirit is discerned over the long haul, as men and women of God mature
and are obviously different people than they were before they accepted Christ.
As Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven in dough.
Leaven takes time to develop, time to cause the bread to rise.
Leaven is not easy to see or identify.
A similar parable used a grain of mustard seed as an analogy.
God gives us the Holy Spirit as a gift.
There are fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5), but some of these
fruits can be exhibited by “good” people who are not even Christian.
In other words, atheists can be patient, kind, etc.
So there is no physical test, no foolproof human device that allows us to
measure the Holy Spirit.
In
Christ,