the holy spirit

recieving the holy spirit: Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38) In this bible verse if you become a born again believer in Jesus Christ you recieve the Holy spirit. How to become born again? If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart god raised him from the dead you will be saved Romans 10:9. Instantly then you will have forgiveness of sins of past, present and future sins. By putting your faith in Jesus you become born again. Many people get confused with Acts 2:38 because it says to repent and be baptised, but the truth is we are saved by God grace and us putting our faith in him, when we beleive and confess we are doing an act of baptism and repenting because at an instant when you believe with your heart you recieve the holy spirit and you no longer like sin and you are set free from the bondage of sin so you repent of your sin and you are baptized spiritually under Jesus Christ. So if you have confessed Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart God raised him from the dead you recieve the holy spirit. baptism of the holy spirit: Many people get confused with this but you recieve the holy spirit when you put faith in Jesus Christ, but then you get baptized by the holy sprit which is becoming full of the holy spirit ill give you an example: John 20:21-23: 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” That was to the apostles just after Jesus had rose again, they recieved the holy spirit in their souls. But they where not baptised with the holy spirit yet (not full of the holy spirit) Acts 2:1-4: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. So you can see 2 different places they recieved the holy spirit the first time was recieving the holy spirit in their souls and it abides in those who beleive, then baptised with the holy spirit (becoming full of the holy spirit) He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart (BELLY) will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:38) How to recieve the baptism of the holy spirit? http://www.bible-knowledge.com/baptism-of-the-holy-spirit/ here is good link I found. I would be going on forever writing :) So after all that you are full of the holy spirit and have the holy spirit dwelling inside of you. But everyday through prayer you must seek for filling of the holy spirit because we can become spiritually empty and everyday while we are praying we asked to be filled by the holy spirit. evidence of recieving the holy spirit: praying in tounges is evidence of recieving the holy spirit, It is a spiritual gift, here is a list of all the spiritual gifts: 12 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 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. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. Unity and Diversity in the Body 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[d]? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. see how it says eagerly desire the greater gifts so what gifts stands out to you ask and seek God about it through prayer.

 When the apostles became full of the holy spirit they spoke in tounges in tounges instantly, 15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it So ask for the gift of speaking in tounges and eagerly desire it and you will recieve and you will know that you are full of the holy spirit and once you recieve the holy spirit it cannot be taken from you. what does the holy spirit do? http://www.thewordteaches.com/The_Word_Teaches/What_does_holy_spirit.htm here is another link. 

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” It also says somewhere else to guide us, comfort us, teach us, lead us into all truth, speak to us so we can have a relationship with God, so that we can carry out God will for us by living in the power of the holy spirit. Being full of the holy spirit will help us defeat and overcome sin in our lives, we cannot do it on our own. when we recieve salvation we are not always saved we have to move forward, we have to learn to overcome sin, we have to grow in faith, love and hope, if we willfully go back to sin we insult the spirit of grace, hebrews 10:26-29 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? and we can loose salvation if we keep willfully sinning, but we are all being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, The holy spirit is there to lead us into all truth so if we get lead by the holy spirit we will move forward and go into truth and through the holy spirit we will learn to overcome sin in our lives because when we recieve the holy spirit we become set free from sin, but the holy spirit will reveal to you sin that you need to repent of and if you fall like most of us do: go to the Lord in prayer and ask for forgivness with a sorrowfull heart and repent of your sin and start following Jesus again. But if you keep the good faith and do works as a result of your faith you will keep your salvation because without works your faith is dead as it says somewhere in James, so keep moving forward and growing with the holy spirit putting to death the desires of the flesh with the holy spirit. I have already written you heaps and there are still unanswered question :) how to live by the holy spirit: and how he guids us? We live life with the holy spirit by seeking to be filled by the holy spirit in prayer and being lead by Jesus in all that we do. We also live life by the holy spirit doing what the holy spirit wants and by listening i will send you a link of all the different ways we can be lead by the holy spirit. http://www.pneumafoundation.org/article.jsp?article=/article_0079.xml

Also through visions and dreams you can get leading by the holy spirit. Discernment Many people today get leading of feelings, hearing gods voice, dreams, visions and other various ways. But is what you’re getting properly discerned? Because, we can get leading of Satan, our own mind or God. A relationship with Jesus Well the truth is we have to get to know Jesus very well and we will know all good fruits. It’s like the bankers deal with money all day and for a long time they get to know money very well and they study it carefully and because they have seen the Good money so much that when a fake note comes in they can tell straight away whether its real or not. So if we get to know Jesus very well we will know all things that come from Jesus but when something of the devil slips in we can easily identify whether it was from God or the devil. So develop a relationship with Jesus and get to know the good fruits. Only Good fruits can come from God and only bad fruits can come from the devil. Testing the spirit God gives us the Holy Spirit so we can have a relationship with Jesus. God will talk to us and lead in many ways but how do we know we are hearing Gods voice because Satan can manipulate Gods voice in your head. 1. Test the spirit and ask the spirit, did Jesus come in the flesh? And only the spirit of God can say yes if we don’t hear anything or a no that is from Satan. 2. Does what the spirit is saying to you glorify God? Man? Or Satan? If it glorifies God then it will be from God. 3. Then look at the bible and see if what the spirit is saying to you lines up with the bible, but be careful when Jesus was on top of a mountain Satan came to him and tried to use scripture against him. 4. Does what the spirit say bear good fruit and you are seeing people lead to Jesus? Edified? Encouraged? Leading to repentance? Or helping someone? 5. If you are still unsure then ask for confirmation, by asking in prayer for 2 or 3 witnesses to be lead by God to tell you what God has told you. How to get to know Good We get to know good by getting to know Jesus. By developing a relationship with Jesus Christ. We develop a relationship with Jesus through praying to God and seeking him. We need to seek the truth we can’t just expect it all to fall on our hands; we seek God through prayer and the bible. So get on your knees everyday and pray to God as much as possible and seek him and he will reveal his voice to you. It says in scripture draw near to God and he will draw near to you. So the closer we get to God the more better we can hear his voice so develop a relationship with God and you will know good fruits because God is full of good fruits he cannot possibly bear bad fruits. So we can see how to distinguish good from evil but what about our own thoughts to Gods voice, well this one can be tricky but there is a way to know your voice from Gods voice. We have to look at the motive of everything it all must be out of love. Our own minds will only do what we want to do, God will get us to do things we don’t want to do sometimes. Also god will have a certain tone in your head and get to know that tone and don’t try and manipulate Gods voice with your own thoughts because this will confuse many people ask god in prayer to clear your mind so your more open to hearing the voice of god. Feelings Many people get lead of feelings but feelings are very hard to discern and is not a very good way to be lead. To be honest I don’t like being led of feeling because I get lead astray when I let feelings take over so it is only good in very few occasions like when you are prophesying over someone and you get the feeling like the other person does God can do that so you know how the other person feeling so you can get to their level and help them out. But overall we have to be very careful with feeling and not let feelings be your motive. Dreams and visions Dreams and visions I find are a good way of being lead and can be easily discerned. Dreams and visions can lead us to prophecy over someone, heal the sick, do miracles, and preach to someone or a prophetic message or warning to the people. With dreams and visions they must be interpreted properly by asking God for wisdom. We must get the correct meaning of it or the devil can use the dream or vision from God to manipulate into serving Satan so always ask God for the interpretation or ask someone that is strongly led by the Holy Spirit to interpret it, just like Daniel did in the bible. So make sure you get the correct meaning of the dream or vision and discern whether it is from God or not by testing. Prophetic message When you receive a prophetic message see what the prophet spoke of will come to pass and if it does it’s from God, but if it’s leading from the Holy Spirit and you have been told through a prophet to go and do something then ask God in prayer and see if God says the same thing to you. So overall it’s very important to know who’s leading you, and I hope this helps anyone that struggles and also discernment is a spiritual gift so ask God for the gift. God bless you all. May the grace and peach from the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Nick smith.