The fact that God lets you know when he saves you.
-The Spirit bares witness to your salvation, so you just know inside of you that you are saved.
-The conviction is real conviction and not just knowing you've wronged God.
-The conviction the Holy Spirit puts on you pretty much prevents you of sinning because it makes you not want to do it.
-The fact that God makes his presence so real to you and that when he changes your heart you actually notice a difference.
You're telling me pretty much the EXACT same things I used to say and that I used to "hear" from the demonic spirits who prey on young believers.
Did you call on the name of the Lord in truth?
Do you believe He is the Son of God?
Do you believe God raised Him from the dead?
Do you want to walk in covenant with God?
What does the Word say about people who answer this question yes? It means God has received them into the beloved. He who comes to Him, He will IN NO WISE cast out.
Are you being drawn to God, but somehow can't seem to "burst through"?
Guess what? You're under attack!
If you answered yes to those questions, unquestionably God received you.
You've got some strongholds of unbelief you're having to work through. Let me repeat this: You are saying the same things I said after I first came to the Lord.
Fast forward - What I did, was a response to the Spirit of God. I listened to a lot of Christian radio, because like you, I really wanted to know God. I turned on Kenneth Hagin's "Faith Seminar of the Air". His son "Ken" now airs a program that plays a lot of his messages. I started to hear the anointed preaching of the Word of God on how to have faith and please God.
Next step - I went to the bookstore and bought some of his books! You won't find them in Dalton's or whoever.
Go to (we have Mardels) a Christian book store and ask for the "spirit filled" section. If they don't have them, it means they are an "evangelical" book store. They don't emphasize the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the anointing with power. They don't recognize it. Guess why? Because they don't know about it. They're legitimately saved, but they are not walking in the fullness of the revelation of God. Most of these churches doctrinally believe they walk in this, but you'll notice the gifts of the Spirit (like in Corinthians) aren't operating in the churches they go to.
I'm NOT cutting down any of these people or churches. Not by a long shot! These churches are helping the world become born again. This is the number 1 priority. They are leading people to repentance.
But their is more in God than just being born of the Spirit. You can be "filled" with the Spirit. The apostles received the Holy Spirit after Jesus was resurrected. He "breathed on them". Later before He was taken up to Heaven, He told them to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. This is what I am talking about. Being born again relates to the Passover Feast. Being filled relates to the Feast of Pentecost.
Some churches (IMO), have added a few things to this experience that some people have some reservations about. That is not necessary. You need this experience.
What you need first, is to be confirmed in the beloved. You think the Holy Spirit is holding out on you because the things listed above aren't happening to you. That is the same EXACT mindset I had and the same fruits.
So get some of those faith books by Kenneth Hagin and learn to stand by faith. If you're waiting around for the Holy Spirit to do what He hasn't done, you might be waiting a long time.
The real reason you don't sense all of these things is because of the spiritual warfare against your mind that is solidly built into your reasonings. That is called a
"stronghold". That is a military term where expert fortifications are built in and they are hard to overcome.
You'll find if you move forward to the "full gospel" or "Spirit filled" churches walking in the light of the Feast of Pentecost, that they know a lot about spiritual warfare. This warfare is waged by the anointing power of God. That is what came at Pentecost. Listen with your spiritual ears. You have them because you heard the Word of God in the gospel as truth. You are of the truth and you hear His voice. It's clouded because of the stronghold.
You're in one of the biggest battles of your life right now because the enemy contests your very sonship. For some reason (it was the same with me),
God lets certain people get tested in certain areas. It takes FAITH to overcome them. Faith comes by hearing (in your inner man) the Spirit Word of God. This "voice" (not necessarily words, but often impressions, or a "witness" that something rings true in you spirit via the Holy Spirit). You're still learning to recognize these things.
There is not need to get anxious about this or whether or not faith teaching will work because God's Word always works. We must do our part in submitting to God by acknowledging that He is and that He will reward the diligent seeker.
So instead of "just sitting here waiting or "tarrying", become an actively diligent seeker by listening to some faith teaching. God used Kenneth Hagin's ministry of the Word of God (not man's opinions) to minister faith to me and to defeat the reasonings that prevail in your mind.
Let me tell you I've been down the road from that day and it took a lot longer than it needed to because I kept looking at reasons why God somehow wasn't confirming the Word that I knew was true, instead of the solution. After listening to some teaching, I could tell I was on the right road. It didn't come immediately, but I knew in my "know'er" that some light was now shining.
Since then, I rejoice at where God has taken me. That same faith that He built within me (which has to be fed and renewed) I have used to enter into other experiences (including being filled with the Holy Spirit).
This has led to where I can experience the manifest presence of God wherever I am, whenever I pray, and ESPECIALLY whenever I worship. Once you get past this hurdle and experience that infilling, your life will never be the same, and you'll start climbing the ladder (an experiential level at a time) to where God reveals Himself and you are healed and restored and made alive in that same presence.
Almost none of those points I've listed has happened to me.
I've never actually sensed the Holy Spirit like trulyconverted and asyrieh have.
When you hear the voice of the Spirit in your inner man as inner truth "dawns" upon your spirit (like a sun rising). It often begins to shine and then gets brighter. Oh, to finish the sentence, when this happens
you'll have faith begin to form within you. You can't make it happen but you CAN do what you can do, giving God something to work with so HE can renew and confirm you. You won't be waiting around for HIM to do it. You'll go "OH! Now I see!" I'm to rise up BEFORE He does it, having met the conditions and say that I'm there even before ANY confirming sign comes. You'll stand up and start walking based on what the Word says and THEN the fruits will start happening.
Don't ask me why God does this sometimes. He pours out on some without any effort whatsoever, and other have a more quiet beginning that is readily and quickly contested by the enemy. God wants you to learn how to have faith (receive it from Him) and then how to walk in it. How to "EXERCISE" it like muscles.
If you don't give up on this, and get some of this teaching, and plug yourself into a church that is "Spirit filled" (not just saying they are), you'll start to learn about the weapons of our warfare, how to use them, listen to an anointed pastor, be around the gifts of the Spirit, and have a more supernatural life. "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force!" We're not stealing it from God, we're taking it from the enemy who hinders (on a personal level) what we receive and influence the fruit in our lives.
I walked for months where you are. Would you like to begin to fastforward to where your deliverance and faith is? Learn to take it by force! Do your part and begin to enter in and don't "WAIT AROUND" for the Spirit of God, because you bear all the fruit of a demonic stronghold of unbelief. It's not stronger than God, but He permits things like this to happen so we'll learn how to overcome.
Your fruit awaits you! Hear the voice of hope! Rise up and enter in!
When I sin i know its bad but and i feel bad and i try not to do it again, but i don't get that real conviction that you guys speak of.
Another thing you'll eventually find is that when these assignments get removed from your life and their accompanying "residue" on the soul man (the thinking, reasoning, feeling man) can be removed, you'll find that the things of God come much easier to you. MANY people have experienced what you're experiencing. The enemy tells you that you aren't a child of God because when the light dawns on you, his "life" will be miserable. Instead of tormenting you, you can torment him! Those devils (I don't meant to magnify the enemy, but I can't ignore him either as the troublemaker). Those spirits have been following you YOUR ENTIRE LIFE and they hate being discovered. They're invisible to you and after you learn to deal with these, their dominion will be OVER (as long as you're submitted to God).
It's an exciting time (not for you now because you have the mental duress of believing God is rejecting you). He is not!
I saw myself so clearly and it almost hurts to look back. I asked God if I should wait until after I went to pray to answer you and God "nudged me" to speak to you. He wants you to rise up and do something about this and not be tormented by the enemy of our faith any more(!).
Here's a bold proclamation: I have the Holy Spirit within me. I am a temple of the Holy Spirit. He leads and guides me into all truth. I know on the inside (I have learned) when I say something grossly amiss and when what I am saying is gospel truth.
God is holding back nothing on you! He HAS received you in the beloved. When you said "yes", He said "yes!" We have discovered some of the enemy fortified in your mind and you're going to have to submit to sitting under the anointing. The teaching will give you understanding against what you've been receiving (they are all well worn and practiced lies!). You need to find that church where the anointing is and get under the protection of that sheepfold. Get some counseling from the pastor or an elder or teacher.
This goes for everyone else who wants to receive from God in an area and you are having difficulty entering in. It's about victorious spiritual warfare!
I believe that God is trying to change me because things have changed like my lifestyle, but none of those points have happened to me. Its literally proof that I'm not saved.
God is on your side. I used to think that all of the well meaing people who told me these things God loved, but there was something I did or was doing that He couldn't share that He wasn't letting them in on. Otherwise it would be different because GOD WAS GOD! No, He permits these situations. I'm not God so I can't tell you why. But after you've pressed through, you'll be helping others the same way I'm telling you.
You have to do your part. The enemy would love for you to ignore me so you'll be left in the same corner you're moaning in now. God help you I was in the same corner as you. I've never felt worse in my life as thinking that God had a reason to reject me even though I was ready to lay it down (finally). I had a stronghold of rejection too I was fighting.
...because no matter what i do its not going to change anything. If God has plans to save me
God has already planned, saved you, and is leading you to do what only you can do. You have your own body, you must get in the right church, feed upon the Word of God. I specifically recommend faith teaching.
If you had a bad rash and I said I had the same one, you'd want to know what I took to make it better. "I took some Kenneth Hagin teachings on faith" and it felt better and began to minister hope. Faith comes on top of hope. Soon after faith came." I didn't give up because when hope came first, I knew I was on the right track, and I believed God enough to continue to follow that path to where faith was. When the light came on, I did what he did when he came up off his sickbed with two paralyzed legs. Read about how he was healed. It works the same way as standing up in your physical body by faith.
It's no wonder when I tell you guys that when I do bible reading or praying or just anything else involving this, I feel like i'm doing it in vain
Get outside of that place of just you and your clouds of doubt and unbelief and go find the anointing. Act like your life and well being depends on it because it does.
Stop saying what was said above and do something about it! Give the One you love something to work with.
I would love to hear your response to this. Tell me you hear me and that you'll do something about it. In the invisible world, you are encased in something like a cocoon that makes you feel powerless and trapped. You are not! That is a delusion.
I don't want to see you experience the holidays thinking of yourself as an outsider to the covenant of God. God doesn't want you to either. In Jesus' name rise up and go get the books!
