7 Major Things That Happen When the Holy Spirit Enters You

How can you be certain that you actually have the Holy Spirit within you? Here are seven major things that happen when the Holy Spirit enters you.

Number one, you feel secure in your salvation. Now, let me stress this point. Go to Romans 8:9. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the spirit if you have the spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all. So as a born again believer, you already have the Holy Spirit. So it's not that you have to perform to a certain degree in order to receive the Holy Spirit. It's that at salvation, you already receive the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit helps you to ultimately perform. Ephesians chapter 1 makes it clear that the Holy Spirit seals you in your salvation. Let's read verses 13 and 14. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the good news that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, there's the moment he came to identify you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago. The spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. So here we see that the Holy Spirit within you is God's guarantee of salvation.

Now, this doesn't mean that you'll never have moments of doubt. This doesn't mean that the enemy won't attack your mind every now and then with accusation. He may tell you things like, "God has rejected you or the Lord has abandoned you or the Holy Spirit has left you." But the Holy Spirit within us sends us a different message. Look at Galatians 4:6. Now, and because we are his children, so there is the precursor. We're already his children. God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts. So, as children of God, we have the Holy Spirit. Now look at what he does here, prompting us to call out, "Aba, Father." Your mistakes speak shame. Your mistakes say you're a fake. Your mistakes will tell you you don't belong to God. Your mistakes will tell you you aren't a real Christian. But the Holy Spirit within you cries, "Aba, Father." It's not that the Holy Spirit excuses your sin. It's that the Holy Spirit helps you to not identify with that sin. Yes, we bear the responsibility. Yes, there are still consequences to sin and no, sin has no place in the life of the believer. But while you're battling with that wrongdoing, the Holy Spirit is within you, reminding you of who you are in Christ. That is perhaps one of his greatest works. So, you begin to feel secure in your salvation, recognizing reliance on Christ, and the Holy Spirit assures you of that.

Number two, you begin to grow stronger against sinful cravings. Now, I want to stress this again. I'm not talking about perfection. I'm talking about progress. So, you're still going to see maybe some issues in these areas. And I'm not talking about having these signs unto perfection. I'm saying that these are good indicators that the Holy Spirit is at work within you. So, the Holy Spirit doesn't just change your behaviors. He transforms your desires. This is about changing your nature, your mind at the core of who you are. Look at Galatians chapter 5 beginning at verse number 16. So, I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants. And the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other. So you are not free to carry out your own good intentions. But here we see, yes, that sin is fighting, but also the Holy Spirit is fighting on your behalf. So maybe you felt discouraged because you repeat a certain mistake. And again, I'm not talking about just giving into it and saying, "Well, this is the way it is." But maybe you're discouraged because you tell yourself, "I'm not going to go there again. I'm not going to do that again. I'm not going to think that again. I'm not going to say that again. I'm not going to feel that attitude again." But then you find yourself back in that place anyway. And what begins to happen now is guilt and shame begin to creep in. And now you begin to wonder, well, does the Holy Spirit even reside in me? I want you to think about it this way. Thinking about it this way actually really helped me. I began thinking about it this way several years ago. And I began to see breakthrough after breakthrough after breakthrough. So whenever you're discouraged by your sinful mistake and you begin to question your identity in Christ, you begin to question whether or not you have the Holy Spirit. I want you to ask this question. Who or what is it within me that is fighting against the sinful nature? So yeah, we understand there's a sinful nature. There are certain cravings that arise and we're trying to do our best to resist those cravings. But ask yourself, who is resisting that craving? What is that voice within you saying, "No, I don't want to go there. No, I don't want to do that. No, I don't want to think that." What is that resistance against that wrongdoing? You see, the very fact that you're struggling is proof not that God has abandoned you, not that you don't have the Holy Spirit. The very fact that you're struggling is proof that the Holy Spirit lives in you. How can that be? Well, think about it. If the Holy Spirit didn't live within you, as we read here in Galatians, there's this tension, this fight. If the Holy Spirit didn't reside within you, you wouldn't be struggling with sin. You would just be sinning, giving into it. No conviction, no angst over it, no attempt to be rid of it. You would just completely give yourself over to that sin. So, the very fact that there is a battle means that there's one in you who is battling against it. And so we have to be thankful that there is a side to us or our true identity is fighting against those sinful cravings. Galatians 5:24 and 25 say this. Those who belong to Christ have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the spirit, let us follow the spirit's leading in every part of our lives. So now you begin to follow after the desires of the Holy Spirit and he begins to do that work within you. And again, he doesn't just change your behavior. We're not talking about behavior modification. And this is more than just discipline. This is the transformation of your desires. And this is one of the signs that the Holy Spirit dwells within you that there's this strong resistance against sin or there's at least this desire to be free from it. That desire within you. Any resistance really at all to the sin nature within you is evidence of the Holy Spirit residing in you. And you ought to surrender more to that true nature.

Number three, you begin to reflect the nature of Christ. The glory of God begins to shine off of you. You begin to carry this light, this presence about you. You go from seeking encounters to living an encounter. You go from seeking atmospheres to becoming an atmosphere. You are his habitation. Now, this is more than just resisting sin, the reflection of the nature of Christ. This is oneness with God. Obedience, being in sync with him, flowing with him. In John 5, so Jesus explained, "I tell you the truth, the son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the father doing. Whatever the father does, the son also does." So like a mirror, just as you can't outpace your reflection in the mirror. So Jesus did not outpace the father. He was a perfect reflection down to the very last movement in millisecond. He was a perfect obedient reflection of the father. You and I are to reflect Christ. So we are walking reflections of Jesus. And as we walk as reflections of Jesus, that glory begins to emanate from our lives. In 2 Corinthians 3:17 and 18, a powerful portion of scripture here. "For the Lord is the spirit. And wherever the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord who is spirit, watch this now, makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." What a powerful portion of scripture. Notice here that the scripture is describing this facing toward Jesus, this looking unto Jesus. Now obviously we experience freedom. But now beyond freedom, beyond deliverance, we now enter dominion. Beyond just getting set free, we now become carriers of the glory. Looking unto Jesus, we become like him. Facing ourselves toward him, we become reflections of him. And this is an internal facing. Inwardly facing the face of Christ. So the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus and therefore causes us to reflect his glory, his nature by walking in oneness with God, by walking in union, by walking in submission, obedience toward his commands. You become, as I said, that heavenly atmosphere.

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Number four, the fourth sign here, you become unfazed in chaotic situations. Now, of course, all of us will experience some degree of fear or worry, and we have to make sure that we're resisting the urges of the flesh and that we're not falling into that carnal mentality. But you'll notice that as you begin to walk with the Holy Spirit, there's this inner stability that you begin to experience. Maybe others around you are losing their minds. Maybe others around you are beginning to panic. When people hear things in the news, they panic. When people hear bad news from the doctor, they panic. When people experience tragedy or unwelcome circumstances, they panic. Maybe things don't go according to plan and they begin to become all tense and wound up in emotion. Well, that's not you as you walk with the Holy Spirit. This is why others turn to you in difficult circumstances. This is why others seek out your advice when they're experiencing chaos in their own lives. You as a spirit-filled child of God have this supernatural calm that comes over you in difficult circumstances. So your first reaction isn't to panic, it's to pray. Look at this portion of scripture. Mark 4 beginning at verse 35. One of my favorite stories here. "As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, 'Let's cross to the other side of the lake.' So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind, although other boats followed. But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion, so he's taking a nap on a pillow. The disciples woke him up shouting, 'Teacher, don't you care that we're all going to drown?' When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Silence! Be still.' Suddenly the wind stopped and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, 'Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?'" The disciples were absolutely terrified. "Who is this man?" They asked each other. "Even the wind and waves obey him." So we can see Jesus here is rebuking his disciples for not having faith. Now, I do identify with the disciples because in that circumstance, I'd like to think that I would be more like Jesus, but probably I would react more like the disciples where I would be wondering, "Hey, is this boat going to sink or are we okay here? There's a storm raging around us. Jesus is asleep. What is going on?" Jesus is woken up from his nap. He calms the storm and then says, "You don't have any faith. Where's your faith?" And I love that calm that Jesus had. Why? Because ultimately he knew he was in control. Ultimately, he knew he had the power, the authority over the very waves themselves. I love that saying. It goes something like, "I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow." And we may not understand why chaos comes sometimes or why we experience heartache or why we experience loss or disappointment or struggle. But ultimately, one of the signs that you have the Holy Spirit within you is not that you don't struggle. We believe are a struggle of course, but one of the ultimate signs is that you experience peace even in the midst of that struggle. Maybe you've gone through something and others have told you, "You know, you're very calm for being in a situation like this. If it were me, I would have reacted this way." And you can point to the work of the Holy Spirit and say, "That's the Holy Spirit giving me that supernatural calm."

Number five, you begin to walk in the supernatural. The power of the Holy Spirit has not lost its potency. The power of the Holy Spirit is still at work in you and I today. The Holy Spirit works through you to touch those around you. Acts chapter 1:8. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth." Here we see the purpose of the power is the proclamation of the gospel. But those signs, that power is given for demonstration. And let me tell you something, the power of the Holy Spirit is loud. It's vibrant. It's exciting. Sometimes people will say, "Well, why does it got to be so showy?" Because it's a show of God's power. So, there's always going to be some element of excitement to the power of the Holy Spirit. Those signs that God has given to us, those signs that God works through us, they're unto a purpose. And as you begin to walk with the Holy Spirit, those signs will begin to be demonstrated in your life as a spirit-filled believer. You don't have to go following signs because signs will follow you. Mark 16:17 and 18. "These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe. They will cast out demons in my name. They will speak in new tongues. They will be able to handle snakes with safety." And that's of course talking about authority over demonic power. "And if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them." This is not an encouragement to drink something poisonous. It's speaking simply to divine protection. "They will be able to place their hands on the sick and they will be healed." You and I filled with the Holy Spirit of God have been given the power to cast out devils. We of course can believe God for miracles. We of course can believe God for healing. And I want you to know that as you begin to surrender to the Holy Spirit within you, that those demonstrations of power will intensify upon you. Obedience to the Holy Spirit is what releases the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. Time in the presence of the Holy Spirit releases the power of the Holy Spirit. As you obey, as you submit, you will begin to see the supernatural come alive around you. And I'm not just talking about casting out devils or healing the sick or seeing miracles. I'm talking about visions. I'm talking about dreams. I'm talking about the prophetic. I'm talking about the demonstrations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about living a life aware of and connected to that power. There's that thin line. I'm telling you, it's not as far away from us as we think. Sometimes we think we have to work ourselves up to these displays of power or work ourselves up to this level of power. It's not true. You have that power not because of your own performance but because of the Holy Spirit within you. It's simple faith that accesses that power. Faith is obedience. And so we can live our lives recognizing that there is a very thin line between the natural and the supernatural. It doesn't take much to switch between the two to where one moment you can be enjoying a meal with friends and in the very next moment laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover. We walk in the awareness of that supernatural. We walk in the reality of the supernatural when the Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives. When we respond to his voice in obedience, that's one of the signs that the Holy Spirit has entered you is that you begin to walk in the supernatural. And in fact, I talk a lot more about how the Holy Spirit helps us to walk in the supernatural in my book, Holy Spirit, God Within You, which is available at encounterthespirit.com.

Number six, you become bold and confident, even if you're an introvert, because I'm not just talking about personality traits. Now, often we do that, right? We dismiss ourselves because of the way we see ourselves. But even if you see yourself as more quiet or shy or reserved, maybe you're more of an introvert. Maybe your idea of torture is social gatherings where you have to make conversation and you're constantly second-guessing the words that you're saying. You feel like you looked foolish there or you said the wrong thing over there and then you go back home at the end of the night and you're just replaying every conversation, beating yourself up saying, "Oh my goodness, I can't believe I was so awkward or clumsy in conversation." Okay, even if that's you, you can have boldness. Because when I talk about boldness, I'm not talking about a personality trait. I'm talking about the ability to be obedient to God unapologetically and without fear. So even the most shy, insecure people can become bold and confident and outspoken. Again, not personality, character. Acts 4:13. "The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures." So they didn't go to Bible school. They didn't have the special education, but they had been with Jesus. And there was a great boldness upon them because of it. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. So their time with the Lord produced boldness in them that was recognizable or that stood out. Proverbs 28:1 says, "The wicked run away when no one is chasing them." They live lives of paranoia, but the godly are as bold as lions. What does that mean? The wicked run away when no one is chasing them. They just live in fear. The constant fear of being found out, of being exposed, of having things go wrong, of their secrets catching up with them, of the people they wronged coming back to wrong them. There's that paranoia that comes with living an unrighteous life. But the godly are as bold as lions. What is that godliness? That's obedience to the work of the Holy Spirit, submission to the hand of God, which ultimately produces this boldness. Why? Because you know that when you're right with God, no one can harm you. If God is for me, who can be against me? Greater is he who is in me, the Holy Spirit, than he who is in the world. So if I'm walking confidently before God, I can't be intimidated by people. If I'm walking in obedience to the most powerful one, no one can threaten me in a way that's going to make me nervous. So you become bold and confident. He makes you a bold witness. Causes you to be unashamed. Causes you to reach out to your friends and family when you recognize now that speaking the name of Jesus is a privilege and you're not shy about it to where you're embarrassed of your faith, but the Holy Spirit begins to give you boldness. Now again, I want to balance this because I don't want you to hear this and say, "Well, sometimes I'm a little shy, so I must not have the Holy Spirit." That's not what I'm saying. Because of course, there are going to be times where maybe you're a little nervous to share your faith. Maybe you have an uncle or a cousin or a parent who's just very intimidating to you and you dread going to them and sharing the gospel. Not because you're ashamed of Jesus, but because of how they might lash out at you. Okay, that's understandable. But still, the Holy Spirit begins to give you boldness as you begin to step out in faith and obedience. So, you'll watch as you surrender to him that boldness will increase.

Number seven, you begin to love the unlovable. Romans 5:5 says, "And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." This is a powerful work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, I love the demonstrations of miracles and healing. Yes, I love the boldness. Yes, I love the sharpness of mind that he gives you. There are so many benefits to having the Holy Spirit dwell within you. But this right here, I want you to really think about the power of being able to love the unlovable. That he sheds the love of God abroad. As the KJV words it, he sheds the love of God abroad in your heart. That's power. You see, we ought to love people in such a way that even the most stubborn heart begins to soften toward the things of God. Well, if God is love, then the way we love should cause even the most staunch skeptic to question his own skepticism. The way we love should even move the cynic to where they begin to ask things like, "How can you forgive that? That's unforgivable." Or, "How come you don't seek revenge on them?" Or, "How come you don't go and punish them? It would be just if you sought punishment for them." Or why do you welcome the people that nobody else will welcome? Why is it that you're so kind, so compassionate? That love of God flowing through us. It's the world doesn't understand it. In fact, sometimes the love of God is so intense that it offends the mind of the unbeliever. It offends the mind of the religious to where they're looking at you and going, "No, now you're just being too gracious. Now you're being too merciful." And I'm not in any way advocating for letting people walk all over you. And of course, there are times when you should distance yourself from others. But 1 John 4:7-8 says, "Dear friends, let us love one another. For love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love." John 13:35. "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." Imagine what it would be like if people encountered the love of God through you on a daily basis. I mean, how fulfilling would that be? That just one interaction with someone transforming their life. I mean, to where they look back and say, "There was something different about that person. The way they spoke to me, the way they took care of me, the way they forgave me, the way they looked at me, there was something divine there. There was something heavenly, something otherworldly. There was something unusual about the way they loved me." That ought to be the experience that people have when they come into contact with you. And that is one of the signs that the Holy Spirit dwells in you, that you love the unlovable.

So, Holy Spirit, I pray that we would surrender to your work. Cause us to be people who demonstrate your presence in our lives. And as we yield, precious Holy Spirit, let us decrease that you might increase, less of us and more of Jesus. We pray this now that when others look at us, they see Jesus through us. We thank you, Lord, that you have deposited great power within us. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us your Holy Spirit. And now I pray you help us to walk in the demonstration of that presence and power. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. And I want you to say it in the comment section if you believe it. Type a big amen.

Well, aren't you thankful for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit? Think about everything that he does for you. He helps you to pray. He helps you to read and understand the word. He gives you boldness to witness. He demonstrates his power through your life to the supernatural. The Holy Spirit has never held back from us. Let's not hold back from him. I want to challenge you now. If you want to get involved with what God is doing through this ministry, look, we're seeing people saved, healed, delivered, empowered. This ministry is growing rapidly. If you want to be a part of that, if you've been blessed by this ministry, it's time to pay it forward. If you're grateful for the work of the Holy Spirit, it's time to pay it forward. Get involved today by becoming a monthly ministry partner. You can sign up for monthly ministry partnership by going to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. You can also give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. We give out of gratitude. We give because we're thankful for everything that the Lord has done for us, is doing in us, and will do in our future. Listen, if you are in Christ, your future is bright. So get involved today. One more time, davidhernandezministries.com/partner to become a monthly ministry supporter. davidhernandezministries.com/donate to give a single gift.

Well, in this teaching, I gave you signs that indicate that the Holy Spirit is working in your life. And if you want to continue to live in surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit, then make sure you check out my teaching, Five Behaviors That Push the Holy Spirit Away Without You Realizing It.

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