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I was reading the Bible last night and I came upon verses in Matthew 7:22-24 that made me stop and question. Here are the verses "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' How sad to think you are doing everything correctly only to find out in the end that you did everything incorrectly and missed out on obtaining salvation. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, we read, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified." My question is, who are these people that are doing all these wonders and how come Jesus doesn't know them? What are they doing wrong? It's much better to find out now what we are doing wrong and correct it than to find out later and lose our salvation. There isn't anything this world has to offer me that is more important or more valuable than me obtaining salvation. This is the most important qualification, is the Spirit of Jesus Christ in you? In the Bible the Holy Spirit is also referred to as the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:9, we can see just how important it is to have the Holy Spirit living inside you. "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." We can also see the importance of the Holy Spirit living inside you in Romans 8:11 "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." Here's another verse telling us of the importance of the Holy Spirit living in us. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." How does God know His people? The answer is He knows His people because He has put His Holy Spirit living in each of us. How do you know if the Holy Spirit is indeed living inside of you? I know for me my priorities changed as well as my perspective on life. When I read my Bible it seemed like the pages came alive. I am also more sensitive to people. I could feel their pain and their happiness much better than I could before. It was now more important for me to give of myself to help other people rather than receive, and what's most important to me is the Holy Spirit telling my spirit that I belong to God. There is no greater happiness in my life than this. Romans 8:16, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God," I have heard several people say that they won't know if they are going to Heaven until they die. The above verse is saying to those people "You had better re-examine yourself" because if you don't have the Holy Spirit telling you that you are a child of God then you have a serious problem that requires immediate attention. If you find that you are living your life without God's Holy Spirit living inside you and you want to know how to receive the Holy Spirit I would recommend you go back to the beginning and start over again by reading in the Bible the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Bible says in Ephesians 1 verse 13, that after reading the gospels of Jesus, if you believe, at that time you will be sealed with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13, "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise," Make sure when you pray, you only pray to the Father through His Son Jesus. In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus," If you pray to any other entity your prayers will not be heard. Keep in mind that it is God's will for His people to all have the Holy Spirit residing in them and God says if you pray for anything according to His will, your prayers will be answered. That's why it is very important to read the Bible to know what the will of God is for you. Jesus said you received not because you asked not. We can see just how important asking for anything according to God's will is. This next verse is showing us that by asking for the Holy Spirit is indeed God's will. In Luke 11:10-15, we read, "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" Here are a few more verses about the Holy Spirit living inside God's people. Remember if you don't have the Holy Spirit living inside of you then all you have is another useless man-made religion that will never get you off the ground. John 14:15-17, "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. Jesus is talking about the commandments to love God and people. This is only possible with the Holy Spirit living inside you. I believe this love is the love people have been searching for all their lives. The Holy Spirit is God's power living inside of you! We can see this power in Romans 8:11, "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." I am writing these articles to prepare you for the biblical prophecy that's due to happen any day now. I want to make sure God's people are ready and that we take as many of God's people with us as we can. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." We can also get more details of this same event in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.) I certainly look forward to the thousand-year reign of Christ where God's people will all be changed into bodies of light and no more curse, no more evil selfish people, no more death, and the righteous reign of Jesus. I hope and pray to see you there!
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