The Evidence of the Holy Spirit in a Believer’s Life

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Acts 8:17, “So Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”

Background

We all have seen the detective shows on television where a heinous crime goes from its initial discovery to a full confession from the culprit within a neat and tidy 60-minute span. And in that process we see the detectives gathering information and evidence which eventually lands a prime suspect in the officers’ interrogation room. As the pressure ramps up for the suspect to come clean, many times the deal will be sealed by the announcement that evidence was found that had the suspect’s DNA on it, linking him to the crime and the murder weapon. And that, as they say, is that. The killer tells all, the case is closed, and the credits roll. Evidence, not just the DNA kind, is a powerful thing. It can tell stories of the past, weave tales of intrigue, and explain the unknown. It also applies to the here and now. Your breathing is evidence that you are alive. Your growling stomach gives credence to the fact that you have not eaten in many hours. How you treat others indicates what you think and feel about them. All the evidence is there, it just falls on us and others to interpret it. A lover of cats cannot, and does not, conceal their passion, just as the sports fanatic is quickly made known. But the salient question for us is where is the evidence that we have received the Holy Spirit?

Application

That matters because Jesus promised that everyone who believed in Him would receive the Spirit. And unless we believe in Him, our eternity is doomed. So, any rudimentary examination of our lives should produce overwhelming evidence that the Holy Spirit resides within us. That is so because the Spirit has a nature and effects, and His presence is manifested in our thoughts, words, and actions – the things that leave evidence. He produces love, peace, kindness, self-control, patience, and much more. He enables us to be obedient to God’s Word. He convicts us of sin and does only what magnifies Christ. The evidence is undeniable when the Holy Spirit is present. If you have trusted in Jesus, there must be evidence, or you will be found wanting when your time of evaluation comes. When you are charged with being a born-again, Jesus-following, newly-created Christian, will there be enough evidence to convict you?

Charge

As we seek Him today, let your relationship with Jesus, and not the activities around that, be your evidence of your faith in the Savior.

Editor Comment: In a culture quick to perform faith outwardly, this devotional challenges believers to examine whether the Holy Spirit's fruit is genuinely evident in their daily lives.