I was recently confided in by a friend that he wonders if he can ‘feel’ the Holy Spirit. He asked if I had ever experienced Him. I shared that I had, indeed, experienced the Holy Spirit and gave some examples of ebenezers, life experiences, and divine interventions. My friend is on a faith journey, and I can’t say for sure where he stands at the present time other than to say he seeks God’s face. I was reading “Apostolic Christian Church History” and came across a simple and profound idea. Page 72 if you are interested. The New Baptists (Froehlich’s brothers and sisters) were replying to the adversarial Swiss government and state church:
“If one would ask and enter into a contest about it, as to which faith is the right and true one, we would answer as the prophet Elias: ‘The god that answereth by fire, let him be god,’ That is, over which faith God in heaven answers with His Holy Spirit and with fire, that is the only true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 3:11; Acts 11:16), but the fruit of the Holy Ghost is evident in all godliness and honesty. So we have the true faith, in which the government, without danger, may and should protect and shield us for God’s sake.”
This is profound, and yet so embarrassingly simple and unsophisticated! The true faith produces righteousness and godliness because God bears witness in the lives of those with true faith with his Holy Spirit who produces this fruit.