What does having the Holy Spirit mean?

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Felicity

What you're not getting is that repentance in and of itself doesn'/cannot change a life. Doesn't change a person from being dead in sin to being alive in Christ. Only the Spirit of God can do that.

I can repent and confess all I want ... and say "I'm sorry" till the cows come home. That in itself doesn't cause a person's mind and heart to turn to God, doesn't given them a thirst for righteousness or to please God, doesn't given them a hunger for the Word of God, doesn't in itself free them from filthy habits, carnal mindsets, sinful desire, or other bondages that being unregenerate represent.

Only the Spirit of God can change a man's heart and understanding and will and desire to be in line with the will and desires of God. Only the spirit of God can bring about that kind of change. And this kind of change happens usually before Holy Ghost infilling with the initial sign of speaking in tongues.

What brings a person to a point of genuine repentance IS the Holy Ghost! What brings a man to genuine faith and belief and trust in God .... "fiducial" faith ........ is the Holy Ghost. A man can't come to Christ on his own. It's impossible according to Scripture. It has to be the drawing and working of the Holy Ghost in his life. This is what Scripture teaches.

I don't think I said I came to Christ on my own. God was dealing with my heart months before I repented. I didn't tell the WHOLE story.

I know from the Bible that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. Repentance IS a change of mind. I would have to disagree with your first paragraph. Repentance through the leading of the Spirit turned me around completely. All of the changes wrought in my life when I first came to God, I believe resulted from repentance. A repentance that God's grace granted me. I didn't receive the Spirit until I spoke in tongues a couple of months later. The work of salvation is of the Spirit, all of it. From faith to confession to repentance to the new birth. We are saved by the grace of God through faith. True repentance totally turned my life around.

I agree completely with your last two paragraphs. A person who was later to be a good friend witnessed to me and I started reading the Bible at the gospels. I repented while reading the gospel of Matthew. I know it was the Spirit of God dealing with my heart through his word. God gets all the glory from me for what He has done in my life. I'm sorry if that didn't come across in my post.