Have I been intentionally obeying Christ’s commands such that I am certain that the Spirit of Christ is living in me, or is it possible that I have merely believed on Jesus by my intellect?  

21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." 22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"  23 Jesus replied, "IF anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

INSIGHT:  The Holy Spirit is the third person in the Trinity, and don’t let any men & their devilish notions of “Oneness Theology”, tell you any different!  Talk about “blaspheming the Holy Spirit”!  He can be thought of as God’s spiritual presence with us on earth.  Without the Holy Spirit living in us, we can only know about God, but cannot know Him or experience Him.  God’s Spirit is God’s presence, and His presence is the key difference between religion and relationship.  The presence of the Holy Spirit is also proof of our future inheritance of salvation in Christ (Rom 8:16).  Jesus is pointing out that if we know His teachings and we obey them, motivated by love for Him, He and the Father will live in us by their Holy Spirit and manifest or “show” themselves to us.  This is the essence of being born again.  We are then able to know God through personal experiences of His grace, guidance, and indescribable presence and power in our life. 

When my oldest son Tyler was 10 years old, we were driving down the road talking about the importance of loving God, when he said to me, “Dad, how can young children show God they love Him?”  He was essentially asking, “What is God’s love language so that I know how to show Him love?” 

Notice how Jesus used the word obey 3 times in this passage, but He uses the word love 7 times!  The emphasis is on loving God, and obedience is God’s primary love language.  Have you realized we can sing and cry in church and get all emotional, but still leave God feeling unloved?  True love for God and true saving faith is evidenced by obedience to the teachings of Christ, not just emotionalism in the heart.  What we feel in our hearts is often very deceptive (Jeremiah 17:9).  That is why we must filter our thoughts and experiences through the word of God.  And how He shows His approval is to seal us and live in us via His Spirit (Eph 1:13-14).  The Holy Spirit, as we remain in Christ and Him in us, brings a powerful internal supernatural desire and power to live godly, in ways we could not before.

We are filled with the Spirit by obedience to Christ’s words, not by chasing spiritual power or experiences, or going to the right “conference” or “church” where the Spirit is supposedly really moving.  Do not get sucked into that nonsense or the parlor tricks of the devil.  The devil counterfeits everything that God does except the true self-denying, cross-carrying, world-hating, faith-walking truth and gospel which leads to eternal life.  When you find spiritual experience apart from those, you have found the devil’s playground.  The primary work of the Spirit is our sanctification and obedience to Christ, not spiritual circus acts which stimulate our senses (1 Peter 1:3). 

Psa 21:6, Acts 5:32, Rom 8:9-11,16, 1 Cor 3:16, Gal 2:20, 4:6, Eph 1:13-14, Phi 4:9, 1 Jn 3:24, Jude 1:18-19

How can you know if you are filled with the Spirit of Christ and truly born again?  If the Spirit of Christ is in you and you are maturing in the faith, and He is not being choked off by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, here are some Biblical evidences (See Further Study Below) of things you should increasingly feel and experience.  How many can you identify with personally?