You must believe in the authenticity of the Bible.

There is no greater hope for a believer than knowing where you will be spending eternity. God did not want anyone to wonder but to know without a doubt. He made it perfectly clear. Of course, you must believe what Scripture says to be 100% assured of your final destiny.

Romans 8:9 “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit; if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

We have a choice to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. When we do, the Holy Spirit gives us a new sense of life. According to this verse, and a number of others, anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit in his or her life is not a Christian. That would mean they have not sincerely trusted Christ in their salvation and acknowledged Him as Lord, even though they may have spoken the words. Accepting Christ requires a repentant heart and a desire to go a completely different direction in life. There can be no relationship with Christ if the Holy Spirit is not in your life.

Salvation is not necessarily a feeling. It is God’s promise that if we accept Christ, we commit and surrender to Him; He will allow the Holy Spirit to enter into our lives. Once we receive the Holy Spirit we may experience an immediate or a gradual change to become more like Christ in our disposition, kindness, gentleness and love. Everyone may not recognize having acquired the Holy Spirit the same way. My personal experience was that I wanted to change so that I could please God. Tremendous changes took place in my life almost immediately.

Changes I had tried to do on my own and did not have the will power to do so. For example, I smoked for four years while I was in the navy. After about three years in the service, I planned to go to college on the G.I. Bill and participate in sports. I tried for a year to stop smoking and couldn’t. The day I was saved I never had another urge to smoke. To me that was Christ’s way of telling me I had received the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:12–13 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

Just because we have the Holy Spirit in our lives does not mean we will automatically follow God’s will. Yet, we must discipline ourselves and give up selfish control, trust God and allow the Holy Spirit to give us guidance. In most cases God will block or check us, open or close doors, whenever we are tempted. We must be careful not to think that God is going to make every decision for us. He has given us free moral agency to make decisions based on Scripture. There is not a specific spouse He has picked out for you. However, in His Word He gives us directions in what we should be looking for. He does not determine our careers or how prosperous we will be, even though He can. Again, He provides the information that if we follow Scripture it will help determine our direction. I do believe in praying for my grandchildren that God gives them a purpose and direction in life and I believe He will. They have the free moral agency to reject whatever direction He may lead them. That does not mean they will become failures if they go a different direction. God can use us regardless what way we decide to go.

It is difficult for many not to live as the world lives. Our desires come from our sinful, self-centered nature. Salvation requires that we develop a new attitude, create a new identity and live a new life. If you are focused on what the world offers it is hard to change. This is why it is so important to focus on Christ and love God with our total being so we can live as believers are told to live. It is not going to be easy. There will always be a struggle between our self-centered desires and the guidance from the Holy Spirit. If we allow the Spirit to control, we will have the power to say no when tempted to sin.

Romans 8:18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Any earthly problems or displeasures we may encounter are nothing compared to the rewards we will receive in heaven. Christians should be able to handle our sufferings better than a non-Christian. Not because we have a high tolerance to pain or because we enjoy being hurt, but because we have the ability to see the big picture.

How should a spirit-filled, mature Christian deal with pain and suffering? We must realize it is the result of the curse placed on the human race for man’s disobedience to God. It is not a personal consequence to anything we may have done, except we may receive what has been sown. Sickness, misery and continuing problems are not a punishment; they are part of the curse.

Always keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is a down payment given with a seal and a guarantee that we are heirs, with Christ, waiting to receive a glorified body so we can live in eternity with God, the Father, Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God provides all of the evidence we need to know as to where we will spend eternity. If you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit you will be heaven bound.

Ephesians 1:13 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,”

Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

II Corinthians 1:22 “set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

John 11:25–26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”