If you do not have the Spirit of God, also called the Spirit of Christ, you are not His! That’s a very bold statement made by the apostle Paul: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:9, emphasis added throughout).

Do you have the Holy Spirit? How do you know? Paul admonishes: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Let’s see what the Holy Spirit is and help determine if you really have it.

What is the Holy Spirit, and why do we need it?

Contrary to popular belief, the Holy Spirit is not a third person in a divine trinity. As Paul stated above, it is the Spirit of God the Father and of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is Their shared power, mind, life essence and projected presence through which They act throughout creation and dwell within converted Christian believers. (To better understand the nature of God, see “Three Keys to Knowing God” and the free study guide Is God a Trinity? offered below.)

All people are created with a human spirit (Job 32:8). But we must receive the Holy Spirit, joined with our human spirit, to become the Spirit-converted children of God (see Romans 8:15-17). God’s Spirit works with our spirit and provides a connection between Him and us. The apostle John describes it this way: “All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us” (1 John 3:24, New Revised Standard Version).

Through God’s Spirit—which He gives us to abide in us—we can be influenced by God for the good and keep His commandments. When Jesus promised the apostles He would send the Spirit to them, He said it would guide them into all truth (John 16:13).

He also said it would be a “Helper,” “Comforter” or “Advocate” to strengthen our faith and ability to follow in the footsteps of our Savior: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you” (John 14:16–17, New American Bible Revised Edition).

While most English Bible translations refer to the Spirit in this passage with the pronouns “him” and “whom,” the version quoted here correctly uses “it” and “which.” In other verses, the pronouns referring directly to the word Advocate have masculine gender in Greek, but should not in English translation. Confusion concerning these pronouns has contributed to many mistaking the Holy Spirit for a distinct person like the Father and Jesus Christ.

But getting back to the role of the Spirit as Advocate, Helper or Comforter, true comfort and reassurance come from God’s Spirit dwelling within us. God’s Spirit helps our minds to recall and rely on God’s many promises, such as assuring us that whatever happens will work out for the good “to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

This assurance provides an outlook on life that is rare in our world. Yes, we can get discouraged, but it is through the Holy Spirit that we can truly look at life differently—being strengthened and encouraged from within by God.

The Holy Spirit works with our spirit to transform us—enabling us to continue in obedience to God and grow in His way in this life and be led eventually to an awe-inspiring transformation to spirit life at Christ’s return.

How do you receive and retain the Holy Spirit?

Have you done what is required to receive the Holy Spirit? Read the following verse from the inspired message given by the apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Church first received the Holy Spirit. Consider if you’ve completed these requirements:

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission [or forgiveness] of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (verse 38).

Have you deeply repented for your past sins in life? Have you understood God’s laws to the point of recognizing sin you need to repent of? Was this informed repentance accompanied by faith, trusting in the gospel Jesus taught, which He said was needed to be saved? (compare Mark 1:14-15; 16:15-16). Did you have faith in Christ’s sacrifice for the promised forgiveness?

Did you carefully consider, as a mature adult, the conditions necessary to receive the Holy Spirit and truly repent, committing to turn from your past wrong ways? And were you then baptized, fully immersed in water? And did you then also follow the directive to have hands laid on you by a minister of Jesus Christ to actually receive God’s Spirit and have it actively at work within you?

Later in Acts 8 we find converts who had been baptized but had not received the Holy Spirit. Why not? Because they had not yet had hands laid on them by the ministry: “(For as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:16–17, NRSV).

To receive the Holy Spirit and have it actively at work within you takes deep repentance in faith followed by baptism and the laying on of hands by Christ’s duly appointed minister. Have you fulfilled all these requirements?

And have you done what’s required to keep the Holy Spirit? Acts 5:32 states that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. And many verses tell us we must continue in obedience, and that the Spirit helps us in this. We do not instantly become perfect, but will continue to repent and keep striving.

Continued obedience is evidence of God’s presence: “He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him . . .” (1 John 3:24). We are to be obeying the Ten Commandments and other commands of God and Christ—and growing in this. Are you?

Do you produce fruit of the Holy Spirit?

Consider further, does your daily life show the fruit of the Spirit in you? Just as an apple tree produces apples, God’s Spirit produces a particular type of fruit in the life of a Christian—godly fruit.

The apostle Paul lists the fruit that should be evident in those who are led and filled by God’s Spirit as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). And he further said that “the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth” (Ephesians 5:9).

The apostle Peter wonderfully sums up the process of growing to spiritual maturity through the Spirit of God: “By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature . . . For this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” (2 Peter 1:4-7).

Does this describe what’s happening in your life?

Again, do you really have the Holy Spirit? Have you done what’s required to receive it and keep it? Is the fruit of the Spirit evident in your daily life?

These are questions you must face squarely and honestly. In any case, those who are led to true repentance need the help from God to continue on that path that comes through the Holy Spirit.