Nothing is more credible than eyewitness testimony spoken with conviction. That’s why the Apostles who knew Jesus were so effective gaining converts to Christianity. I have a personal testimony about the Holy Spirit I hope you find as compelling. Many years ago I decided to settle once and for all whether or not there was a God. I decided to read the Holy Bible from cover to cover, not once but twice, so I wouldn’t miss anything. In my arrogance I thought I could pick up on inconsistencies in the Bible that might disprove it in my mind. My plan was to sit down afterwards and make up a pros and cons list and use logic to figure out if God was real or not.
At some point in my Bible reading, I don’t recall exactly when, I came to the realization that the Bible I was holding in my hands actually was written by God and everything in it was true. There really was a God who created the universe and me. God really does love me and wants me to live with Him in heaven forever. It was quite a shock. I suddenly knew it all was true without a doubt in my mind. There was no internal debate about it. I also became acutely aware that God’s salvation plan for man was sheer perfection.
Romans 8:16 – The Spirit Himself will bear witness with my spirit that we are children of God.
I puzzled over how this happened so quickly and I came to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit, which is always present when God’s Word is read or spoken, communed with my spirit to confirm the validity of God and His truth in my heart, the very spirit within me. What else could it have been? One minute I didn’t believe and the next minute I did without thinking about it. Ever since then I’ve told everyone it’s impossible to read the Bible all the way through twice, with an open mind, without the Holy Spirit convicting the reader of their sin which, in turn, will lead to their belief in God and accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.
I based this statement on my personal experience. I have also mentioned this in two previous blogs. I remember reading a story once about a radical Muslim who thought he would read our Bible so he could disprove it and confirm Allah as the one true God. A funny thing happened. The Muslim came to the realization that Jehovah was the one true God and Islam was a fake religion. The Muslim converted to Christianity and had to emigrate to America so his family wouldn’t kill him for leaving the faith. I saw it on one of the cable news channels and I think he wrote a book about his experience. I’m throwing down a challenge for anyone to do the same thing and prove me wrong. I won’t be holding my breath.