I know we receive the Holy Spirit once we believe in Jesus Christ, but how do we know when the Holy Spirit speaks to us? I don't feel the Holy Spirit. Is it our conscious? How do we know what our gift is from the Holy Spirit as well? I know some people can speak in tongues, ect. I just wish I could feel Jesus or the Holy Spirit speaking to me like so many others seem to get a clear direction from God. I feel like i'm almost directionless right now.
Yes, when we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes in and stays forever, i.e. until we die (John 14:16). After coming in, He begins to teach us all things (John 14:26). This teaching may not necessarily be in the form of speaking to us. Spiritual revelation (just a real knowing something is true) is the key to understanding spiritual truth. I suggest that you pray to Father God in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, asking that you might clearly hear His voice ... and be persistent until He answers your prayer. Speaking in tongues has absolutely nothing to do with born-again salvation. If Jesus chooses to baptize you with the Holy Spirit, you will speaks in tongues initially (as a confirmation of the event). Consider this baptism as a special anointing for a special task. People who have had this experience will be given one or more of the 9 spiritual power gifts (1 Cor 12). Yes, one of these 9 gifts is tongues, but it is a gift ... nothing to do with the Spirit baptism above.
Excellent and crucial questions that every person claiming to be a Christian ought to ask. Too many Christians today live their lives without their eyes, mind, and heart being opened by God's Holy Spirit. They try their best to "persevere" by their own strength, and rely on a vague notion of a Holy Spirit who somehow, sometime, and somewhere "guide" them. This vague notion is the bane of Spiritual growth. And that binding, awful spell can only be broken by a realization to this simple concept, which is beautifully written in 1 Corinthians 1:12,13: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." The Scriptures is the fuel with which the Holy Spirit teaches us. Which means reading and thinking about the Scriptures and relying on Him (The Holy Spirit) and Him alone. Many Christians (myself included of course) chose an easy way to gain "understanding" by relying to other people's interpretations and explanations. No wonder we have no clue as to why God feels distant from our lives, because we chose to distant ourselves from the very thing that can empower us, the Scriptures and The Holy Spirit. Putting things into gear is easier than you might think. Ask God in prayer to find you a person who is gifted with teaching (Ephesians 4:11) and study with him. Notice that this person should remind you of the Apostle Paul, who at every chance challenges us to think and pushes us farther into the Scriptures, not one of those "teachers" whose sole directive is to regurgitate the beliefs of whatever denomination he belongs to. When you found a person (or a group) to study the Scriptures with, start reading and thinking the Scriptures anew. Throw away any preconceived notion that you get from previous studies and/or institutions. Claim the Scriptures as a personal and dear gift from God, and soon you'll discover the true meaning of joy and awe. It's so different than the warm and fuzzy clichés most Christians speak to each other without meaning. With every reading, one by one, the concepts in the Scriptures will come alive, you will see the yourself, your loved ones, the world from a different perspective. Guess who gave you that new perspective? This is the true power of the Holy Spirit, whose influence extends beyond Spirituality into your very own daily life. He is real, and He will be the one who will eventually transform us into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
