Read: I John 5:9-10
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself (I John 5:10).
The Witness Of The Spirit
John Wesley once wrote: “By the testimony of the Spirit, I mean an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God immediately and directly witnesses to my spirit that I am a child of God.” This is ultimate assurance.
This witness of God’s Spirit is confirmation of a fact. In consecration we give ourselves as a living sacrifice to God; the Spirit of God then assures us of our acceptance and cleansing in sanctification. As we sincerely seek to be sure of the facts, God’s Holy Spirit gives us the witness that our hearts seek.
The baptism with the Holy Spirit takes place in the human spirit and is thus a deeply personal experience. The supreme witness that we are wholly sanctified must therefore be an inner assurance. Such witness may come suddenly with overwhelming power and a surge of uncontrollable joy; it may come suddenly with a deep sense of inner cleanliness and peace; it may come gradually as a deepening consciousness that we are wholly the Lord’s.
There is thus no uniform way that the Holy Spirit witnesses to His coming. God is a God of variety, and men differ greatly in temperament. God therefore adapts the revelation of himself to our individual needs. But there is one thing that we may depend upon. To every sincerely seeking soul the Holy Spirit comes with an inner witness that is wholly satisfying to that heart. When He has come we exult with the poet:
He makes me clean, He makes me clean! Mine eyes the glorious King have seen. Just now I feel the sacred flame. Oh, glory to His precious name!*
— George Bennard
*Copyright 1940, renewal, The Rodeheaver Co. Used by permission.