Can You Feel the Holy Spirit Working Inside of You?

I usually can tell when God does something inside me.

Depending on what we see and feel from God too much can be problematic if later we don't feel anything, It can happen we don't feel anything for some time and then what?? we must be able to believe and trust God anyway.
God likes when we persist in being faithful to him when things are adverse.

Seems like there are a lot of Christians struggling here, including me. Stay strong! God loves you!

sk8brdkd said:

I'm just curious if you can feel the holy spirit working inside of you and then you see change within yourself?

I've reached a new stage in my Christian journey today and it's extremely difficult. First day in 18 years where I'm not feeling anything and it's extremely difficult. I'm used to feeling confirmations from the holy spirit and always feeling something. For every second of everyday from 2001-March 30, 2019, I always felt something and now I don't. But, I'm just curious what you all think.

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The Holy Spirit is a spirit and works outside of our senses. We need to be very careful about looking for sensory experiences, because the devil is always there to give you one to distract you from maintaining faith in the promises in God's Word.

The way the Holy Spirit works in us is how He flows out through us to others. When others see love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, kindness, patience, faithfulness and self-control flowing out through then they will know that the Holy Spirit is in you and working God's will through you. Therefore the impact of the work of the Holy Spirit is not in you, but in those around you.

The Holy Spirit is the agent of love within us. But that love is "head love" (agape) more than "heart love" (phileo). It's the love of mature commitment, not youthful infatuation. Many mistakenly believe that they must 'feel the love' emotionally or it's all in vain. When that feeling fails duty takes over. Duty: doing the right thing when you don't feel like it; is also part of agape love.

So when the phileo feeling weakens, do yer duty.

sk8brdkd said:

I'm just curious if you can feel the holy spirit working inside of you and then you see change within yourself?

I've reached a new stage in my Christian journey today and it's extremely difficult. First day in 18 years where I'm not feeling anything and it's extremely difficult. I'm used to feeling confirmations from the holy spirit and always feeling something. For every second of everyday from 2001-March 30, 2019, I always felt something and now I don't. But, I'm just curious what you all think.

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I find "feelings" to be the least trustworthy indicator of the Holy Spirit's activities than virtually anything else.

But ymmv.

Oscarr said:

The Holy Spirit is a spirit and works outside of our senses. We need to be very careful about looking for sensory experiences, because the devil is always there to give you one to distract you from maintaining faith in the promises in God's Word.

The way the Holy Spirit works in us is how He flows out through us to others. When others see love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, kindness, patience, faithfulness and self-control flowing out through then they will know that the Holy Spirit is in you and working God's will through you. Therefore the impact of the work of the Holy Spirit is not in you, but in those around you.

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The thing is, like for example Paul he was revelead things from God, and this can be described as a sensory experience, in this case his spiritual senses felt or perceive something and he could tell. Obviously we need to identify from where something comes, but when God does something is the same as someone touching you in the arm, its something real not just a feeling of your emotions, and we need to tell first if it was something from God or not to base later any decision or accept something learned as true.

NBB said:

The thing is, like for example Paul he was revelead things from God, and this can be described as a sensory experience, in this case his spiritual senses felt or perceive something and he could tell. Obviously we need to identify from where something comes, but when God does something is the same as someone touching you in the arm, its something real not just a feeling of your emotions, and we need to tell first if it was something from God or not to base later any decision or accept something learned as true.

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I think I know what you are saying. It is more than just a pleasurable, "goosebumps" type of feeling. It is an inner knowledge that you know didn't just come from your own thoughts. It may have come through your thoughts, but not from them (if you know what I mean). When I first "met" God, it wasn't an emotional thing at all. Up until that moment I had no personal knowledge that God was real to me, but when I said, "You are God and I am Paul, and I am very glad to meet You". I lit up inside like Times Square and I knew beyond doubt that God was real and that He was speaking to me. I didn't feel a rush of emotion about it, but the Bible became a totally different book to me, because I started to get rhema words from it that increased my insight into what God was really saying through His Word.

I did not see any real change in my life, but my friends did. They said, "There is something different about you, and we like it."

It hasn't been "feeling" for me so much as "realizing." Though I have felt God's supernatural comfort at times.

I feel the Holy Spirit's presence in different ways. It's not like I'm floating on some pink cloud or anything - though on a few occasions I have felt the bliss He can give.

Since you asked, He often gives me Words of Knowledge or Words of Wisdom throughout the day, and these are not uncommonly prophetic, letting me know something that is coming, often something in a way that comforts me where I have been fretting. He often counsels me about people, usually, but not always, encouraging me to be merciful and kind if they have disturbed me. Or He may just alert me that something is coming and that when it does I should not give into temper.

Sometimes I just feel a sense of peace, a sense that I should let an issue go, not even pray about it anymore, because it all will work out right. So far that feeling has always been an accurate guide.

I guess I hear from Him most of all in areas that need correction. He is great on repeating many times, patiently, what I have already been told until, hopefully I become obedient.

As is a common experience for many other believers, many times I have felt a check in my spirit about something, alerting me to not "go there."

Now I hasten to add, too, that we are "to discern the spirits" and watch out for the voice of "the stranger" i.e. the evil one. So sometimes we need to pray, of course, to know if something is really from the Lord. All of us can be fooled sometimes. The thing I've noticed in those cases, however, is that the Holy Spirit may allow me to be temporarily confused, but not so confused that I actually get into trouble in that area

If you are not feeling so close to the Holy Spirit, well then go to the Father and ask Him what the problem is. He WANTS you to understand.

When your spiritual emphasis is on feelings and emotion, then it is often not based upon the truth of God. Jeremiah 17.9 says "The heart (feelings) is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Based upon your previous threads, it appears that you have experienced the deceit of your heart, and it has caused you much pain.

The reliance on feelings for spiritual growth can be a stronghold in and of itself. It is the place where the enemy has the most tools.

It sounds like you are moving to a new level in your spiritual walk, and perhaps God is deadening your emotions to release you from its power. We are called to know God and to obey Him, because He is always right. When you are in step with Him, you are at peace (Isaiah 26.3). When you are out of step, you are not.

The Holy Spirit works according to God's Word. I know I'm driven by the Holy Spirit when I suddenly know I have to stop and pray about a choice before making it. Sometimes (actually, quite often) He tells me to do something that I don't want to do, or that requires absolute trust in Him to accomplish. In these times, I know I'm being guided by the Spirit. When I say no and disobey, I suffer the inevitable consequences. When I do obey, I am always amazed at how it turns out. As a result, my trust in Him has grown tremendously, and whether or not a direction makes sense to me, I almost always obey. I wish I could say always, but I can't!

Hebrews 5.11-14 talks about maturity in your spiritual walk is based upon the truth of God's Word, not your emotions. We are challenged to move from the milk of spiritual infants to the solid food of truth. I think it's very possible that this is now your challenge.

The great thing is that when you are in step with God, you get the good feelings! But the order in which it happens is truth and obedience first, feelings later. We base our faith on the knowledge of who God is and how we are to follow Him, not feelings. Maybe this is your opportunity to move from your emotions to your mind.

sk8brdkd said:

Over the past couple weeks, if I was reading a part of scripture or listening to worship music, I felt my insides trembling which to me meant the Holy Spirit was working within me bc I had felt a change afterwards

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I think that is an appropriate emotional response that gives you pleasure at getting a rhema word or hearing good worship music. There have been some times when I have experienced feeling choked up when hearing something about the wonderful love of God toward us.

We don't actually "feel" the working of the Holy Spirit within in, because it is Spirit to spirit. But it has an impact on our minds, and then on our emotions.

There are those who allow their emotions to run away with them, and we see this in highly charged, hyped up, emotional services. This is where we see the violent shaking, swooning, and other "over the top" expressions of emotional fervour. I think that this is a lack of self-control. Self control is a fruit of the Spirit, and assists us to conduct ourselves decently and in order.