Faith and the Gift from the Holy Spirit
by Steve Santini
The gift from the Holy Spirit is not salvation nor is it the ironclad guarantee of participation in the future out resurrection and union. The gift from the Holy Spirit is the power for the process of salvation. Likewise, the experience of being born again or physically regenerated does not commence until the manifestation of the saints. It ends with the raising of the dead in Christ when the Lord himself descends.
It is the betrothal gift from the Holy Spirit, or mother in law of the soul, for the faithful daughters in Christ Jesus to be sealed for future spiritual union with the saints or sons. As with the eastern betrothal process, it is a token of the future joint inheritance of the bride with her future husband. (Eph. 1:13,14) As such it is the beginning of the process of salvation of the soul
The manifestations of the gift from the Holy Spirit are a foretaste of the powers in the age to come. (Heb. 6:4,5)
The gift from the Holy Spirit is the power to become children of God by belief. (John 1:12)
The gift from the Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of God, which is the energizer of faith. (Rom. 5:5, Gal. 5:6)
It is this foretaste of power from the Holy Spirit through faith that keeps one unto salvation which is to be unveiled in the last time. (I Peter 1:5) The gift from the Holy Spirit sanctifies for future wholeness yet without belief or faith in the truth, the gift is without effect. (II Thess. 2:13)
Just as a bride may break the betrothal because of lack of faith in the arrangement, so too can the arrangement for salvation be broken without faith in righteousness on the part of the betrothal gift’s recipient. (Hebrews 6:4-12, Rom. 11:22, John15:1-9) One, gifted of only the Holy Spirit, might resist this truth by assuming that II Timothy 2:11-13 applies to them. This section only applies to those of the Spirit of Christ. Paul, the saint, was writing to Timothy, another saint.
It is through faith that the promise of God is acquired. The new law is that of faith. (Rom. 3:27-4:5) The promise by faith is now the hope since it will be accomplished at the appointed time in the future. In Ephesians, Paul prays that those sealed with the gift from the Holy Spirit might know the hope of his calling and what the inheritance is among the saints. (Eph. 1:18) Many have some type of hope yet not all have the hope of God. Knowing the truth of what awaits one at the appointed time increases and settles faith so one is not moved away from the promise by a delusion of hope. (Col.1:23, II Cor. 10:15, II Thess. 2:11)
With the Holy Spirit shedding abroad the love of God, which energizes faith and its expression, and with the knowledge of the hope of the one new man of twain, none will be ashamed at his coming. It is through the Spirit in faith that we wait for the hope of righteousness through faith. (Gal. 5:5)
In this day, most who have received the gift from the Holy Spirit have stumbled considering the gift the conclusion of their personal salvation, while in reality the gift is only the beginning.
It is the utilization of the gift from the Holy Spirit with faith unto the eventual union of the spiritual masculine saints and the spiritual feminine faithful in Christ Jesus that brings salvation and will bring regeneration.