"When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up, and he shall save the humble person" (Job 22:29)
No one was ever filled with the Holy Spirit without knowing it. The Holy Spirit always announces Himself to the human consciousness." What is the nature of this "announcement"? Of what does it consist? How may we recognize it? Is it some kind of physical evidence, or what?
There is such a thing as the secret workings of the Spirit in the soul of man, for a time unknown and unsuspected by the individual. In fact, most of the fruits of the Spirit are unsuspected by the man in whom they are found.
The most loving, most patient, most compassionate soul is unlikely to be aware of these graces. Others will discover the operations of the Spirit within him long before he will and will thank God for his sweet Christian character while he may at the same time be walking in great humility before God, mourning the absence of the very graces that others know he possesses.
There is an inseparable connection between a holy heart and a holy life. A holy life can no more proceed from an unholy heart, than a pure stream can flow from an impure fountain.
~A. W. Tozer~
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