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This is stunning. God has a plan. That plan for us includes the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is His gift to us. We should be grateful and thankful every day.

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith

English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Acts 15:8–9

God gave the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles to bear witness that they truly were born again. Only God can see the human heart; so, if these people had not been saved, God would never have given them the Spirit. But they did not receive the Spirit by keeping the Law, but by believing God’s Word. Peter’s message was “whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43, NKJV), not “whoever believes and obeys the Law of Moses.”

  • Acts 10:47 (ESV) — 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
  • Acts 11:17 (ESV) — 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Master Jesus the Messiah, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
  • 1 John 3:24 (ESV) — 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
  • 1 John 4:13 (ESV) — 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.