"The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ efficaciously unites us to himself." -John Calvin. Without the Holy spirit the only testimony of Jesus that we had would be a remembrance of things long past which no longer have bearing on our lives after some time. There would be no reproduction of the spirit and his mighty working power. Without the Holy Spirit to manifest and show off, which is his way of testifying about Jesus through you, then you will have just as much power as a Buddhist or some other religion that has no evidence of validity to support their faith further than a persuasive argument.
There is a scripture that we all know as bible believing people, or at least we should all know, "At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Don't do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus." -Revelation 19:10. Throughout the church we are taught that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophecy. That isn't wrong, but it does seem to be lacking.
The typical teaching on this verse is that if we just testify about Jesus then we are accessing the spirit of prophecy and in some way we are prophesying. In order to understand this statement we have to look deeper into the meaning of what it means to testify, and what prophesying is rather than relying on your basic understanding of what it means to prophesy.
Let's look at where it says the testimony of Jesus. The word for testimony in Greek is Martyria. This is where we get the word martyr from. Martyria is a profound choice of wording for John to use in the book of Revelation. Not only does Martyria mean testimony, it means witness, evidence, testimony, and reputation. When we testify about Jesus we are witnessing, or standing up for the reputation of Jesus Christ. We are supposed to be providing evidence that Jesus is the way to heaven. While we may be able to persuade people to believe with some fancy speech, we will not win many people over that way. That's where the Holy Spirit comes in.
The word Prophecy in Greek is prophēteía deriving from prophḗtēs, "prophet," which is derived from pro, "before" and phemi, it means to make clear, assert as a priority (put first). Properly, it is what is clarified beforehand; prophecy which involves divinely-empowered forthtelling -asserting the mind of God, what he is thinking- or foretelling which is prediction of things to come.
To testify about Jesus isn't just professing with your mouth. Testifying about Jesus is renewing your mind in Christ. It is believing in your heart that Jesus is the son of God, and because of that, living a lifestyle that demonstrates that you believe it. Testifying about Jesus with your mouth allows the Holy Spirit to operate through you, and testifying with your life allows him to testify in a greater measure.
The less you look like the old you the more you will see Christ's power rest on you. Paul says it like this, "...or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.
The type of weakness that Paul is referring to isn't because he was sick in some form. What Paul says is "because of these surpassingly great revelations" he was given a messenger from the enemy in order to keep him from getting conceited. Paul had such a great revelation that it would have been easy for him to get puffed up. The enemy that came to Paul brought insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. Through all of this Paul realized there was nothing he could do in his own power to overcome these things. Paul chose to lose his own identity and be like Christ because Jesus revealed to him that when he was weak, when he realized he couldn't overcome the enemy in his own human strength, that was when Jesus was made the strongest in his life. When Paul recognized that he was nothing without Jesus, he saw Jesus more powerfully in his life. Because of this Paul learned that recognizing he was just a man, made God stronger in him. The more he recognized that he was nothing and God was everything, the more he saw Jesus.
When we are truly testifying about Jesus without hindrance or restriction we will always see him manifest in some form. Be it a prophetic word, a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom, healings, sings, wonders, miracles, deliverance, dream interpretation, or any way he manifests you will surely know that he is there.
Jesus said, " “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning." John 15:25-26. These verses tie together with John 15, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power." and Mark 16:20 "Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it."
What I find interesting is that before Mark 16, Jesus sent out the disciples in pairs of two, in power and authority. He did not go with them. However, in Mark 16 it says that Jesus was working with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied them. We seem to overlook this little tid-bit. We just assume that Mark was talking about the Holy Spirit, but I don't see any reference to the Holy Spirit in the verse in Greek.
However, we must consider this; the Holy Spirit is the one that works the signs, wonders, and miracles through us and Jesus is always with us, as well as the spirit of God, and The Holy Spirit. What I want to point out is that all three aspects of God are with us at all times. Where ever we Go, God goes working with us to prove that his message is true. The difference is that after Jesus was glorified he now was able to go with them which made them even more powerful than before. They were now anointed, set apart, and equipped with power from Holy Spirit. Whereas before they simply had the authority given them by Jesus, and Holy Spirit testifying.
One of the reasons, in fact the main reason, that we have spiritual gifts is because it confirms to others that the message we have about Jesus Christ is true. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that the gifts come from Holy Spirit. No other religion can testify that their God goes with them and supports their words. Satan will try to come along with his false signs and wonders that we see in 2 Thessalonians, but when we show up in spirit and in truth preaching Jesus, and being confirmed with by the Holy Spirit everything the enemy is trying to do to deceive people into turning from Jesus, will be nullified by Jesus. "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming." 2 Thessalonians 2:8. The word used for destroy in Greek is Katargeo. It means to annul, destroy, abolish, bring to nothing, render completely powerless. This is what happens when the spirit of God shows up.
This is part of how the Holy Spirit testifies that Jesus is the son of God, and his testimony is true. Holy Spirit can be seen doing things like this all the way from Genesis to revelation. The manifestation of the spirit of God is the manifestation of Jesus Christ. Since Jesus was made manifest in order to destroy the works of the devil then when Holy spirit manifests it is for the same reason. You see examples of Holy spirit testifying to the validity of His Word through such acts as Moses' staff transforming, the parting of the red sea, the dreams given to Gideon's enemy, the lighting of the fire by Isaiah, and so and so much more. Every time the Holy spirit manifests the work of the enemy is annulled.