You have a new permanent resident living inside you. You are no longer alone and on your own. Perhaps you think that if you lived 2000 years ago, it would have been better. Then you could follow and listen to Jesus most every day — if you weren’t working or when classes were over. Then you would be able to be in His Presence; enjoy His company and learn from His teaching. But back then, your encounters with God in Human Flesh, Jesus, would be sporadic and occasional, limited to when He was visiting your town.
The moment you trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, something amazing happened. God, the Holy Spirit moved in and took up residence in you. He started living inside you. That’s what the Bible teaches. And that is why you have brand new desires and feelings you never had before. Someone new is living inside you. He doesn’t come and go – inside one day and then leaving you alone the next.
Jesus told His disciples that after He went back to Heaven, the Holy Spirit would come and be with them in a way He never was before. He would be their Comforter/Counselor (and yours!) and an inside Teacher. Yes, He would live inside them. John 14:15,16,17, 26.
The Bible clearly teaches the One True God is a triune God. Tri – means three. The word trinity refers to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three in One and One in three. In John 14:6, the word “another” means another of the same kind which shows that the Holy Spirit is God like Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is just as much a Person as God the Father or God the Son. Isn’t it amazing to think that God, the Holy Spirit – not an ‘it’ or a mere ‘influence’ or ‘energy’ but a real Person now lives inside you!
Actually, before the Holy Spirit moved inside you to ‘dwell’, He was at work in your life before you were saved. Jesus said in John 16:8 that the Holy Spirit’s role, before we are born again, is to speak to our hearts and to convince us and convict us of our sin, of righteousness and of judgment.
The Apostle Paul asked some Christians in the city of Corinth who were living carelessly:
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Another very encouraging set of verses is found in Ephesians 1:13-14.
“… when you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, and believed in him [Christ], you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
You might not understand today all of what the verses above mean but here’s a note from a Life Applications Study Bible that may help:
“The Holy Spirit is God’s seal that we belong to Him and His deposit guaranteeing that He will do what He has promised. The Holy Spirit is like a down payment, a deposit, a validating signature on a contract. The presence of the Holy Spirit in us demonstrates the genuineness of our faith, proves that we are God’s children and secures eternal life for us. His power works in us to transform us now and what we experience now is a taste of the total change we will experience in eternity.”
You received the Holy Spirit the moment you trusted Christ. Some may try to tell you that you have to wait to receive Him later. Wrong teaching! They also may tell you that He may leave you if you mess up. Wrong teaching. You can grieve your Internal Resident by failure – but He will never leave you. (sealed and guaranteed! See Ephesians 1:13 above) Others teach that you can get more of the Holy Spirit. No you can’t! He is a Person. You either have all of Him or you have none of Him. But, He can get more of you, as you turn over your life to His capable management.
Assignment for today:
- Underline in your Bible John 14:15,16,17, 26; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Ephesians 1:13
- Write out 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and memorize those two verses.
- Pray and tell the Lord you would like to open up every part of your life to the work of the Holy Spirit inside you – even the most secret parts of your life, known only to you and God.
