The Work Of The Holy Spirit Series

Part 2 –  “The Holy Spirit Within: His Indwelling Presence”

Submitted by Dave White – Central Florida District Coordinator

 

John 14:16-18

16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever —   17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

We want to focus our attention on the last part of verse 17…”for He dwells with you and will be in you”.

Being born again is not just walking to the front of the Church and praying a prayer and then going on with life as usual. When we received Christ as our Lord and Savior the Spirit of God came into our spirit and caused us to come to life. The Holy Spirit made His home in us.

There is no need for any believer to ever feel comfortless, alone or bereaved. The Spirit of God has come to live in us and remain in us.

God For Us, With Us, And In Us

The New Testament teaches that God, by the Holy Spirit, works His mighty presence in man in three ways. First, God is for us. Second, God is with us. And third, God is in us.

To Have God For Us Guarantees Our Success

Romans 8:31

31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

If God is on our side, we are sure to win in life. Because God Is for you, and when you know that he is for you, you will overcome all the onslaughts of the devil. No matter how difficult the situation you face may be, you have the assurance of success because God is for you. The reason you will triumph in life is because He is in you and God cannot fail.

Psalm 27:1-5

27 The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.   4 One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

You Cannot Be Defeated If God Is For You!

When you and I are convinced that God is for you then we will know that in every challenge we face God is with us.

We have a better covenant than the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant God was for Israel, but in the New Covenant God is in the believer.

Hebrews 8:6

6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. One of the better promises of the New Covenant is that God’s Spirit will dwell within man.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Believers Are The Temple Of The Holy Spirit

One of the most powerful truths with regard to our redemption is, that after God recreated us and made us new creatures in Christ and made us His own, then He, in the person of the Holy Spirit, makes our bodies His home! He lives within our human spirit, in our body.

1 Corinthians 3:16 (Amplified) …16 Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God’s temple (His sanctuary), and that God’s Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you — to be at home in you [collectively as a church and also individually]?

2 Corinthians 6:16 (Amplified)… 16 What agreement (can there be between) a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (Amplified)… 19 Do you not know that your body is the temple — the very sanctuary — of the Holy Spirit who lives within you, whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own?

Through the Holy Spirit, God himself indwells the believer through the new birth. No longer does God dwell in a man-made Holy of Holies; our bodies have become His temple. That man-made Holy of Holies was for the Old Covenant priests to enter once a year to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. If anyone else tried to enter the Holy of Holies they would die.

But thank God, on the cross Jesus said these words…John 19:30

30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

What was finished? The Old Covenant was finished. The New Covenant was initiated when Jesus was raised from the dead, ascended on High and entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies with His own blood (Heb. 1:3; 10:12).

Hebrews 1:3

3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Heb 10:12

12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

Once Jesus obtained eternal redemption for us, as Hebrews declares, then and only then were the terms of the New Covenant consummated and ratified. When Jesus died, the veil of the Temple that partitioned off the Holy of Holies was torn into from top to bottom.

Matthew 27:50-53

50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52 The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Jewish historians tell us that curtain was forty feet wide, twenty feet high, and four inches thick. When Jesus Christ was crucified on the Cross that curtain in the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, signifying that the Old Covenant was finished and that God’s Presence would no longer be isolated from man in the Old Covenant Holy of Holies. Under the New Covenant, God would dwell in the believer (Jer. 31:33,34; Heb. 8:6-13;10:1-17).

Jeremiah 31:33,34

33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.

Hebrews 8:6-13

6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.  7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:  “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.  10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord, ‘because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Now, God dwells within man, we are His temple. Thank God the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you.

Romans 8:11

11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Too many believers constantly talk about their lack of power, and their lack of ability. When one realizes that God is in them, they will know for a fact that nothing is impossible for them to overcome. The Bible states that God is a Spirit. We are spirit beings as well but we have a soul, which is our mind, will, intellect and emotions, and we live in a body. We must discipline ourselves to be led by the Spirit and not give in to feelings and emotions of our flesh. How can we do this? By acting on what the Word of God says.

Your feelings and emotions will lead you down the wrong path. However, your reborn spirit has the power to overcome the soul and flesh.

Romans 12:2

2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The Bible says, “. . . all things are possible to him that believes” (Mark 9:23). The reason that all things are possible to him who believes is that God our Father planned that the believing one should have God Himself living in him through the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit. And with God in the believer, nothing is impossible!

Confession of Faith: “Thank you Lord that your Holy Spirit abides in my spirit. Because you are alive in me I live a victorious, blessed, overcoming life. Christ in me is my hope of glory in Jesus name”.