The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

As Christians, we never need to worry about the Holy Spirit suddenly disappearing from our lives.  Most of us are familiar with the words of the great King David:

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  (Psalms 51:11 NIV84)

These words were written by a faithful man who knew his weaknesses.  In his dispensation the Holy Spirit had not been poured out; that was an event yet to occur.  In spite of his spiritual frailty, David’s heart’s desire was to live wholly for God and he had enough discernment to know that in order to live like that, he needed the continuous help of the Holy Spirit.  His presence in the daily life of Israel’s King was indispensable.  David may have had in mind another leader of Israel whose career was cut short because the Spirit left him.  The mighty Samson became as weak as other men when God withdrew His Spirit from him.

It is God’s plan to not only fill us with the Holy Spirit, but that He should be be a part of our  lives.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever…  (John 14:16 NIV84)

The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, is to abide in believers forever.  He is to be a part of our lives – a part of all we do.  Let’s take a closer look what it means to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you.

1.  You become His home

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.  (Romans 8:9-11 NIV84)

When a person is born again, the Holy Spirit literally comes in and takes possession of his heart for Christ so that Christ now dwells in his heart by His Spirit.  The Holy Spirit, in these verses, is “the Spirit of life,” bestowing on all believers a new life.  The implication of verse 9 is obvious:  all people that have the Spirit in them, belong to Christ, those who do not, do not! 

Paul had been writing about what it means to be living according to the sinful  nature, and he makes it clear that as Christians we aren’t supposed to.  Christians are not under control of their sinful human nature but of the Holy Spirit.  That’s the new life He gives us – a life that has the potential to please God.  Of course, reason tells us that we have to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit; that He doesn’t force us to live a God-pleasing life.  But without the Spirit, no human being can please God.   So when the Spirit comes in and takes possession of our hearts, we are given the ability to please God in how we live because the Spirit tells us what we should do and gives us the ability to do it.  We don’t have to depend on our consciences or the laws of man!  We just have to listen to that “still, small voice” and act on what He is saying.

A lot of Christians struggle constantly with living right, as many in the Roman church did.  That’s why Paul tells them how powerful the Holy Spirit is:  If He raised Christ from the dead, then surely He can help you live a good, God-pleasing life!  But make no mistake about it, it’s not our righteous acts that please God, it’s our yielding to the righteousness of Christ which is in us – imputed to us – by the Holy Spirit! 

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  (1 Corinthians 1:30 TNIV)

The Spirit quickens our mortal bodies.  This  has a reference to our future resurrection; just as Christ was raised in glory, so also will those who are full of His Spirit.  But it also has reference to our bodies today.  The Holy Spirit vitalizes the whole person today!  The mortal bodies of Moses and Stephen were “quickened” when they were in God’s presence and their faces radiated with His glory.  We should also radiate God’s glory; it’s a witness to His presence in our lives; it’s proof to the world that we belong to Him and that the Holy Spirit dwells in us and it’s a foretaste of resurrection glory.

2.  He gives you strength

But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.  (Micah 3:8 NIV84)

This verse found in Micah’s book is given in the context of false prophets versus Micah, a true prophet.  Unlike these false prophets – or  “placebo preachers” as Walter Kaiser calls them – Micah was full of power because he was full of the Spirit of The Lord.  His rivals, the false prophets, were preaching ridiculous messages of peace and safety when violence abounded and sermons full of cheery bromideswhen the people wallowing in their sin. 

Micah, in the face the difficult situation of having to tell his people how sinful they were, was given the strength to do just that by the Holy Spirit!   The Holy Spirit empowered Micah, as he empowers all believers today, to impartially declare the Word of God to those who needed to hear it.   It was the Holy Spirit that gave the prophet the boldness to say the right things and to live the right way; the Holy Spirit put something in Micah that wasn’t there before.  And He can do that for you, too, if you would let Him.  In fact, He wants to do that.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  (Philippians 2:12, 13  TNIV)

God, through the Holy Spirit, enables you to “will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  He not only gives you the strength, but also the will.   Very often we may be aware of God’s will and we obey it, yet our hearts may not be in it.  But part of the work of the Spirit is to bring our hearts along and get them in-line so that God’s will eventually becomes OUR will, too!

Both Micah and Paul recognized that the good in their lives – the good they were doing for God – was not a work of their own abilities but a work of the Holy Spirit in them.  These men didn’t boast of their talents or achievements or great plans, their focus was on God who sent them to do work for Him.  Peter and John experienced the same thing and it was noticed by people around them:

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.   (Acts 4:13 NIV84)

That “courage” was not native to Peter or John; it was put in them by the Spirit, which is why onlookers were “astonished.”  That’s the wonder the Spirit!  That’s what He does for believers in the here and now.  But notice, in the cases we have looked at, the Spirit put power in people to do the work of The Lord, not to make money or win friends and influence people. 

3.  He is LIFE

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  (John 4:13-14 NIV84)

Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman whom He had asked for a drink of water.  He took the opportunity to teach her about the kind of “water” He could give her as opposed to the natural water she was giving Him.  The water from her well, natural water, would quench a person’s thirst temporarily; that person would need to have another drink some time.  But the “water” Jesus could offer was not natural water but spiritual water.  Of course, He’s not really talking about H2O, He’s talking about LIFE – specifically the kind of LIFE given by the Holy Spirit.  But the figure of “water” and “drinking” is a powerful one.  The “water” is LIFE and the “drinking” is FAITH.  It is by faith that we receive the new life of the Holy Spirit.  But this new life is so powerful, ONE drink lasts FOREVER! 

Not only does the Holy Spirit give us LIFE – both eternal life but also a new life for today – but that blessing in us is not confined to us only:

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.  (John 7:38-39 NIV84)

This precious Holy Spirit flows out from us, touching others. 

Those who thirst will find satisfaction is Jesus Christ.  As we are filled with His Spirit, He overflows us and we become spiritual fountains for other people.  When we trust Christ, we not only receive the “water” that produces eternal life, but we become a source of that life for others!  The fact is, nobody can possess the Holy Spirit and keep Him to himself.  Jesus is teaching us that where the Holy Spirit is, He flows forth.  If there is no “flowing forth, He is not there” (William Temple).