You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. (Rm 8:9)
I come to you, Father, with amazement and gratitude at the fact of Your holy presence within me through Your Spirit. God is in me! Hallelujah!
Perhaps the greatest mistake church people make is that they try to live a godly life without Jesus. The thrust of their life can be summarized something like this: “I will be kind to my children … I will memorize the Bible … I will work to spread the gospel … I will overcome my anger or lust … I will show patience with my boss … I will give to the poor … I will … I will … I will …” The problem is not the tasks they resolve themselves to perform. Those are often noble and upright. The problem is the source. These people actually think that their own efforts will amount to something. They want to live for God, but they are so busy living for God that they neglect to live from God. Most of these people would call themselves Christians, but this sort of life is not Christian. It is pagan morality in Christian clothing.
Jesus is the foundation for a vibrant, godly life. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. If we try to live out His ethic without His strength, we will fail. If we try to love as He loved but never rely on His love inside us, then we deceive ourselves. Jesus must be the source for how we live. Of course, Jesus has risen and ascended from this earth, so he is no longer here in a bodily sense, but He is still here. Today, we have access to Jesus through His Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is central to righteousness, joy, and humility, but we woefully neglect Him. That is why the church is often rife with unrighteousness, joylessness, and pride. Sinful people are trying to live a righteous life out of the strength of their sinful nature. It does not work. You might as well ask a fish to be a bird. If we are to live God’s life instead of our own, we need God to do it. The Holy Spirit is that very thing — God doing it.
The Holy Spirit is not an attitude as we might speak of the spirit of the age or say that a woman has a humble spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, as we see in Star Wars, nor is He like the Great Spirit in some nature religions. He is, quite simply, God Himself. And He has come to live inside His people. The people of Jesus, thus, become God’s temple for the simple reason that God’s Spirit dwells in them (I Cor 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit’s indwelling is a gift of God. We do not have the Holy Spirit because we are good. We have Him because God is good. The presence of the Spirit is nothing more than grace.
On one level, this is crazy. God lives in us? On another level, it is pure joy. God lives in us! It is the only way for us to ever truly live the life of Christ. Thus, the people of Jesus must rely on the Spirit He sent. We have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit. So rely on the Spirit. Listen to Him. Call upon Him. Let Him fill you. Continually. He communicates Scripture (II Pet 1:21). He teaches and guides God’s people (Jn 14:26; 16:12-13). He convicts the world of sin (Jn 16:8). He gives new birth in conversion (Jn 3:5-8). He is our assurance of an unfathomable inheritance (Eph 1:13-14). He is our Counselor (Jn14:16, 26). He gives life and peace (Rm 8:6). He provides power for ministry (Acts 2 and 1:8). He provides victory over sin in our lives (Rm 8:13). He grants godly character (Gal 5:22-23). He is the source for all of these things and more.
The Holy Spirit has the power to do these things because He is God. He can work intimately in God’s child because He lives inside. God is not just a god way up in the sky. He has come to dwell inside His people. The Holy Spirit is how we experience God in our lives. Everyone who follows Jesus has the Holy Spirit inside (I Cor 12:12-13). In that sense, we do not need to ask God for the Spirit. In Christ, we already have Him. But having the Spirit and being filled with Him are different things. In addition, having the Spirit and recognizing we have Him are also different things. We often do not see what we have. Some understand intellectually that the Spirit is in them, but they don’t rejoice in it. They have heard the teaching, but they have not made it personal. Hence, they acknowledge truth with their head but live life in their flesh.
The gift of the Holy Spirit means that you have access to the mind of God right now (I Cor 2:9-12). It means that you can have a conversation with God wherever you are. It means that God can communicate with you from the inside. The fact of the indwelling Spirit means that our prayer lives should be dialogues instead of monologues. It means that we should read Scripture through the eyes of the Spirit, and that when we do so, Scripture comes alive. It means that He should be central in our struggles for purity and righteousness. It means that we should seek and listen to Him for advice. It means that we should rely on His Spirit for the ability to love that annoying relative. It means that we have joy at our fingertips and peace forevermore.
It means all these things because God lives inside His people. On our own, we are frail earthen vessels, but inside this clay pitcher that I call “me,” God has placed a treasure of unspeakable worth. Why then, do we focus so much on the clay and ignore the riches inside?
