Articles
Because He Lives, In Me!
When we repent of our sins, and are buried with Christ into His death during baptism, God sends His Spirit to dwell in the new sinless person that arises from those waters (Acts 2:38, Rom 6:3-5). We've been taught that all our lives in the church, and rightfully so, it's what scripture says.
But do we really pay attention to what that means for us? There is a realization that my body is now a temple of God, it's where He lives. Several things are now different.
Because He lives in me, it serves as a restraint against abuse of my body (I Cor 6:19-20) Living in me, God's Spirit now helps me bear fruit (Gal 5:22-23). He helps me love (Jno 13:34-35, Rom 5:5). He helps me put to death those deeds of the body that hinder me, (Rom 8:13).
He works to help me in my prayer life (Rom 8:26). He owns me now, I have Him as a seal, (Eph 1:13-14), I now have the ability to live a quality of life that He expects, life that will be mine now and for eternity (Rom 8:13, Heb 6:4-5). The Bible has more to say, these just paint the big picture.
He is now with me everywhere I go, all the time, never leaving my side. Do I ever take Him places He would never take me?
Today the thought is, knowing all of this about the Spirit, let us not forget that we certainly are not beyond throwing all of this away. We can neglect all of His help, refuse to pray, fail to produce fruit, abuse our bodies, and fail to display our seal to the world concerning our relationship and inheritance with Him, and we can both "grieve" and "quench" the Spirit of God (Eph 4:30, I Thess 5:19).
God indwells us, we live with God, now and for eternity. This brings us "LIFE". How precious a Gift!
Spend a few more minutes today, understanding the indwelling of the Spirit, "without the Spirit" (Romans 7:14-24) and "with the Spirit" (Romans 8:1-18.)
