As a Christian you have become a residence for the Holy Spirit of God. God dwells in you, by the Spirit. And Jesus also provides a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit in your life as well. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our life changes who we are and how we encounter life.
Let’s look at some of those changes.
You are born again, by the Spirit of God, so your own human spirit comes alive and you are from that moment on God’s Son.
“Flesh is born from flesh, but spirit is born of the Holy Spirit. Do not marvel that I said, You must be born again.” John 3:6,7
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God” 1John 3:2
God now lives within you, as Jesus promised.
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.” John 14:23
“I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, so he can abide with you for ever; 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.” John 14:16,17
Note that the Holy Spirit will ‘abide with you forever’. You are now no longer alone, because God, by His Holy Spirit, is living within you. You will never be abandoned or left on your own.
“Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
Not only do we become God’s Son by faith in Christ, but the Holy Spirit within us is called a spirit of adoption. The Holy Spirit prompts our relationship with God, as people adopted into God’s family. You will find something within you appreciating and even hungry for exploring being God’s child.
“You received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry to God, Abba (Daddy), Father.” Romans 8:15
The presence of the Holy Spirit is a life-giving presence in our life. We are told that the Spirit makes alive (quickens) our body.
“But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit gives you life because of righteousness.” Romans 8:10
“If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also make alive your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.” Romans 8:11
We are also given power by the Holy Spirit in us. This is the great promise fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come on you: and you will be witnesses about me” Acts 1:8
The Holy Spirit is also a deposit of the many glories we will receive as our spiritual inheritance. As God’s Sons we inherit all God leaves for us. The first taste of that inheritance, the token to confirm what is yet to come, is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13
“God has also sealed us, and given the earnest (deposit) of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2Corinthians 1:22
“Now he who fashioned us for that purpose is God, who also gave us us the earnest (deposit) of the Spirit.” 2Corinthians 5:5
All the glories yet to be enjoyed in eternity are sampled for us through the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The Holy Spirit also functions within us as an encourager. Jesus described the Holy Spirit’s work in us as that of a comforter, or assistant, coming along side us to enable us to do things.
“I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16,17
The Holy Spirit is also signalled as enabling us to put aside evil and be made holy in our life and thought. This is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
“Sanctified by the Holy Spirit” 1Peter 1:2
As well as that the Holy Spirit is able to uphold us in situations where we don’t even know what to pray.
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.” Romans 8:26
The impact of having God’s Holy Spirit in our lives is awesome and amazing. We actually become a temple for God’s Spirit. That puts great responsibilities onto us and brings us amazing blessings.
“Do you not recognise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1Corinthians 6:19
All the blessings of eternity, yet to be enjoyed, are sampled for you in the Holy Spirit in your life. The gifts and fruit of the Spirit, plus being led by the Spirit, praying in the spirit, seeing into the spirit realm, being directed by the Spirit to holiness and wisdom, while being comforted and ministered to by the Spirit and knit closely to God the Father by the Spirit’s inspiration, are all aspects of what you will enjoy in eternity. You get to enjoy all that and more right now, through the Holy Spirit in your life.
That’s why it is so important for Christians to be spiritual and not worldly. If we do not receive more of the Spirit, but live in worldly distraction, we miss all those wonderful blessings.
We are instructed to continually ‘be filled with the Spirit’.
“Be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18
Friends, you are blessed more than you realise by the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit in your life. You receive the Holy Spirit when you are born again and Jesus offers you a Baptism in the Holy Spirit. There is a rich array of significant graces offered you through the Spirit, making it important for you to keep on being filled with the Spirit and living by the Spirit, not by your human instincts.
May you fully enter into what God has given you in the person of the Spirit and may you continue to enjoy being changed By The Spirit.