What Difference Does It Really Make That The Holy Spirit Dwells In Us?
The Holy Spirit Dwells in us
How do we know?
Let’s start with Jesus' final conversation and meal with His disciples before His crucifixion. This event, known to us as the Last Supper, began with Jesus washing their feet which disrupted their status quo. He then further disturbed them with the news that one of them was about to betray Him, that He was about to leave them, and Peter would deny Him.
These were the men who left everything to follow Him and I imagine in this moment confusion and questions swirled in their minds.
Why is our leader washing our feet? What is He talking about that one of us will betray Him?
Why? Who? Where is Jesus going? Why did He call us to follow Him if He would only leave us? What is going on?
After Jesus dropped the bomb of bad news among His disciples, John 14 records that Jesus shifted to comforting them.
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
John 14:1
This story made me think of times when I had both good news and bad news to share with someone I loved. Maybe you also have said something like, “Do you want the good news first or the bad news first?” Jesus didn’t ask them which they wanted first, but He seemed to set them up to fully have their attention. He had important things to tell them before He went to the cross.
These things weren’t important for Him as much as they were for the disciples He loved. With all His bad news and the upcoming disruption, He wanted them to know and understand He wasn’t leaving them as they understood. Jesus ultimately would come to them in another way, in a different form.
The Indwelling Promise
In the first half of John 14, Jesus spent His time with them continuing to call them to unwavering faith, love, and devotion to Him. In John 14:16-18, He gave them a promise and assurance that would make all the difference for them throughout the rest of their faith journey.
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him or knows Him; but you know Him,
for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:16-17
Surely, they had no clue what this promise would eventually mean to them, but I imagine they found comfort in His promise nonetheless.
This reminds me of life before our children’s births. We only know and understand on a limited level the effects of children entering our lives. The miracle of their birth immediately resets us deep within. Understanding our depth of love for them and how much their presence in our lives will changes us, how we think, and how we live is only fathomable through the actual experience. That experience causes everything in our lives to take on new meaning in ways we never anticipated.
I think the same is true for us as believers in Christ. When people tell us about Jesus, we can only fathom the effect of the Holy Spirit in us on a limited level. Then He takes up residence in our hearts and we experience Him. That experience increasingly changes everything about us.
Home In Our Hearts
In John 14:22, Judas questioned Jesus about how He would manifest Himself to them. Jesus answered,
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
John 14:23
Our God chose to make our hearts His home. This incredible promise is based on our love for Jesus and us keeping His word. Ephesians 3:17 tells us that Jesus lives in our hearts through faith. Romans 8:9 tells us that anyone not having the Spirit does not belong to Christ.
In my blog post last week, Through Faith In Jesus, We Receive The Promise Of The Holy Spirit, we looked at the initial benefit of the promise as receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. We saw that the power first revealed itself in and through what came from the disciple’s mouths. Their words were anointed with God’s supernatural power. Ephesians 3:16 talks about our “inner man” being strengthened with God’s power.
1 John 2:27 calls the power of the Holy Spirit living in us a received anointing that reaches us concerning all things. There is no doubt that God gave us His Holy Spirit to empower us to live above and beyond our own human capacities and abilities. To know more than we know. To do more than we can do.
I believe that is why Jesus told His disciples,
“It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away,
the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
John 16:7
Twenty-four/Seven Access
Think about if Jesus remained in His physical body here on earth. He would be in one physical location. We would have to make arrangements to go and talk to Him, to get His wise counsel and we would have to share Him, His time, and attention with everyone else who wanted Him. However, because Jesus sought to do what was best for us, making a way that He could not only live with us, but in us, we have access to His wise counsel and guidance twenty-four hours a day, every day of every week, month, and year.
I realize that we have only skimmed the surface of the Holy Spirit living in us. But as I studied this week, one question kept coming to my mind.
Do we know what we have?
I want to challenge you to seek God for more understanding of the Holy Spirit, for more hearing and anointing from the Holy Spirit, and to be led more and more by His Spirit. I just wonder if any of us are living at full capacity of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.