a faith that testifies (The Living Faith)

The Living Faith - Indwelling Spirit

THE INDWELLING SPIRIT

Once the foundation is firmly attached to our being the Holy Spirit then dwells in us. The Spirit of God is the seal of God's promise to us the moment we believed the Gospel that has saved us (Ephesians 1:13). When Jesus came into the world He preached the good news and the good news He preached is Himself. Now that Jesus has become our foundation, if we were a living house as George MacDonald suggested as C. S. Lewis noted in His book, Mere Christianity and having embrace the very foundation God has given us, the Holy Spirit then enters in us and search for things that needs to be done and it has to be done, transformation has to be made. Don't expect that God would allow leaks to exist in a house where He will dwell.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16

When you saw Jesus in His glory and beauty, you saw yourself being a wrecked and a unworthy vessel... you then saw your true image since you were separated from God because when sin came our image in God's likeness was destroyed but through our faith in Him and by the works of the Holy Spirit in us (the same Spirit that has enable us to become sons and daughters of God) God is restoring the very image that was destroyed in us by the enemy making us like Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God.

God can't stay in an unholy ground. He has to do something unimaginable to us, within our stony hearts... which is the root of all this wickedness. The problem is not in the fruit that the tree bears but the root of the tree that bears such bad fruits. The bad surface we see is only the evidence of a rotten substance. And God wants to deal with the problem at its root and as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us with our full submission to God, it will be well with us. This may sound easy at some point to "let go and let God" but the process of which the Holy Spirit will work will never be easy because we are dealing with our flesh here.

As the Spirit dwells in us we are to live in the Spirit. This declaration is waging war against the flesh (and sin) because both cannot co-exist in one entity. It's highly to note that, "...they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:8) and so living in the flesh is never an option for the Church, we cannot serve someone in whom we were set free from. Once the Holy Spirit is in us, we have the freedom, "...where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." (2 Corinthians 3:17). Our goal as a Church is primarily to please God, the One who has set us free from bondage and who is now our Father. Paul wrote this powerful verse to the saints in Rome, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." (Romans 8:13) Paul is informing the Church what will happen if they continue to do nothing against the sin in them. One must truly understand that when Jesus came He was full of grace and truth and so to go after sin and enjoy it as a "Christian" is to live in a lie and in a way degrade the very grace God has given man. We are not perfect people and if we were we wouldn't be part of Christ's Church, for He came for the sick and lost, to heal and restore. There are certain temptations that get to us and invites us to sin but we have the option to look away and focus our sight on the cross or be carried away by it, thus, fulfilling the flesh and this will do us no good for it is written what will happen to those who walked after the flesh but thanks be to God, we can always start again with Him because His grace is immeasurable, it abounds, "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." (Romans 5:20)

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins..." –1 John 2:1-2

...but we are not to abuse God's grace as one preacher said, "...grace is not a licence to sin..." I believe grace is not just about forgiveness but importantly the enabling power not to sin that is present in us but most of the time neglected because of our lack of knowledge in God's gift towards us, His Church. In Paul's first letter to the Church of God at Corinth, regarding how he has "laboured more abundantly..." (15:10) and added on, "...yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" this is testifying that the grace of God is at work in each life that believes and preached that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour.

When the desire and urging of sin comes into picture and we feel weak, remember that the same Spirit that raise Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the Spirit of God will give life to your mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). If we live by the Spirit we will have the strength to resist the devil surely he will flee from you. You just have to make a stand of what you believe in and remind yourself that you are indeed free, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8:36). And so live in the Spirit. There is no other way a Christian can live other than to live in the Spirit. Our Comforter, the Spirit of God, will remind us of what our Lord Jesus has taught us and has spoken. We know that His Word is our daily bread, our life.

Living in the Spirit, as I've noted, is waging war against the flesh and in the process fulfilling the works of the Spirit in us producing the fruits of it.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance:" –Galatians 5:24-25

These fruits mentioned should be eminent in our lives as a Church today. In the way we think, the words we say, and the things we do should demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit.

"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." –Galatians 5:24-25

As we live in the Spirit, we ought to walk in the Spirit as well. Walking in the Spirit is bearing the fruits through our lives today express in our certain acts that denote the fruit, the specific fruit of the Spirit. Like love, it is seen in many ways and forms in this life we live today, in an image of a mother, who gives her share of food to her children and end up not eating, a father works late and overtime in order to provide for his family even when he is sick, and so on. Acts of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness and more... walking in the Spirit is a display of the fruits through our lives today.