those who are in the flesh cannot please God. you, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.- romans 8:8-9
think about your testimony. before the Holy Spirit indwelled in you, you had no chance of pleasing God. it did not matter how often you attended church or how much money you donated to a non-profit organization.. i grew up in the church for sixteen years knowing how to do the “right, Christ-like” actions without the Holy Spirit’s guidance, but with an impure, hard heart that was striving for my own salvation.
whatever your testimony looks like, if you have trusted that Jesus is the only one that can save you from the wrath of God (God’s action through righteous anger), then you can rest assured that the Spirit of God is in you.
right after washing their feet, Jesus talks with his disciples about his leaving and returning. we see him promise the Holy Spirit to his disciples: “but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you,” (john 14:26).
paul later writes to the romans, “likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words,” (romans 8:26).
isn’t it amazing that God Himself dwells inside of us to remind us of how good He is? even when we do not know what to do in our wrestle with our flesh, the Spirit prays on our behalf. what kind of God would want to dwell inside of faithless, broken people who fail more often than they succeed?
our God wants that, because he wants to be with us. through Jesus, he allows us to be with him forever. sit in revelation 21:3 for a few moments and bask in the God we serve:
“and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
think about someone in your life who does not yet belong to God. how can you share that amazing truth with them?
Father God, we thank you for giving us your Holy Spirit to reside in us. we confess that we fall short of your glory every single day, and oftentimes we long for other things besides your voice. you are a good, good God for continuing to draw near to us despite our wandering. thank you for wanting to dwell with us, and for making that possible through your Son. please give us your strength to tell others about the joy we find in you. in Jesus’ name, amen.
~ jm