Holy Spirit // Week 3
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Something that I think is beautiful and important for us as believers to know is God's desire to dwell with His people. We see this throughout all scripture.
First, we see it in Exodus:
“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine” (Exodus 19:4-5).
God delivers Israel to own them as His treasured possession.
Then we see the prophet Jeremiah deliver this message to the people who have been exiled because they turned away from God in their sin:
“Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Jeremiah 32:37-38).
Then we see John echo those same words as he prophesies the coming Kingdom ending death and sorrow.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3).
Yet, we don’t have to wait for that picture in Revelation to access God directly. His very Spirit lives in us. We know that He leads us in truth and leads us to obey God. Paul wrote to the Corinthians explaining that once God had to dwell in a building - the temple. Now, because of Jesus, we are the temple, and the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
Now, that isn’t super practical and maybe you are trying to figure out this whole “Holy Spirit dwelling in you” concept. Let me give you four ways that Jesus teaches us to commune, hear, and feel the Spirit.
Prayer.
Jesus emulates a life filled with prayer. Prayer is the way we talk to God and how we can hear from God. We practice hearing the Spirit by talking and listening to Him. It is during these moments that we pray that we are affectionately communicating with God. We love Him through talking to Him, listening to Him and we do that through the power of the Spirit.
Reading the Bible
We can tell a Spirit's prompting when it aligns with God’s Word. Remember that the Spirit is the divine author of the Bible, so He won’t tell you something that would contradict it. The Bible is the clear guidance, law and ways we obey God. It also helps us identify when the Spirit is disciplining us (Hebrews 12:7).
Meditation
In Psalm 1, we read that David meditates on God’s law day and night. We should do the same. The Spirit desires to reveal truth beyond our thirty-minute quiet times in the morning. Meditating means letting it transform you into something else. Do you ever sit and think about what you read throughout the day? Or do you wrestle with God about the scripture you read? Both are forms of meditation because you aren’t leaving it in your journal on the coffee table but letting it sanctify you - letting it make you holy.
Submission
In his letter to the Church at Ephesus, Paul tells the Chruch to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21). It is when we submit our lives to seek guidance from the church we can hear the Holy Spirit most. The same Spirit in us lives in our brothers and sisters, and it is when we ask them to go on our behalf to ask for discernment and guidance we can be assured. Do you submit in all vulnerability to your huddle or grow group to go before you to enter the throne room and ask what is God’s will on your behalf? When someone asks you do this this, do you enter the throne room with responsibility and care for your brother or sister’s calling?
Gaining access to the Spirit does not require anything special. That is the good news of the gospel. It is because of Jesus’ work on the cross and His resurrection we have access. Don’t over think it, and ask God to help you clearly see and hear the Spirit moving and prompting you daily. He will answer, and when we practice hearing His voice, we will hear Him.
