By Scott Brown
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly
Focal Passage: Romans 8:9-17
At the moment of conversion, when we are born again, the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside us. He indwells the believer and gives them power to live for Jesus. This comes with many benefits to us. It is a constant reminder we are not left alone to stumble through the adventure of the Christian life.
GotQuestions.org lists 10 incredible things this indwelling accomplishes or promises to us. The person of the Holy Spirit comes to a soul dead in sin and creates new life. He confirms to the believer they belong to the Lord as a fellow heir with Christ.
The Spirit installs us as members of Christ’s universal Church. He gives spiritual gifts, according to His will, for effective service to God and the edification of the church. He illuminates Scripture to help us understand and apply its truths. The Holy Spirit enriches and empowers our prayer lives, Himself also interceding for us in prayer.
Brown
He empowers the yielded believer to live for Christ and do His will. He produces the fruit of the Spirit in the believer’s life. He is grieved when we sin and convicts us of sin to bring about repentance and restore fellowship with the Lord (and others). He seals the believer until the day of redemption, being the very guarantee of our salvation.
What an indispensable, necessary, awesome blessing it is to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It would be entirely impossible to have any victory, power, or assurance apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit. I thank God for the promised Holy Spirit and the promises He keeps through Him.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to live for the Lord and there is no limit to the great things God can do in and through a person yielded to Him. Without Him, we are powerless, hopeless and utterly useless for the Kingdom.
Oh, but in and through Him, there is no limit to the exceedingly abundant things He can accomplish beyond our ability to even ask or think!
David Livingstone once asked Charles Spurgeon how he was able to work as hard as he did and accomplish as much as he had. His response was, “You have forgotten there are two of us.”
Perhaps we see so little traction and so much frustration in our lives and churches because we forget there are two of us. Perhaps we stay frustrated in our battle with sin because we are fighting this spiritual battle by our physical strength.
Perhaps our churches seem lifeless and limp, accomplishing little for the Kingdom, because we are leaning on our preferences and power, abilities and aptitude, our ways and will, seeking our goals and glory.
D.L. Moody was marked by a casual statement a friend made to him, “Moody, the world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him.”
Those words stuck to his soul and he resolved in that moment, “I will be that man.” The indwelling of the Spirit is our promise of power in this life over sin and shame, defeat and death. He is the clear promise God is always with us in this life and we will always be with Him in the next. B&R