Christ dwelling on the inside

One of the most crucial and important aspects in the life of every born again believer is communing with the Holy Spirit. Or simply put – talking to God. God dwells inside of us and this is one of the most powerful realities that we can imagine, yet it is one of the most overlooked by most believers.

The Lord has been speaking to my heart a fresh in these recent days about the need for me to be connected to Him. Not only for what it can “do” for me, but what He longs to have with me – communion and an actual relationship. It is so easy for me to lose sight of the fact that God longs for relationship and to hear my voice, not just me reciting a prayer list to Him every day!

In Ephesians 1 Paul tells us that after hearing the Word of Truth (Gospel) and believing, we then receive the Holy Spirit. Paul calls this being marked in Christ or being sealed by the Holy Spirit. At the new birth, the third person of the trinity literally comes and makes His home inside of our spirits; our once dead spirits are awakened and made alive in Christ and thus we have literally become “born Again” (Jn. 3:3-6). The uncreated God dwelling within us is the core reality of the new birth (1 Cor. 6:17, 1 Jn. 3:8-9).

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. (Eph. 1:13)

Most people know that they have received the Spirit as a concept or fact, but what does it really mean that the third person of the trinity dwells within you? In the Old Testament God made the command to Moses in Exodus 25:8 to build a tabernacle for Him where He could dwell amongst His people. But now in our day, God no longer dwells in a building made by the hands of man, He now dwells within us, and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16)