Contributor: Isekhua Evborokhai
INTRODUCTION
In last week’s study, we considered the effects of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. We looked at scriptures that tell us the Holy Spirit dwells in us; the nature of Spirit’s indwelling and the result of the Spirit’s indwelling. We concluded that The Holy Spirit, our Counsellor, Teacher and Intercessor indwells us and makes it possible for us to access God’s power. He impacts the life of God (God’s nature) into our spirits. However, it is up to each Christian to surrender his own will and allow himself to be constantly influenced by the Spirit so that He can produce His evident presence in him.
In today’s study, as a continuation, we will consider the topic - God Inside. The Holy Spirit is God inside of us and what he requires from us.
TEXT REVIEW
1 Corinthians 3:16
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
• How the Holy Spirit Makes Us His Temple
When we become born again, the Holy Spirit (God’s Spirit) starts living and abiding in our spirits. The only reason our body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit is because our body is the temple of our own spirits.
• How the Holy Spirit Communicates
2 Corinthians. 6:16
"... for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people"
Since God is dwelling in us that is where He will speak to us – from inside of us! And so He communicates with us through our spirits. It is our spirits that pick up messages from the Holy Spirit and then pass them on to our minds by an inward intuition, or inward witness. It is our conscience that is the voice of our spirits. He does not communicate directly with our minds—He is not in our minds.
GOD (IN US) WANTS TO REVEAL HIS PLANS
The original relationship God had with Adam and Eve in the beginning is what He wishes to have with us today; that’s why He said “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” There are amazing things God wishes to reveal to us; the things He’s prepared for us, but it is by His Spirit as we see in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11
“However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”
Job 32:8 “But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding”
Our spirit knows things that our heads don’t know, because the Holy Spirit is in our spirits and searches all things, even the deep things of God; and divulges such to us through our spirits.
WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT REQUIRES FROM US
There are several requirements but in light of this study, trust, patient waiting, and obedience are essential requirements. All three are closely related.
"The Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!" -- Isaiah 30:18
"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." -- Psalm 37:7
Waiting is not something many of us do well. Our culture engenders a sort of vending machine mentality in us. We want things instantly don’t we? Because we want to do it all and do it now, so when God says "not yet" it would sound like a "not ever" to our ears.
A. B. Simpson once wrote: "There are some spiritual conditions that cannot be accomplished in a moment. The breaking up of the fallow ground takes time. The frosts of winter are as necessary as the rains of spring to prepare the soil for fertility. God has to break our hearts to pieces by the slow process of His discipline, and grind every particle to powder, and then to mellow us and saturate us with His blessed Spirit, until we are open for the blessing He has to give us."
Kenneth Hagin shared a story of a Full Gospel minister friend of his who was in three serious automobile accidents. After he heard Kenneth teach along some of these lines he said to him, "Brother Hagin, every one of those accidents could have been avoided if I had listened to that inward intuition." He admitted that he had an intuition that something was about to happen— and that he would have waited a little bit and prayed. Instead he thought, he was too busy and didn't have time to pray."
Many times, if we would have waited (Psalm 37:7), God would have by His Spirit shown us things or guided us aright and we could have avoided many mishaps. (Isaiah 30:18)
SEVEN STEPS FOR EFFECTIVE "WAITING ON THE HOLY SPIRIT."
1. Begin by quieting your own spirit. God doesn't always come in dramatic ways like He encountered Moses on Mt. Sinai or Paul on the Damascus Road. Be willing to listen for the "gentle whisper" of the Spirit that Elijah heard (1 Kings 19:11-13).
2. Open up your life totally to Jesus. Lift your heart toward God.
3. Seek the truth about yourself. Think about what you do that falls short of Christ-likeness and ask for forgiveness. Move to eliminate those behaviours.
4. Ask the Holy Spirit to shine His convicting light on any tucked-away rancour and bitterness in your heart. Ask for forgiveness and cleansing from those attitudes (Mark 11:25)
5. Invite the Holy Spirit to take control of your schedule, agendas, timetables and calendars.
6. Realize that waiting on the Holy Spirit doesn't mean aimless thumb twiddling. As you wait, do all things "in a fitting and orderly way" (1 Corinthians 14:40)
7. Yearn to sense the Holy Spirit's presence in your life. In your mind's eye, visualize that He has come and is present.
CONCLUSION
Since God is dwelling in us that is where He will speak to us – from inside of us!
Although we can hear God speak to us through various means ultimately it's our spirits He wishes to communicate with. That's why we hear people say things like "when I heard so and so, something was quickened in my spirit."
Proverbs 20:27 (NIV) tells us that: “The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD that sheds light on one's inmost being”
He ultimately wants to commune with us “Spirit to spirit” but when we haven't developed our spirits to that point He uses other means. Let's begin to develop our spirits, and learn to listen to them so we can harness all the amazing precious promises He’s made to us!