From Compelling Truth
Judges 15:14 But the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon Samson
Psalm 51:11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
1 Chronicles 12:18 Then the Spirit came on Amasai, chief of the Thirty
1 Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.
Ezekiel 11:5 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on me, and he told me to say:
John 14:17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
1 John 4:15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Romans 8:15–17 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
John 3:1–8 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
1 Corinthians 2:12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
Romans 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
Galatians 5:22–23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
Romans 8:26 n the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is God taking up permanent residence in the heart of those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. In the Old Testament, the Spirit would come intermittently upon the saints, empowering them for service but not necessarily remaining with them. The Spirit “rushed upon” Lehi and “clothed” Amasai. The Spirit was with David and able to be removed from him, and the Spirit “fell upon” Ezekiel and spoke to him . The Spirit, who had once been with King Saul, “departed from” him, removing His influence and guidance from the king .
It wasn’t until Pentecost that the Spirit began to indwell those who belong to God through Christ. Jesus predicted the coming of the Spirit who would live within His people, as well as the new role the Spirit of Truth would play in their lives. Prior to the resurrection and Pentecost, the Spirit was with the disciples and influenced them, but He did not yet indwell them, as Jesus explained to them: “he dwells with you and will be in you”. John 7:39 explains further: “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
The apostle Paul reiterated the same truth about the Spirit’s indwelling: “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”. Because believers have been purchased for God by the blood of Christ, shed on the cross for our sins, our bodies become a living temple where the Spirit of God resides.
The image of the believer’s body being a temple is reminiscent of the Old Testament tabernacle, in which the Spirit of God lived. There, God’s presence would appear in a cloud and meet the high priest, who came once a year into the Holy of Holies. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest brought the blood of a slain animal and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. On this special day, God granted forgiveness to the priest and His people.
The Jewish temple in Jerusalem no longer exists. Now the believer in Christ has become the inner sanctum of God the Holy Spirit, as the believer has been sanctified and forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ. In fact, Scripture also says that the believer is the dwelling place of all three Persons of the Trinity. Along with the Spirit, Jesus Christ is in us, as is God the Father.
The purpose of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is many-faceted. First and foremost, the Spirit creates new life in believers (), producing the same new birth Jesus spoke of in . The Spirit confirms to us that this new birth is real and that we truly belong to God (). He also imparts to believers spiritual gifts to be used to build up the body of Christ and glorify God (1 Corinthians 12:4–11). Further, as the author of Scripture through the writers He inspired (), the indwelling Spirit helps believers understand what He has written and how to apply it to daily life ().
Other functions of the indwelling Spirit include interceding for believers in prayer, leading us in the ways of righteous living, producing His fruit in our lives, and installing believers into the universal church of Christ, also called the baptism of the Spirit.
One of the indwelling Spirit’s most encouraging functions is to seal believers for eternity by placing His own mark upon us. Doing so assures our arrival in the Lord’s presence when we die (Ephesians 1:13–14, 4:30). The Holy Spirit’s presence within us is the guarantee that we have been purchased by Christ and redeemed from our sins. We can never lose our position as a prized possession. Until we die, the Spirit remains within us, renewing and sanctifying us, comforting us in trials, and sustaining us in afflictions. With the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are never alone, never lost, and never without His power.