There is much talk today about whether God lives within a person or not. The common phrasing goes like this, “God lives in everyone, and there needs to become a God consciousness.” Although God created everyone, it does not necessarily mean that He lives within them. According to John the apostle there is a requirement before God indwells us. He shares that requirement with us today in First John chapter three and verse twenty-four where he wrote:
And he that keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Yesterday John reminded us of the commandment that is required:
And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
In order for us to obey God and be pleasing to Him, we must follow this command. Then, after we comply with obedience to God, we receive the Holy Spirit of God. When we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and invite Him to live within our lives, He does so. We begin our new life that is directed by the Spirit of the living God. We dwell in God, and He dwells within us. This becomes the proof that He lives in us. God gives us His Spirit when we turn our lives over to Him, forsake our sinful ways, and ask Him to be the director of our lives.
When Jesus knew that He was about to leave His disciples on the Earth, He promised that He would not leave His disciples alone. He promised His disciples a “Comforter”. John wrote about this in the gospel of John chapter fourteen and verses fifteen through eighteen:
If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but ye know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Jesus desires to live within us, have fellowship with us, and dwell within us, however there is a requirement: “keep my commandments”. If we are to have fellowship with this Almighty and loving God, He must be the priority in our lives, and we must submit to Him by believing in His Son Jesus Christ and loving one another. When we submit our lives to Jesus' commands, His Spirit comes to live within us, and He continually reminds us and helps us to keep the commands that He has given.
According to Jesus in the gospel of John above, if we have not received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Spirit of God dwells “with” us, but is not living “in” us. The difference between the two states of the Spirit of God is as close as the confession of our sins, and our asking Him to come and live within us.
Next time we shall begin a new chapter, chapter four, where we will begin to read John the apostle's warnings about false prophets that are in the world, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
Look for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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