God Lives In Me!

Bible Study 5 Minutes

This is no small claim. I’ll be honest, I sometimes doubt that He lives in me at all. I mean consider the implications of such a claim: That God, almighty, all powerful, the creator God, infinite in wisdom and power, the source of all life, truth and love… He lives in me? I’ll tell you this, if that’s a truth then my life will look vastly different!

I am sure of this though, He wants to…

1 Corinthians 3
 16 Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

When a man or woman is born again a wonderful transformation takes place. God, by His mighty grace and power, transforms us “out of darkness into his marvellous light” and makes us new creatures. No longer creatures of this world destined to corrupt and fail but creatures of His everlasting glory. Through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ we are cleansed from the sin that binds us and made clean. We are born into a life of union with God. A wonderful marriage relationship with our Saviour, Jesus. We are given a life of satisfaction, a life of contentment, a life of abundant blessing and peace. The scripture above tells us that we are “temples” and this simply means that we become the place that God will live! To understand this better read the dedication of the first temple in the old testament…

1 Kings 8
27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:
29 That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.
30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.

Consider verse 27, but will God indeed live in man? How much less this poor, ignorant, unholy sinner(me)? Does the most powerful, most fearsome being in existence come to make His home in me??

John 14
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas saith unto him, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

This needs no explanation. It is the height of simplicity and so leaves me with one conclusion. If I am not filled with the presence of God, if He is not living within me and living through me the problem is with me. Fellow believers, do we truly love Him with all our hearts, souls and minds? Do we keep His words and count them more dear than our very lives? Nothing else matters!!! Nothing else is worth living for!!! Oh God fill this temple.

When I read the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament I see men who were filled by God in such a way. Their lives were clearly different. They were radical, they were unconventional, they were real! They were Godly! Only once filled by the Holy Spirit of God and they were never the same again! They considered their lives as dead in order to glorify God and serve Him. Their testimonies still stand and the history books and today’s theologians are still reeling from their powerful, God filled testimonies.

I don’t know exactly what has changed since then. I don’t know how to get back to that reality. I know only that God is faithful and His promise is sure. “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Oh Lord let it be so with me.

At the first temple God does come down and God does dwell in the temple! We read just a few verses earlier in the chapter…

1 Kings 8
10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holyplace, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.

Oh please, if you get any part of this little lesson please get this… When God came man could not continue! His glory filled the house!! There was no room for anything else! When God comes into a life and so fills it with His glory, that life cannot continue. Only God will be seen and worshipped. Oh that God would so fill us! Oh I do pray that He would fill us as He filled that first temple. We have this wonderful promise in His word… So often we talk about the presence of God so improperly and so irreverently. We say that we felt His presence and then proceed to pop off home for something to eat! No, no my friend!! If we truly felt the presence of God our lives could never be the same again! We would be on our faces in fear and awe of His glory and power!! Our lives would be so consumed by Him that we would be utterly powerless to continue!

So What Is My Conclusion?

I am born again. I know that I’m that temple, the dwelling place of God. But, I can’t tell you that He has filled me and consumed to such an extent that I cannot continue. My life doesn’t look like the life of those men in Acts chapter 2. I don’t see their testimony in my life. I do believe that I can have what they have. I do believe that I am offered the same life that they experienced. How do I get it? When will God’s glory so fill my temple? I don’t know. I just believe that Jesus is my shepherd and if I keep my eyes and feet toward Him then He’ll lead me in the paths that I should go. I trust Him. Only Him.

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Published by Matthew Lovell

I just want more of Jesus!

Published

17 thoughts on “God Lives In Me!”

  1. Matt, My conclusion for me is the same as yours. But I am encouraged by Paul’s words: “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:4-6. Let us always keep our eyes on the Shepherd! Peace, Linda

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    1. Linda, thank you for that encouragement. That scripture is truly a great comfort. It’s also a blessing to me to find someone who agrees. Sometimes I write me thoughts on here and wonder if anyone understands or believes the same thing. It is so great to be of the same mind.

      Much love to you my sister in Christ. He truly is a wonderful and precious Saviour. :)

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  2. I love your heart for Him. I am humbled by your intensity and can think of this . . .”Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 NIV I believe He sees your delight in Him and even now is working out your desire to be filled totally with Him. May it be so in my life as well. God bless you!

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    1. Thank you so much Debbie. I am so grateful that not one but two people have read this post and been encouraged and encouraging! :) It’s such a very small ministry but even if just one or two people can be pointed closer to Jesus it is well worth it. :)

      How precious God’s word is. We are given so many promises. He is faithful. He is able. Thank you for the encouragement.

      love in our precious Saviors name and all for His glory,

      :)

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    1. Amen bro!! It’s something I will meditate on tonight and praise God for. It is His leading that has transformed me into His glorious light. I am a new creature! It is His life that has given me a desire for Him! Thank you bro. Praise His precious name.

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      1. Have you ever read “The Normal Christian Life” by Watchman Nee? It’s an absolutely incredible book. I can’t think of any other book that has affected more Christians that I personally know than any other book. If you get the chance, you should check it out.

        The verses you’ve included in this post are great. I’d also recommend 2 Timothy 4:22 (The Lord be with YOUR SPIRIT) and Proverbs 20:27 (The SPIRIT OF MAN is the lamp of Jehovah). The Lord lives in us, and he lives in our human spirit. More verses on the human spirit are 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12. Let me know what you think.

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        1. No. I’ve not read that book but I’ve heard of Watchman Need. He is held in high regard by friends and family. I don’t do a lot of reading but I’ll maybe look into this one.

          Thanks for the verses too. I’ll have a read through them and see what comes to me. Could you maybe be more specific with what you want me to consider? Thanks Joseph.

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          1. Mostly to consider that man has a spirit and is made of three parts. Many people think that man only has two parts — a body and a soul. And they think that the soul and the spirit are the same thing. What you can see from these verses and from many other verses is that man has three parts — a body, a soul, and a spirit, and the third part is the most important. With our body we contact the physical world; with our soul we contact the psychological world through our mind, emotion, and will; and with our spirit we contact the spiritual realm, i.e. God, who is Spirit. This is why Jesus in John 4:24 says that those who worship Him must worship “in spirit and truthfulness.” Hence, our spirit is the dwelling place of God (this is where He leaves even though He wants to spread into our soul by transforming us), our spirit is the organ by which we contact God, and we worship God in spirit.

            Does this help? :)

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          2. Thank you for that Joseph but I must confess my ignorance. I was brought up in a Christian home but was only saved last year so my studies and searching have been brief. I don’t know very much about this subject. I did hear a good sermon once that dealt with it and I thought this was good. The speaker was relating the old testament picture of the Israelites wandering through the wilderness and coming to cross Jordan into Canaan, the promised land. Here’s what he said. 1 – In the body we are in Egypt. 2 – In the soul we are in the wilderness. 3 – In the spirit we are in canaan. I have not put much study into this but I do like what the speaker had to say here. His exposition was very good. I will certainly look at those scriptures you gave me though. I have them written down for my next points of reading. :)

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  4. This is my almost daily prayer–that God would fill me and that his strength will be glorified in my weakness. I truly need him at every turn, in every moment.

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    1. Me too. In every deed and thought, I need Him too. He is faithful. It’s so special to know that He is faithful. He alone is worthy of all my time, all my thoughts, all my affection… Just because of who He is. He deserves our loyalty, our love, our adoration just because He is our creator! And then consider Salvation… hallelujah! :)

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  5. Well said my friend. Why a glorious God would love a human race who constantly rejects him is a mystery to us all. And how much more beautiful that he chooses to put his spirit in us.

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  6. I am a young christian in the sense of being young, so I’ll be working on my Christianity. It’s nice to meet another christian out there. I look forward to coming back and reading more of your blog.
    thank you.

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