Journal Entry ~ 09/25/19

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. - Romans 8:11

Though I could spend days answering the question do we believe Jesus was raised from the dead, it's time to shift my focus to the second question - does the spirit dwell in us?  In order for the resurrection of Jesus to do us any good we have to receive the Spirit of God into our heart. 

How do we receive the Holy Spirit?  Acts 2:38 tells us how, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  Repentance is a decision to turn away from sin and toward Jesus. It doesn't mean that we will do that perfectly in every circumstance, but if that is our desire, then our hearts are repentant. Baptism is an act of obedience to publicly proclaim your life as a follower of Christ. If you have done these, you can know you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. 

To be a Christian is to be led by the Spirit. God doesn’t want you to be unsure if you have his Spirit dwelling in you. Because if you don't know whether the Spirit dwells in you, then you can't know whether God will give life to your body at the resurrection.  There are evidences of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we can look to for confirmation we have the Spirit dwelling inside us. We know the Spirit is alive in us when we seek Him for guidance in difficult trials or decisions, and we feel the urging or prompting to follow His path of righteousness. We know the Spirit is dwelling inside of us when we have an inexplicable peace in the midst of a difficult trial. We know we are filled with the Spirit when we are face with with temptation, we seek and receive the Spirit's protection from evil. We know we are filled with the Spirit when we are comforted in our grief, or find strength in the battle. We know we are filled with the Spirit when we choose a gentle answer over a harsh one, when we love unconditionally, forgive completely, when our responses are dominated by patience, kindness, and goodness. 

If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can know that the Spirit dwells in you. We may quench it or grieve in with our choices, quieting it’s voice until we no longer hear it, but we can be confident that even then, Jesus still dwells within us. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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