The Holy Spirit Dwells Within Us! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 3:24b,

“This is how we know that he [God] lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

There is an experiential validation of our new life in Jesus Christ. This validation comes in the person of the Holy Spirit. In the wisdom and love of God, he has chosen to dwell within us as his children through the Holy Spirit. Throughout this letter, John points to the changes the Holy Spirit brings in the lives of believers so that his readers can tell who false teachers are (who are missing these changes) and take encouragement in recognizing these very same validating changes within themselves.

Where God dwells in a sinful and fallen world, change takes place! The Holy Spirit starts a wonderful transformation in our lives that bring a richness and fullness in life as we begin the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, Romans 8:29. From the well-known passage in Galatians 5:22-23 we know these changes include: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The Holy Spirit enables us to live our lives in ways that are pleasing to our God. We are now enabled to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-14. God’s people are the most pleasurable and wonderful people to spend time with!

There are so many wonderful things that come into our lives as believers because the Holy Spirit dwells within us. He acts as a seal upon each of our lives guaranteeing our inheritance in eternal life, Ephesians 1:13-14. He gifts us with talents and abilities to serve one another and motivates us to do so, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. The Holy Spirit illuminates our minds by revealing to us the truths contained in the Scriptures and the things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. He is our counselor, our teacher, he guides us into all truth, he brings us peace and confidence and he reveals the things of Jesus Christ to us in such a way that we find ourselves in glorious awe and admiration of him. John 14:25-27 and John 16:12-15.

How wonderful it is that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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God Has Given Us The Holy Spirit! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 3:24,

“This is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

John speaks of a subjective reality that demonstrates the truth that God lives in us: “We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” Those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith have received the Holy Spirit. As Jesus promised, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 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.” John 14:16-17.

How wonderful God has chosen to dwell within believers! Jesus told us in the passage in John 14, verse 26, “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” At the end of his life now, John tells his readers that which he knows from a lifetime of experience: the Holy Spirit dwells within and leads us into truth.

This is the very same Holy Spirit who inspired certain ones, such as John, Paul, and others, to write things down for us that he wants us to know. In 2 Peter 1:20-21 we read, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

This is that same Holy Spirit that illuminates our minds and our hearts by making the Scriptures come alive as we read of in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

How wonderful God has chosen such a way to provide us confidence, assurance, and a means to grow into spiritual maturity, in coming to dwell within us though the Holy Spirit!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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What God Requires From Believers Is Not Complicated - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 3:23-24a,

“This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.”

Here, from John’s pen, is what God requires of us: to believe in Jesus Christ and to love one another. Imagine! Of all the things God could require of us, he simply asks us to recognize who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for us and to treat one another in a loving way! That doesn’t seem so overwhelming to me.

There is no end to the many things a lot of folks say we have to do to please God. I have seen lists of the things a person has to do in order to be saved. These seven requirements or those twelve (or whatever) things you have to do. As a believer, now that we are “in”, there are fresh lists of all sorts of things we need to do.

I don’t see a big list here from John. In his gospel, John says “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” John 1:12. In Romans 10:9 we read, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That seems pretty simple to me.

Sometimes I wonder if we don’t get overly complicated with all kinds of things we pile into lists of the things we need to do in order to live our lives pleasing to God. I certainly wouldn’t criticize the wonderful intentions we all have, but sometimes I just wonder…

A lot of Scripture tells us how to live out these simple commands John gives us. One passage that I feel has great bearing on our deportment as believers is found in Colossians 3:12-14 “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” What a wonderful way to describe how to love one another! Again, it seems pretty simple to me. It does require humility though…

Just before the passage in Colossians 3 we read in verses 5-10, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Maybe this is where things get complicated for us. The many expressions of our sin nature seem to require attention in so many areas of our lives.

Yet, we are told that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within each of us when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith and that he is in conflict with our sin nature, Galatians 5:17. As Paul reminds us in Romans 8:9, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” It would seem to me there is a natural (or should I say “supernatural”) tendency for those of us indwelled by the Holy Spirit to live consistently with what God is doing in our lives and that these many areas would take care of themselves.

Simple does not necessarily rule out challenging at times…  Just a few rambling thoughts this morning.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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A Heart Of Love Manifests The Holy Spirit Within! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 3:19-20,

“This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

John tells us it is when we are expressing love in action it provides a confidence that we “belong to the truth”. He gives us this insight as he acknowledges that at times we struggle with ourselves. John speaks of our hearts condemning us.

There have been many occasions when I felt guilty, conflicted with my conscience for good cause. Making poor decisions, opting for that which I knew would not be the Lord’s best for me, caught up in sin, etc.

But also, I think there have been times when I have struggled with myself for no good reason. John points to how we can “set our hearts at rest” in God’s presence when our hearts condemn us. God is greater than our hearts. Because we continue with a sin nature within us, because we are still subject to temptations, because we have not experienced a complete regeneration as we await resurrection day, some days we are just not quite “right”. Sometimes we travel the roller coaster ride of ups and downs in our relationship with the Lord. Some days we feel close to him, other days we don’t. At times we feel an intimacy with our Lord and at other times we feel estranged and that our prayers go nowhere.

Our Lord knows this and through John, he tells us how we can set our hearts at rest in his presence, how we can know, how we can remind ourselves that we belong to the truth: our expression of love through action to those around us! It is certain evidence we have been changed from within. It expresses the presence of the Holy Spirit residing within us.

See how the Lord takes interest in our weaknesses and failings! He provides for our every need! Here we are told to love those around us not as a “legal requirement” but, in this verse, as an antidote for a potential needless struggle within ourselves.

Our God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything… literally!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Assures Us - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 3:18-20,

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

Our God encourages us in his many ways of caring for us. Here John speaks of those times when we battle doubts and have struggles in our hearts. He tells us that the changed lives we live as God’s children make it possible for us to “set our hearts at rest in his presence”.

Loving others beyond words with actions and in truth says something about us. As he points out earlier in the chapter it demonstrates we are no longer children of the devil but children of God. We have become that “new creation” that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5:17. A new creation because we go through a spiritual rebirth and now it is God’s seed that remains in us – forever!

God points to this truth while instructing us to know who we can trust as a true teacher of the faith. We can apply the same test to ourselves and then take encouragement in the knowledge that we belong to God – as his children. Even if our own hearts condemn us at those times when we have those doubts, we can take assurance as we recognize the changes that have taken place in our lives.

God knows our weaknesses and he knows how to encourage us in spite of them. What a care he has for us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.