Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

 Temple of the Holy Spirit:

 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

 

            Now this reference about our body being a temple of the Holy Spirit is talking about us as individuals. I believe in context, the one in chapter 3 is about a body of believers. As a temple of the Holy Spirit, we should keep ourselves holy. He indwells us, guides us, and empowers us. You wouldn’t treat the church building where you attend church with disrespect, would you? Why would you treat the dwelling of the Holy Spirit with disrespect? Verse 19 tells us that He is given by God to us, and that we’re not our own. God didn’t save us to let us “do our own thing.” He saved us to do His own thing. We are to be holy like He is holy. So, we’re to glorify God in our body. The verses right before this were talking about sexual sins. But I believe it applies to all of our activities concerning our bodies. When we keep our bodies in good shape (and I don’t mean just exercising), we feel better and have more energy to do things for God.

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You are My temple, My holy ones. You are My special place of worship; for in you is My worship complete. For you worship Me with unchained heart. You worship Me with all your soul and might. You are My special ones, and I delight in your worship of Me. Release yourselves unto Me for true worship, and I will guide you into the true worship of your God. You are My special place of residence; for I reside with you and in you and will never leave you. Trust in Me to keep you in My presence all the days of your life.”

 

            48. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who indwells me. I will glorify God in my body.

Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life

 Indwelling:

           

            New covenant of the Spirit:

 

2 Corinthians 3:6

6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

1 Corinthians 6:17

17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

 

            Man tries to devise a way to live the Christian life. He comes up with ways for him to do it. But the covenant of God is one of the Spirit, not the flesh of man. If man could live up to it, then there would be no need for God … for Jesus to give His life a ransom for many. This covenant that man would devise will eventually kill him. The covenant that we follow is one of the Spirit, and it gives life everlasting. When we became Christians, we were united with God in the Spirit. We were as the verse says, one Spirit with Him. God’s own life-giving Spirit living within us to enable us to live this covenant.

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "When you join yourself unto Me, you will have established a covenant relationship that cannot be broken. I will not let you down. I will never desert you. You are My special one, and I will join together with you in a New Covenant relationship. You will never be alone nor deserted again. The world has deserted you; your special friends and family have deserted you; but I will never desert you for I cannot desert My own. My Spirit dwells within you, and I cannot desert Myself.”

 

            47. I have become a servant of a new covenant of the Spirit which brings life to me and those I come in contact with every day.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit

                                                                         Chapter 4

 

The Holy Spirit

 

             What is our destiny concerning the Holy Spirit? Is He something that just happened? Was He a stop-gap method because God didn’t foresee that we couldn’t make it without His help?

            In fact it was neither of these. God planned from the beginning for the Holy Spirit to indwell us. He knew we would need Him in order to live out the Christian life in the way God had planned. After all, God breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam. Since spirit and breath many times are synonymous, and since the same Greek word can mean either, was this breath the Spirit of God? Did Adam have God’s Spirit within him in the beginning?

            Was does it mean for the Holy Spirit to be our destiny? Let’s look at some verses that help explain it.

 

At Work in Salvation:

 

            Water metaphor:

 

            Drink of One Spirit:

           

1 Corinthians 12:13

13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

 

            There is not one Holy Spirit for the Jews and another for the Gentiles. There is only one Spirit and we have all drunk from Him. We are to preserve the unity of the Holy Spirit, not try to create it. Unity is supernaturally natural when the Holy Spirit is involved. Water is just one of the ways the Spirit is depicted. We are refreshed when we drink of water; so we are refreshed when we drink from the Water of the Spirit. He becomes a river of living water flowing from within us.

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "Come to Me you thirsty ones and drink of My Spirit; for He is refreshing and will renew you to My completeness. Do not fear Him; for He will bring you into My presence. He will guide you into all the Truth; for He is the Truth. He will show you the way into My blessedness. He will show you the way into My blessings; for I will give unto Him to give unto you. You will never thirst again; for you will be satisfied and will give unto the Nations for Me through Him.”

 

            46. I have drunk of the One Spirit in unity with my fellow believers, whether they are from the Jews or the Gentiles.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

 He will come to you:

           

John 14:12-18

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

 

            Jesus sent us another Helper of a type just like Himself. Of course, this was the Holy Spirit. He is also a Comforter just like Jesus. We didn’t get some cheap imitation Prada. We got the real deal. He is to be with us for ever. He told the disciples that He wouldn’t leave them as orphans; that He would come to them. They too didn’t want a cheap imitation. They had had the real deal in Jesus. He came to them and He came to us when we made Him Lord of our lives. He is with us and will never leave us.

           

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "I am for you, My children. I have longed for you to be with Me; but there is much to be done before that can happen. For now you will have to be content with My Spirit. He will be with you and guide you into all the Truth. He will show you what is yet to be done before you can join Me. I have a lot to talk with you about and I am longing for it to begin. Trust in Me and listen attentively to My Spirit. He will guide you into all the Truth; not just what others tell is true, but what I tell you is Truth. You will soon be with Me and we shall rejoice forever. Come unto Me and receive of Me what comfort you need. There is much to do and little time to do it in.”

 

            45. Jesus came to me and will remain with me forever. I will never be alone.

 

            This is our destiny … Jesus inside us and Jesus in the midst of us. Wherever we go, He goes. Whatever we need done, He does. We don’t have to get good enough to earn His presence in our lives or to earn His working in our lives. It is part of our destiny. We can’t make it happen. We can only prevent it from happening

You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice

 Of the truth … hear His voice:

John 18:37

37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

             We’re of the truth. Because of that we hear His voice. When we hear His voice, we follow Him. We’ll never go wrong so long as we follow His voice. We get into trouble when we try to take care of things on our own.

            The Old Testament talks about hearing a voice behind you saying, “This is the way. Walk ye in it.” The reason the voice is behind us is that we’ve gone off the path He leads us on. He’s still there, but now He’s behind us. He calls to us like the Good Shepherd to let us know that we’ve strayed. If we heed that voice, we’ll be o.k. We can only go so far, though, without getting into trouble.

           

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "Some only want to hear what is pleasing to the ear. I want those that desire to hear the Truth; that want to know when they are wrong; that they have hurt someone. I want those that desire to be even as I am; to know the Truth. For when you want to know the Truth and hear it, then you will want to make any changes necessary to obey the Truth; for that is what will truly make you free … not just hearing something to tickle your ear.”

 

            44. I am of the truth and I hear His voice daily calling my name.