To better understand this word let’s take it apart like this:
IN / DWELL (you add a T for past tense, indwell). Of course IN means IN or INSIDE and DWELL means to live. So we have INDWELL which means to live inside. Another word that you may know is the word dwelling, which means, a place to live. You are actually a ‘place to live’, for God Himself.
Now there are two things you need to learn about indwelling. They are:
- Who lives inside me?
- How will this help me to be an Ambassador?
Who Lives Inside of Me?
We have already discussed the fact that you are a tri-part (made up of three parts) being. That is, you have a Spirit, Soul, and a Body.
1 Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
So then, when you are saved, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit come to dwell with you. They are there to lead, guide and direct your life in Christ, but only as you allow them to do so. They will never make you to do anything. But they want to help to do what is right. Now let’s look at some verses that tell us that we have God living within us.
This verse speaks of God within us…
2 Cor 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of Godwith idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This verse tells of Christ the Lord within us…
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
This verse reveals that the Holy Spirit is in us…
2 Tim 1:14… the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
How does this help us?
Part of being an Ambassador for Christ has to do with being a good representative for God to the World. If we know that our bodies are the TEMPLE OF GOD then we will be careful how that temple looks and where we allow that temple to go and what it does. When we remember that God lives in us it helps us to be better Ambassadors for Christ, because we respect where God lives.
Another way in which this information helps me is to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ desires to live his life through the individual believer.
2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2 Cor 4:11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
This doesn’t mean that I lose my own identity, but rather I adopt His purpose in life as my purpose. His desire is to work through you and I to see the lost saved and the believer built up in his faith.
God is not interested in changing our personality but he does want to change our character.
When we remember the purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world (to save sinners) , and identify with it, we will begin to allow the indwelling Christ to live his life through us. What a wonderful thing it is that He would want to use us to do his work. Paul calls this indwelling of Christ in us, the hope of glory!
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
The third help we find from indwelling is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Many Christians do not understand the function of the Spirit of God in their lives because of a failure ‘Rightly Divide the Word of Truth’. The unlearned, or misinformed believer attempts to force the Holy Spirit to do things he is not doing today and thereby ends up confused.
Things such as speaking in tongues, healings, visions from God, and the such like, were for a ‘Time Past’. The believer who follows the teachings of the Apostle to the Gentiles will “Study to shew thyself approved unto God…” ONLY as he does this will he benefit fully from the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
As we are indwelt by God the Father and God the Son, we are also indwelt by God the Holy Spirit.
2 Tim 1:14… by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the present ‘Dispensation of Grace, Eph.3:2, takes many forms. However, for this study we will mention only two.
They are: TEACHING and LEADING. A third work that he does is called SEALING, which has to do with your eternal security. Since we will examine this truth later we will bypass it for now.
The teaching ministry (job) of the Holy Spirit is limited to believers only. He will aid the unbeliever in only one area of truth, and that is the gospel of grace. If the unbeliever refuses to be saved he will never be able to understand the bible. The bible can only be understood by a believer. The job (ministry) of the Holy Spirit is to help the believer to understand what he is reading. Lets read 1Cor.2:11-14 and look at what is being taught by these verses.
1 Cor 2:11For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Verse 11 tells us that we understand each other as humans because we have a human spirit that allows us to communicate with each other through language and other forms. Therefore, God has given to us His Spirit so that he can communicate with us through his word. By the way, in this dispensation God talks with us ONLY by his written word.
Verse 12 relates to us that we have not been given a worldly spirit, but his spirit, so that we might know, by his word, the things that are FREELY given to us that believe and practice.
Verse 13 speaks about how the Holy Spirit teaches us. That method is by comparing spiritual things with spiritual things i.e. comparing scripture with scripture.
Verse 14 tells us that the natural man (lost sinner), cannot know the word of God because it takes the Spirit of God to understand it. The only way to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit is to trust the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The last issue we need to look at for this study is the LEADING of the Holy Spirit.
Rom 8:14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Since the Holy Spirit works only through the truth of the bible we can safely say he will only lead us to do right. The point here is leading. To be led you have to be willing. Again, God is not interested in using unwilling Christians, but is looking for and will use FAT Christians i.e. Faithful, Available and Teachable believers!
There is a warning in the bible to those who would CHOOSE not to be led by the Spirit of God.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
That word grieve means to cause sorrow and regret. How harmful it is to us when we will not follow him who not only knows best for us but also has our best interest at heart. When we are not being led by the Spirit we are acting in the flesh.
ROM 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
The leading of the Holy Spirit will keep us from falling into sin IF we allow (choose) him to work in our lives.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
CONCLUSION
What do we learn from a practical standpoint about indwelling?
We learn respect for God’s dwelling place.
Where we take it, and what we and how we care for it is an important factor in our ambassadorship.
We learn to identify with the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ in seeing the lost saved and the believer built up in his faith.
We do this by choosing to let the Lord live his life through us as individual believers.
We understand that Holy Spirit is our guide in learning the truths of the word of God rightly divided.
I trust that you are glad to be learning what God has done for you when he saved you!
He did all this and much more because he loves you so much. Will you begin to talk with God about how you can use this information to serve him as Ambassadors for Christ?