March 6 – Romans 8: 1-11

March 6 – Romans 8: 1-11

Lesson: He Indwells

Dear Lord, bless our time with you today.  Meet us where we are at, guide our minds, and hold our hearts as we search for Your truth.

First, do your own quiet time with God and 4R journaling.  When you are complete, come back here for the lesson.

Request Gods’ help

Read Romans 8:1-11

Record a verse that stands out to you

Respond to God

What was life like before you met Jesus?

Last early fall, we had a wowza of a storm rip through unexpectedly.  Now understand that we New Englanders are not afraid of storms, we get fierce ones up here. Some are like hurricanes with snow and it can leave us days and weeks without power.  But this storm was different. It was unexpected.  It was fast.  And it was quite scary, really.

The wind kicked up fiercely, rain pelted, blue flashes of lightening filled the sky continually without ceasing and thunder shook the whole ground and everything on it.  People were in a complete frenzy trying to seek shelter.  Trees were brought down like dominos from micro bursts, power lines laid out on the roads blocking people from the safety of their home.  It lasted well into the night. And then we were in complete darkness, no power for 7 hours.  For a moment I was a wee bit scared because I felt so alone. There was little to do but sit on the screened in porch and watch the storm hover over us.  I thought what a perfect time to just sit with God and read my Bible!  But I couldn’t even read my Bible due to the lack of light! The One Being who could bring comfort I felt cut off from.

But wait!  This is not so!  I have the Spirit within me and have direct access to the God of comfort and protection! (And this was also a reminder that I need to actually truly memorize scripture). Oh praise Him for He is the great Rescuer! The One who sends to us His Spirit so that we aren’t to be alone!

Let’s start digging in.  Because this ministry is so rich, God put lots of words into my heart (or was it the Spirit??!!)  to share with you. So, this lesson will be a wee bit longer.

Okay, what does that mean to have a Spirit that indwells?  Let’s look at Romans 8:9-11.

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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.”

What do you glean about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in these verses?  Does He come make a pit stop in your heart and then move on?  Is it like a New England visit where it lasts no more than 2 hours or more like a Southwestern visit that lasts all day and well into the evening Neither!  He comes to stay, He is there for the long haul, for the endurance run.  He is there until we finish the race and at last meet our Jesus face to face!  What a wonder!

Because of that, some serious changes are being made; we are truly a changed person, our bodies are not our own.  We have become a temple which means our body is as much a temple as our heart.  We must treat it as such!  In fact, the Greek word for ‘temple’ is Naos which means Sanctuary, sacred and pure.  So that is exactly what we are to be; there is no clearer description, no other method.  Just be like Jesus. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and Ephesians 2:21-22) God cares deeply for how we treat ourselves.  What we would and wouldn’t do in a physical church should be applied to ourselves. We are to be so full of His truth that there is little room for anything else!  Such discipline that takes!

We are created to praise Him and to be with Him forever.  But sin keeps us from that and so, God’s rescue plan for us unfolds. We are to be the vessel for whom the Spirit lives until the day of our promised inheritance. We have been adopted into the family of God and set apart.  And isn’t that just wonderful?  We are set apart  from others because of the Spirit; we are different from those who don’t have the same indwelling spirit.

God doesn’t want just our hearts, He wants our whole self.

His indwelling gives us access to so much!  We will see more of this in the coming days of this study.  Without God we have nothing, no hope, no salvation, no adoption into His family.  His giving us the Spirit to live inside of us is His promise of what is to come.  What is this promise you ask?  To send Someone to us while He is away. A Helper in spirit form who will be with us every step of the way.  It is not just a whimsical turn of phrase.  It’s power and access to communication with our God; a promise of inheritance! The Spirit is not there just when we need Him, He is there all of the time! It’s the first step, the foundation for all of the other ministries.

(Further reading:1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ezekiel 35:26)

Dear Heavenly Father,  we praise You for You are the giver of gifts.  We thank

You for giving us the Spirit to indwell within us that we may be close to You while You are not physically here.

What’s next?

As the Spirit leads, in the comment section below, share what He has laid on your heart.

Then join us again tomorrow to learn about the ministry of filling.