Skip to content ↓

What a Wonder!

Articles Collection cover image

You, Christian, are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God makes his habitation within you. He has joyfully, willingly, come to you so you can be near to him. This knowledge, this wonder, has powerful consequences.

It gives assurance. If the Holy Spirit has made his home within you, you can be sure that he will never abandon you. Who or what could ever drive God out of his dwelling place? Is Satan powerful enough to displace the Spirit? Of course not. Is your sin or your desire to sin or your unbelief enough to drive him out once he has come in? Never! Knowing that you have the Spirit within allows you to live free from the terror of abandonment, free from the fear that God will give up on you. God has not only chosen to do something to you from without but has also chosen to take up residence within.

It gives hope. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is meant to give you hope in the battle against sin because as committed as you may be to battling sin, as much as you see the corruption and vileness of indwelling sin, you can rest assured that the Spirit sees it much more clearly and is much more committed to battling it than you are. You do not fight the battle against sin on your own, with only your own motivation, with only your own strength. No, you fight alongside the Spirit who is there within you, seeing the sin, hating the sin, longing for that sin to be destroyed so his dwelling place can be swept free of all defilement.

It gives motive. It gives you the motive you need to put sin to death, to attack it wherever it exists, and to tear it up by its roots no matter how deep they go. Every Christian wants this dwelling of the Spirit to be worthy of the Spirit; every Christian wants the Spirit’s dwelling to be undefiled by sin. When you know and believe that the Spirit has wonderfully and willingly taken up residence within, you have a powerful motive to full-out pursue the holiness he so loves.

Christian, you are indwelled by God himself. In the Old Testament God’s people had to go to the tabernacle and temple to experience the nearness of God. When Jesus was on the earth the people had to be in his presence to experience the nearness of God. Today each Christian experiences the deepest and most immediate intimacy, the intimacy that comes when God abides within.


  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 19)

    A La Carte: How to know if you’re using God / The soul-poison of the little word ‘should’ / True, false, or heresy? / Truthful thinking is greater than positive thinking / Unless the seed dies / and more.

  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…