Finally, the last way in which Jesus totally changed the matrix the world was in, is that from now on, because he has blasted the way to God wide open, God himself by is able to dwell within the spirit of each believer. The Spirit of God himself makes his dwelling in each person who chooses to turn to Him and submit to his Kingship.
Reams could be and have been written about this incredible, terrible, wonderful truth as man tries to work out and share with one another what that looks like in practice.
I just want to pick out what I believe are key points.
God’s Spirit rests on each person who believes Him, who turns to him and submits to his Kingship. God has no favourites. Everyone, irrespective of their past, their background, their failures, their personality, is invited to enter into the essence of who he is. God wants to, God desires to include us into the circle of Love that he is, to “partake of his divine nature” as Peter puts it and to live, as he does, saturated and motivated entirely by Love.
Because God is Love, God’s Spirit does not bully or force anyone into doing so. He does not come to live in our spirits against our will or in a deeper measure than we allow him space to. He invites us to respond to his Love – then waits for us to choose to do so. He invites us to become part of who he is – then waits for us to choose to give him more and more space in our lives. He invites us to partner with him in establishing his purpose, his Kingdom, in our lives and in this world – the waits for us to choose to submit to his Kingship and to follow his instructions.
God knows that man is prone to make bad choices, God knows that man still lives with the cancer of sin in their lives, God knows man has a tendency to choose to worship the seen things, things other than himself. God is not surprised by it. And so he offers to live in us, his Spirit communing with our spirit, in order to empower us to make good choices, in order to minimise the poison of sin in our lives, in order to help us not to take our eyes off him and challenge us when we do and in order to transform us to be the people he purposed for us to be. He lives in us to teach us, to minister the truth of who he is to us, to minister his Love to us, and to enable us, who naturally prefer to be in control, to choose to submit to the rightful King, not out of fear but out of love.
That is brilliant news!
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