Eternity Is Reality

THE INDWELLING SPIRIT

I. introduction

A. In this session, we will peer into what theologians have termed the Mystical Union. In many ways we are familiar with the terms and concepts of our relationship with Christ, such as personal relationship with Jesus. However, these terms have become so familiar that they have almost lost their meaning, as we vainly repeat them without engaging our heart.

B. We have for the most part dumbed down Christianity to saying a prayer for salvation, going to church sometimes, and try to live a good life. We are called to so much more than this. The Apostle Paul prays that we will live lives worthy of His calling. What is this calling? It is to fellowship with the Uncreated God!

C. We will investigate some scriptures concerning what happened to us at the point of salvation, and discover what we were made for.

II. PROTESTANT REFORMATION

A. The Protestant Reformation was the greatest paradigm shift to happen in Christian history. It restored many Biblical truths to the expression of Christianity. Salvation by grace, through faith and not of works was a central message. The Bible was printed in the common languages of the day to make it more accessible to everyday people. The Reformation did away with the ecclesiastical hierarchy of Catholicism.

1. What is it in human nature that wants someone else to approach God for us rather than going to Him ourselves?

a. Israel and Moses

When God descended on Mt. Sinai the people were scared of His presence. They instructed Moses to be the intermediary so that they would not have to encounter Him face to face.

b. Pre-Reformation Church (priest)

There was no way for a person to get to God apart from the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The priest was God’s representative and if you wanted to speak with God you had to go to the priest. Most were comfortable with this idea.

c. The Modern Church in the USA (looking to our leaders to feed us)

This is a little more deceptive. We think that we do not do this, but the truth is we look to the man of God at the pulpit and place so much pressure on him to get the word of the Lord and feed us. Just because we are around an atmosphere like IHOP and we are known for prayer, fasting, etc…does not mean that we have it ourselves.

B. Through the Reformation, Scripture was rightly exalted back to the place of the primary way that God speaks to the believer. The Catholic Church believes that tradition namely Church Councils are just as binding as the Bible. In reacting to this error the reformers rightly rejected this belief, but at the same time threw the baby out with the bath water. They began to discount subjective experiences, such as the gift of prophecy, meditation, and personal communion. Now 500 hundred years after the Reformation much of the church is very wary of the subjective experiences.

C. The Enlightenment in the 1700’s dealt a crippling blow to revelation and experiential knowledge of God. The Enlightenment was characterized by the elevation to godlike stature of the human mind. Our own limited human understanding was to be the lens in which we viewed the world. If we do not see it, then we do not believe it. I believe that the church is far more influenced by The Enlightenment than we realize.

D. As a society, and even as the Church, we have championed intellectual understanding. We place so much value on study and intellectual understanding that anything that goes against the natural laws of nature are looked at suspiciously, or rejected outright. We equate many years of study or understanding theological arguments with experiencing God.

E. Even within the Church, many supernatural experiences such as angelic visitation, healing, or prophetic words are viewed with a great deal of suspicion, even though the Bible was based on such encounters. This is not to say that there have been great errors on the part of many throughout history. It does shed some light on why we do not understand what our destiny is, and why He saved us.

1. You do not need to look too hard to see evidence of this. Look at the criticism of what is happening at Lakeland.

III. Mystical Union

A. In an attempt to describe the spiritual reality of the born again experience, Martin Luther and many since have used the term position to describe our relationship with Jesus. The analogy is correct, but it does not completely communicate the unsearchable riches of our union to Him. The fact is that Christ died, not to be near us, but to live in us. We often imagine how great it would be if we lived in Jesus’ day and witnessed the miraculous accounts firsthand. He went a step further and actually came to make His home in us.

B. The indwelling Spirit and communing with Him is not a major emphasis in the church today. Forgiveness of sin and righteousness are the two aspects of salvation that we hear the most about. I believe that we need to begin to unpack the mystery.

“The indwelling of Father, Son, and Spirit is easy to understand and it is difficult to understand. It is so simple that it can be described in a page, and so profound that a whole book can scarcely outline its beauties and its implications…..The divine inhabitation is a truth at once astonishingly beautiful, deceptively obvious, profoundly rich, eminently practical.” Thomas Dubay, God Dwells Within Us, pg. 11

1. Somewhere in our human makeup we have an innate need to figure things out. We are not comfortable with paradoxes. We want everything including God to be in nice compartmentalized boxes. Whether we realize it or not, we think we have God figured out.

2. We must adore the truth in Scripture, meditate on it, and allow revelation to sink in. Our human nature wants to do a word study read a couple of commentaries and then check off a box on our theological tool box. The Kingdom does not work that way.

a. Allen said that before we understand the Trinity we must adore it. This is true of all Scripture we must believe what it says, and then ask for revelation.

3. We must get comfortable with mystery and paradoxes. He is God!

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (KJV)

IV. Scriptual References concerning the mystical union

1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (KJV)
A. WOW!!! Let that soak in. We are one spirit with the Lord! What does that mean? We really have no clue about who we are! I have read the New Testament countless times, but it only became real to me about four months ago. I knew that we were joined to Him, I understood righteousness, but the reality of the Indwelling Spirit really began to sink in. I take this verse into the prayer room many times and pray over it.

B. Because we are one spirit with Him, we will never die, because He will never die. This explains how we are seated together with Christ in heavenly places even right now.

Exo 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. (KJV)
2Ch 5:13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;
2Ch 5:14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God. (KJV)

C. The Shekinah Glory that filled the temple in the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament now resides in our spirit. This seems hard to believe, but this is reality.

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (KJV)
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (KJV)
D. Paul is giving the reasons not to sin in these verses. He is saying to the Corinthians WAKE UP! Don’t you know Who is living inside of you? Do not defile His temple. You are kings and priests. You are royalty. Do not live as paupers and prostitutes.

Lev 16:12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:
Lev 16:13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: (KJV)
E. Handle with care! Could it be that the reason He does not manifest Himself in greater measure, is that we do not properly fear Him? It is truly His mercy that He has not poured out His Spirit in greater measure. When He comes, flesh and sin die. I used to get so angry when I heard that statement, but honestly it is true. God we must get a revelation of His holiness.

V. He made a way for us to approach him

2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (KJV)

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (KJV)

A. God imputed Christ’s righteousness to us when we were born again. This is why we can come to the Throne of Grace boldly. When God sees us, He sees us through the blood of His Son. Since we are one spirit with Him, He sees us as Him. Just like the song says, I don’t understand this work of grace, how a perfect God would come and take my place. We just adore it, and take it by faith. Meditating on this truth alone will change your life and cure depression. You will have a grateful heart every time you think about it.

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

B. We were chosen before the foundation of the earth. We have already been blessed with ALL spiritual blessings in Christ. The greatest apologetic of Christ’s affection toward the individual is the Cross. By having the Holy Spirit within, He has already blessed us. Now we must access it. Getting a revelation of these truths will break any bondage of unworthiness in our hearts. Christ has already demonstrated His desire for us.

2Co 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God
2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (KJV)

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. (KJV)

C. Jesus was not the only man on the cross that day. You were there with Him. The old man, was literally crucified with Christ. Think about that! What a mystery. Think about water baptism. This is what is symbolized.

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: (KJV)

D. Now that we have laid the foundation of Union, we will move on to Communion. Union and Communion are not synonymous. Union allows us to enter into Communion.

VI. Practicals of Fellowshipping with THE SPIRIT within

A. Thank You Holy Spirit that You live me
1. Recognizing the indwelling Holy Spirit’s presence
2. Setting my minds eye on and beholding the Holy Spirit inside us or God on the throne
a. Glory- (Revelation 4, Ezekiel 1, Isaiah 6:1-4)

b. Fire- God is a consuming fire. Picture the Holy Spirit’s fire burning away everything that hinders love in our heart. Our being is like silver. Everyday life tends to be like dross and makes the silver discolor. The fire refines us. The Holy Spirit can do a work in us that would take counselors years to accomplish.

c. Slowly blessing the life of God in you

B. Reign in me Holy Spirit

1. Submitting your day to the leadership and government of the Holy Spirit

2. Slow declarations of light, truth, power, glory, grace and the Fruits of the Spirit to be released in your life

C. Use me for Your glory

1. I want to bear fruit in my life and through my life today so you will be glorified

Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (KJV)
2. Ask for divine doors to open, divine opportunities to arise

3. Asking for gifts of the Spirit to flow freely

D. Strengthen me to do your will

1. Slowly ask to be strengthened with might in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16, Colossians 1:9-11)

2. Release the greatness of your power in me.

E. Teach me all things

1. Slowly ask for the Spirit of revelation in Ephesians 1:16-19

2. Ask for the 7 fold Spirit of God described in Isaiah 11

Isa 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; (KJV)

VII. FINAL ENCOURAGEMENT

A. This takes much practice. We must overcome learned patterns of coming to the Lord. It is hard to quantify your progress, but over time you will begin to think and feel differently. Rather than reading large chunks of scripture just take a few verses and meditate on them. Slowly digest them, think about them and ponder them. Imagine yourself in the story.

B. Fasting, Silence, Solitude, and keeping our eyes, ears and mouth clean greatly enhance and accelerate our progress.

C. 3 ingredients for a happy life

1. Talk to the Holy Spirit

2. Meditate in the Word

3. Pray in the Spirit