Devotion - Friday April 10 - We Love Jesus Because He Sends Us The Holy Spirit

There are many surprising things we experience once we become Christians, but perhaps the most startling is that the God of the Universe actually dwells in us.  Ponder that for a minute – the God who created the whole world just by speaking, who is the master of gravity and fusion and electromagnetics, who has the ability to make an inanimate thing alive, who created the color palate of the world, who created the immense spectrum of tastes and smells, lives in you.  It is almost unfathomable, unbelievable but the clear statement of the bible.

In the Old Testament, God dwells with His people in a special place in the tabernacle and then in the temple.  This changes through Jesus’ life on earth.  In His discourse with the disciples on the night of His arrest, Jesus tells them about the Holy Spirit.  He says the Holy Spirit will “be with you forever” (John 14:16), will “teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26), and will “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).  Most importantly He tells them “it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).  Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension back to heaven paved the way for God Himself in the form of the Holy Spirit to live in us.  Through Jesus, we have the very power of the almighty God dwelling in us forever, conforming us into the image of the Son.  

Questions/Actions:

1. What comes to your mind when you think about the bible declaring that the God of the Universe dwells in a Christian?  Is it personal to you (fill in your name, you are mine and I, Yahweh, the Almighty God, dwell in you.)?
2. In your own words, express to Jesus what it means to you that He made a way for God to live in you.
3. How does the fact that Jesus does not leave us as orphans, but sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, draw your affections and love for Him?
4. How does gift of the Holy Spirit enable you to obey Jesus’ commands?