Why Was It Important to God to Have the Spirit Within You?

Every born again believer on planet earth has the ‘Spirit of God within’, there are no exceptions, there are no special circumstances. Every single solitary believer has the Spirit within. It is part of the born again phenomenon. If you are born again, you have the Spirit of the living God living in your spirit. Why do you have Him in you and why was it such an important thing to God the Father to accomplish this in the history of man? Let’s take a look.

Fundamental Spirit of God Truth’s

  • If you are born again, you have the Spirit of the living God living in your spirit.
  • On the contrary side we can say with definite certainty that every believer does not have the Acts 1:8 experience of the ‘Spirit of God coming upon’.
  • Now, it’s available but not everyone has it.
  • The doorway to the ‘Spirit upon’ is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues.
  • Every believer on planet earth has not been filled with the Holy Spirit.
  • When you get filled with the Spirit, that opens the door to the ‘Spirit upon.’
  • So that this statement can now be made.
  • The Spirit upon is a deeper dimension of the Spirit within.
  • Since we are going to be focusing on the Spirit of God within, what does that entail?
  • What benefit is gained by the Spirit within?
  • We are going to answer these questions as we go further but let’s first establish the fact that…

Spirit Life as an Inside Job

John 14:16–17 (ESV)
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

  • Jesus speaking to His disciples tells them about an event out in the future.
  • What He is saying is that this is not true of you Peter, James, John etc. today as I am speaking to you but it will be true tomorrow.
  • That is there is coming a day when the Spirit of God will be in you (ALL).
  • I firmly believe that people today do not have the depth of understanding how important ‘in you’ was to God.
  • We always look at the Holy Spirit ‘within’ as a benefit to us, but what about the benefit it was to God?
  • Is there a benefit to God, for His Spirit being in you?
  • We know from the Genesis account that God walked with Adam in the cool of the day.
  • The Hebrew word ‘cool’ which is râvach, (raw-vakh’) can be translated wind.
  • And so God walked with Adam in the wind of God.
  • Does that sound familiar?

Acts 2:1–4 (ESV)
1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

  • How pleasant that fellowship was that Adam enjoyed with God.

Genesis 2:19–20 (ESV)
19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

  • This was not just a job that had to be done.
  • Like so much of the time we view God that way.
  • We ask the question, ‘What is your will God?’ and then when He tells us we got right off and try to do it ourselves and are miserable the whole way.
  • No, this job of naming the animals was done in perfect fellowship.
  • Two beings God and Adam in perfect harmony, in one another’s presence hanging out together.
  • Mark it down, you will have assignments like this in heaven.
  • But, you don’t have to wait until you get to heaven to enjoy this kind of fellowship.
  • But, you know the story Adam sinned and broke the fellowship.
  • We understand the effect that had on Adam, but have you ever thought about how that affected God.
  • Was it a sad day for Him?
  • Was it a sad day when Adam sinned and God had to…
  • We don’t often think of God as sad.
  • But the Bible is very clear, He has an entire range of emotions.
  • Where do you think you got yours from?

Genesis 3:24 (ESV)
24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

  • God had to drive Adam out.
  • If He didn’t the Light of His Presence would have obliterated the darkness that was in Adam that came by sin.
  • Isn’t it the nature of light to annihilate darkness?
  • God id light and in Him is no darkness at all (1Jn. 1:5).
  • How hurt God was over this.
  • Just God being Himself would have destroyed the man He loved.
  • In human terms, doesn’t it bother you when you are around people who will not allow you to be yourselves? If you try to be yourself, they judge you.
  • Doesn’t that trouble you?
  • God could not be His glorified self without wiping out the man He loved.
  • So, for love sake He drove Him out.
  • We have always thought He drove Adam out because He was ticked off but He wasn’t.
  • He hurt for the man that He loved.
  • This was not a good day for God.
  • Mark this down, all God has ever wanted is to walk with you in the ‘cool of the day’.
  • That is all He ever wanted was to fellowship with you: to enjoy together the universe that He made.
  • And you can see this heart hunger of God’s all throughout scripture.
  • God getting as close as He possibly can to the man that He loved.
  • We have always thought of God as a ‘clinically being’.
  • Everything is straight forward, no emotion, just clinical.
  • But that is not God.
  • It bothered Him badly to be separated from the man He loved.
  • And so at various times in the Bible, we see God trying to get close.

Exodus 19:10–11, 16-19 (ESV)
10 the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments 11 and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.

  • People think when they read this account that God was not trying to intimidate His people into doing right.
  • But God is not an intimidator.
  • What was He doing?
  • One thing He was doing was visiting His people.
  • He didn’t have to come down but He did.
  • He was wanting to hang out with them!
  • God’s heart intent has always been to dwell with His people – to encounter them; to hang out with them.
  • Why do you suppose that God put on such a showy outward display at Mount Sinai?
  • Why such a spectacular demonstration in the Upper Room?
  • Why fill the room with wind?
  • Why cloven tongues of fire?
  • Why not just line them all up – lay hands on them and let them receive the Holy Spirit that way?
  • Why these eye-catching displays?
  • It is not God showing off.
  • It is God showing up!
  • This is who He is.
  • He has that flair for the dramatic about Him.
  • Maybe you are that way in your personality.
  • Where do you think you got that flair from? You got it from Him.
  • But notice the reaction of the people to God coming down to visit with them.

Exodus 20:18–19 (ESV)
18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”

  • The people did not want to talk to God.
  • They told Moses, you go talk to Him.
  • Do you understand what’s going on here?
  • God was looking to hang out with His people and they don’t even want to talk to Him.
  • They got over into fear.
  • Well that’s not why God came down on the mountain to make them all afraid.
  • Again here is a situation where it troubled God that people did not even want to talk to Him.
  • So as we continue reading, we see that God instructs that a tabernacle should be built, and a most holy place within the Tabernacle.
  • The Bible tells us that God’s Presence came down and sat on that Mercy Seat.
  • So that a curtain now is all that separates God from men.
  • He is on the other side of Door Number 1.
  • So, they build it and He comes down upon it and sits on the mercy seat, the Ark of the Covenant.
  • And He is there, His Presence is there and that’s as close as He can get to man, the width of a curtain.
  • And so one man would come once per year, the High Priest not without blood, but that wasn’t good enough for God.
  • God said, I am going to fix this thing where I will never ever again be separated from the man I love.
  • “I am going to fix the darkness in man so that I can be Myself with him.”
  • And you know how He did that…

Ezekiel 36:26–28 (ESV)
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

  • God, said, I am going to fix this thing where I will never again be separated from the man I love. I am going to move myself IN him.
  • I am going to put My Spirit in him.
  • So that where he goes, there I am.
  • And we will never ever be separated again.
  • How happy God is to have moved in with you.
  • And know what, God pulled it off and every believer today has the Spirit of God in him.

New Testament ‘Spirit Within’ Verses.

1 John 2:27 (ESV)
27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

  • Of course we understand now what anointing is.
  • It is a synonymous term for, in this case, the ‘Spirit within’.
  • And so, we have that verse and we have this verse.

John 4:14 (ESV)
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

  • And then we have…

Galatians 4:6 (ESV)
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

  • And then we have…

1 John 4:4 (ESV)
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

  • And saying the same think with different words….

1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV)
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

  • And so you have God in you.
  • And just as much as you are thrilled to have Him in you, He is thrilled to be in you.
  • So what benefit to you is the Spirit within?

The Holy Spirit Your Guarantee

  • He is not in your foot or in your toe.
  • He is in your spirit.
  • So, the Holy Ghost is in you; He is not just in preachers!
  • And this is good news because His very presence in you is a guarantee of authenticity.

2 Corinthians 1:21–22 (ESV)
21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

  • Ephesians 1:13 says the same thing.

Ephesians 1:13 (ESV)
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

  • The word sealed here refers to the king’s seal or signet ring.
  • When a king would write a letter, he would fold, put hot wax on the crease of the paper and let it cool and then imprint his ring (sealing a letter) in the wax.
  • This lets the recipient of the letter know a couple of things:
  • One, that the letter is authentic.
  • Two that the letter was the personal property of the king.
  • The seal meant ownership.
  • Show picture of ring ‘Belonging to Jotham’.
  • So the Spirit of God coming in you sealed you.
  • So that everyone in the realm of the Spirit can see and know that you are the personal property of the King.
  •  Meaning you are authentic.
  • 100% the real deal!
  • Just get used to that thought.
  • You are the real deal 21st century believer.
  • No matter what the enemy tries to whisper in your ear.
  • So all those that the enemy tries to put into your mind that you are a fake, that you’re a phony, that you are not going to heaven look at you etc. etc. etc.
  • No, you are authentically a child of His.
  • In fact you are the personal property of the king of kings.
  • You are a royal member of His family.
  • And the Holy Spirit within you did that.
  • So, now that the Spirit is within you, let’s look at the potential of that.
  • What is the Spirit of God doing in you?
  • What will He do in you?
  • The Holy Spirit within You Will Be Your Helper and Your Friend
  • You are instructed to walk with Him.

Found this quote:
“Instead of saying I’m human as an excuse to walk in the flesh, try using, I’m saved as reason to walk in the Spirit.”

Galatians 5:16 (ESV)
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

  • Now, one thing about walking with Him that you should know.

Amos 3:3 (KJV)
3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

  • Two cannot walk together unless they agree.
  • That means, whatever He tells you in your spirit is right.
  • Whatever He witnesses to your spirit is correct.
  • If you have a different opinion than He has then guess what?
  • Your opinion is wrong.

How the Holy Spirit Within Communicates

  • We have already seen that the Holy Spirit, the anointing within, will instruct you.
  • You and the Holy Spirit should be good friends.
  • You should be very familiar with Him and His way of communicating with you.
  • This seems to be the number one area that believers gravitate to, hearing the voice of God.
  • People want to hear God.
  • People desire direction from Him.
  • The Spirit within is always speaking.
  • God will talk to you in the area that you focus on.

The January Phenomenon

  • Did you ever notice that God does a lot of speaking in January:
  • that there seems to be quite a bit of information coming out of the Throne Room in the month of January.
  • Why?
  • Here is why…
  • Because people are peppering Him the entire month, and even starting in December wanting to know what the plan is, “What’s the plan God, what’s the plan?”
  • People are talking to Him.
  • They are asking Him questions in January and…
  • You know what?
  • He is answering them.
  • But, then comes February and what happens?
  • It seems that not too much comes out of February.
  • Why?
  • People stop talking to Him in February.
  • People stop asking Him questions.
  • The January Phenomenon is a clue about the realities of the Spirit of God speaking.
  • He will talk to you in the area of your focus.
  • He will talk to you in the area that you ask questions in.
  • Here it is in scripture.

Matthew 12:34 (ESV)
34 … For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.

  • What is in your heart is what He talks to you about because that is where He is – IN YOUR HEART.
  • So, if you want Him to talk to you about more stuff, you are going to have to expand your vocabulary and get other things in your heart.
  • Now, if you are just laying back and not asking Him anything and waiting for Him to say something… you may be waiting a bit.
  • That is what happened to me during the first six months I was saved.
  • I was just for Him to speak.
  • But just as soon as I asked Him something, as soon as I had something in my heart or on my heart, that is when I heard from heaven.
  • Now you can jump start this process by faith.
  • Start talking to the Holy Spirit even though you haven’t been hearing anything.
  • Understand that just talking to Him is faith.
  • Just asking Him questions is faith.
  • Where is that in the Bible?

Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

  • By talking to Him and asking Him questions, you are establishing to Him the fact that you believe that He is.
  • Why else would you be talking into the air?
  • You are not a lunatic or something.
  • No, you are believer that believes in the Spirit within.
  • You believe that when you speak out into the air that He hears you and that He will answer you.
  • Now you can further enhance your relationship with the Holy Spirit by assuming through your conversations with Him that He is your best friend.
  • That is talk to Him and act like you and He are the best of friends.
  • Talk to Him and act with Him like you act with your bestie… you know your BFF, your best ‘earthly’ friend.
  • Now there are many other works of the Spirit within and other dimensions of the Spirit speaking within you.

Call to Action:

We have seen in this post God’s desire to be with us and to speak to us. Does you have a reciprocal desire for Him? Do you desire to be with Him? Do you long to fellowship with Him in your everyday life? Expressing your heart to Him in these areas will help get the ‘ball rolling.’ You can become best of friends and fulfill the Father’s great hunger for His children.

Question: Can you describe a moment where you experienced God’s love for you in such a positive way that it engrained your memory? If you can would you please consider sharing that in the comments section below so others may be encouraged?