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"And I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for
ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him;
for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not
leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14:16-18)
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
(John 14.26) |
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Indwelling And Sealing By The Holy
Spirit
Compared To
Baptism In The Holy Spirit
 | At salvation, our bodies become the temple of The Holy Spirit who
begins to live within us |
The Scriptures also assert that the Holy Spirit dwells within all
believers and is God's seal and deposit securing the complete
deliverance He has promised. The Spirit functions in this
way from the moment of salvation.
When we first enter the kingdom of God, we are born of the Spirit.
"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not
that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one
that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8)
At that time, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
moves from merely being "with" us to being "in" us, and our bodies
become his temple.
"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye
know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
(John 14:17)
"Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the
temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive
himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let
him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of
this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the
wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth
the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." (I Corinthians
3:16-20)
It is the Spirit within us that continually reassures us that we are
God's children.
"For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:"
(Romans 8:15-16)
Through his Spirit, God dwells in our hearts--our "inner
man"--through faith.
"That he would grant you, according to the
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in
the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love," (Ephesians 3:16-17)
If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to
him.
"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
(Romans 8:9)
The Spirit living within us is God's seal on our lives and his
guarantee of what is to come.
"Now he which stablisheth us with you in
Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed
us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."
(2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
"Now he that hath wrought us for
the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of
the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 5:5)
"And grieve not the holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Ephesians
4:30)
| Christians are not necessarily Baptized in The Holy Spirit
just because they are saved and filled with The Holy Spirit. |
We have not yet been fully redeemed, but now have the Spirit as a
deposit guaranteeing that complete redemption.
"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye
believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. "
(Ephesians 1:13-14)
We still have dead bodies which sin is able to influence and control,
and must continually choose to be controlled by the Spirit instead.
"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if
Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is
life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his
Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Romans 8:9-11)
Though our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we must choose
to treat them as such, to glorify God with them.
"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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (I Corinthians 6:19-20)
Although the Spirit lives in us as a guarantee that God will complete
his work in our lives, and does not depart when we sin, we can "quench"
him by ignoring his moving.
"Quench not the Spirit."
(I Thessalonians 5:19)
We can also grieve him by clinging to bitterness, wrath, anger,
clamor or slander as a way of life,
"And grieve not the holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Ephesians
4:30)
because part of his work is to build all believers together, in
unity, into a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
"In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of
God through the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:22)
The Spirit God has placed within us envies intensely--is very jealous
of other things that control us.
"Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain,
The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" (James
4:5)
That is, even though the Spirit lives in us, he is not always in
control. He had to be given control for the new birth to
take place initially, but we can take back part of that control and sin
without ceasing to be God's children or losing the Spirit.
His presence in our hearts and his control of our lives are two
different things.
| We must choose to Glorify The Father By The Spirit Within Us if
we are to be Baptized In The Holy Spirit |
As Christians we must pray earnestly and constantly for a Right
Spirit and Clean Heart making us God-centered instead of self-centered,
turning us upside down and inside out, cleaning out our worldly ideas of
how we should think and act, purifying us and setting us apart for the
service of God and our fellow men and women in the love and power that
He provides.
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| Additional information about the Holy Spirit includes:
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