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The
Indwelling Spirit
What Is the Indwelling Spirit?
Pat Robertson
When
you come to Jesus Christ, you receive Christ into your heart.
Jesus
does not physically enter into your chest cavity and live there, but the Spirit
of God comes and joins with the spirit of the believer.
This
is what is meant by the term "the indwelling Spirit."
His
function is to reproduce the life of Jesus in the believer. He will manifest
the fruit of the Spirit in the believer's life.
The
nine attributes of Jesus that develop in the life of someone who has been born
again and who has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
In Romans 8:14 the apostle Paul tells us that those who are led by
the Spirit are sons of God.
We
could transpose those words and say that the sons and daughters of God can
expect the leading of the blessed Holy Spirit.
You might ask then, where does the constant struggle in
the life of some Christians come from?
Many
Christians run into problems when they do not cooperate with the Spirit. We
have a choice.
The
Spirit does not force Himself on us. For example, in the first century the
apostles and elders in Jerusalem were debating a matter of doctrine.
After they heard much discussion, they responded to the
believers in Antioch, saying, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and
to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things" (Acts 15:28).
That
was an awesome statement for those men to make. They were saying, in effect,
that their opinion was equal to the opinion of the Holy Spirit.
They said, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and
to us."
You
might ask yourself, if it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, who cares what the
apostles thought about it?
They
were acknowledging a God-given partnership. They could choose whether or not to
cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
They
can hold back and fail to acknowledge Him, or they can accept His leading to do
what He wants them to do.
They
have that freedom, but they eventually have to deal with the blessings or
problems resulting from their free decisions.
John the Baptist can be our role model. He said, "He
must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
Our
wills and our egocentric natures have to decrease, whereas the Spirit of Jesus
within us has to increase.
This
is a continuing process. Little by little, Christ is being made bigger, and we
are being made smaller.
If you fight that process and say, "I am going to
assert myself and have my own way, but I will go to church on Sunday,
acknowledge Christ, and take His benefits," you are going to be a
defeated, immature Christian.
The
struggle will go on as long as you give your flesh, the world, and the devil a
place in your life.
Excerpt taken from Answers to 200 of Life's Most
Probing Questions, Copyright 1984 by Pat Robertson.
M.
G. "Pat" Robertson has achieved national and international
recognition as a religious broadcaster, philanthropist, educator, religious
leader, businessman, and author. He is the founder and chairman of The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) Inc.,
and founder of International Family Entertainment Inc.,Regent University, Operation Blessing International Relief and
Development Corporation, American Center
for Law and Justice, The Flying Hospital, Inc. and several other
organizations and broadcast entities.
Founded
in 1960, CBN was the first Christian television network established in the
United States. Today CBN is one of the world's largest television ministries
and produces programming seen in 200 nations and heard in 70 languages
including Russian, Arabic, Spanish, French and Chinese. CBN's flagship
program, The 700 Club, which
Mr. Robertson hosts, can be seen in 97 percent of television markets across the
United States and is one of the longest running religious television shows.
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