Ephesians Lesson 23 of 39 part 7

Ephesians 3:17a

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;..."

And what is faith? "Taking God at His Word!" So often people will say, "Well how do we know that we have been placed into the Body of Christ? Because the Bible says so. That is all we have to go on. We do not get a diploma, we do not get a great big emotional high, we do not see the trees ten shades greener, or the sun more red than before, or any of that. Rather we just simply take His Word for what it says. Another term we like for faith is "God said it and I believe it!" It is a deep abiding conviction of belief, with the predominate force of trust that our relationship in God has been restored to the place that Adam as a divine holy being had as found in Genesis 2.

How do we know that we have the indwelling Spirit? Because Paul says so?  NO! But let’s go back and look at it again. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and come down to verse 16, and this is plain simple language. 

1Corinthians 3:16

"Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Again Paul just points out his revelation and we know that this is all part of the mystery, the secret thing that Psalm 78:3-4 tells us Israel's forefathers knew. But failed to reveal to their children as this Psalm instructs them to do. But did you ever read that the believers were indwelt by the Holy Spirit of this in the Old Testament? No way. They knew of the Holy Spirit, but we want to remember that for David and Sampson, the Holy Spirit would come upon them, but He was not there permanently, He could leave at the drop of a hat. And of course that is what happened to Sampson. When the Holy Spirit left off, Sampson was as weak as a dish rag. But when the Holy Spirit was upon him, he had all kinds of power. 

Here Paul is making it plain, that the Spirit of God dwells in us. How do we know the Holy Spirit lives within us? When we do not feel Him in there. We do not hear Him talking to us. We do not hear God talk out loud to us all the time. I have heard Him speak audibly to me. We know that He affects our thoughts, and as we study the scriptures God speaks to us through His Word or as we have said He speaks to us through His Son. But to hear Him say, "Now Bill, I want you to do this." We have never had that happen exactly, and we are a little bit dubious when people talk like that, because the Bible does not teach that. But we do have the indwelling Person of the Holy Spirit living within us. Which those of the ancient days did not. So Christ in the Person of the Holy Spirit is dwelling in our hearts as believers, by faith. And it is by faith that we know with certainty by the conviction of, is the only way of knowing.

Ephesians 3:17b-18

"...that ye being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;"