The Indwelling of God
Did you know there are nearly as many verses in the New Testament promising the indwelling of God the Father and Jesus as there are which promise the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Yet, we never talk about them. We never claim any special blessing from the Father’s or the Son’s presence. We hardly discuss the topic at all. Our energy is singularly focused on the personal indwelling of the Spirit. It is almost as if because He is a “Spirit” (Ghost – KJV), that we assign to Him mystical properties that we never do to the Father or the Son. It is almost as if we feel free to make claims about Him that are unique within the Godhead.
What and Who indwell you?
To me, the whole construct feels limiting. I, for one, do not want to settle for one member of the Godhead dwelling within me. I want – and have – all three within me. And I am in them. Its called a relationship. There’s nothing mystical or hard to understand about it.
Here is a sampling of verses that state the indwelling of the Father and Jesus:
Joh_6:56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
Joh_14:20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Joh_15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Joh_15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Joh_17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Joh_17:26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Rom_8:10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
2Co_13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Gal_2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Eph_3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Col_1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
1Jn_3:24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
1Jn_4:4 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.
1Jn_4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1Jn_4:13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.