On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit came with power and indwelt the first century followers of Jesus. And the Holy Spirit has been living in every believer in Jesus ever since. You received the Spirit of Christ the minute you believed the gospel message of Jesus. This is the clear teaching of Scripture.
“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Since Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:9-11).
Look how many times “Christ is in you” or “Spirit dwells in you” appear in this short passage. It is at least four times. The Holy Spirit of God came to dwell in you the moment you believed. Or said the other way around in this passage, you can’t belong to the family of Jesus and not have the Spirit inside.
Here are some other verses that point to our indwelling by the Spirit.
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge” (II Corinthians 1:21-22).
“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13).
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (I Corinthians 6:19). You are a temple. A temple is the place God dwells. In this case, your body is the place where God dwells united with you by His Spirit living in you.
The Spirit in you is the Spirit of Jesus. It is God’s Spirit. It is Jesus’ Spirit. The Spirit is how the promise of “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27) works itself out in our daily living. God, Jesus, Holy Spirit are interchangeable when it comes to who is in you. We have all the facets of God’s indwelling that He has chosen to give us. And we have the power that comes with Him.
A personal application of this power for me goes back to our topic of fear. In the last three years, our personal lives have gone through an increasing number of “scares”. But God’s power though His indwelling Spirit has been the calm in the storm. His Spirit has been the power to overcome and the power to take the next step. The next step often felt impossible and I could feel the “immobilized with fear” coming on. But I have learned in these challenging situations that the power of God is the fuel to overcome my fears.
I love this promise of hope in the midst of our fear or whatever else is troubling us. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). The power of the Holy Spirit in us fills us with hope.