Do you believe that the Spirit of God literally dwells in your body? It is taught numerous times in the Bible.
- Jesus said the Spirit would come and be “in” the disciples.
- That is exactly what happened in Acts 2.
- We are told our body is the Temple of the Spirit
- Paul says God sealed us with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:13-14 and
2 Corinthians 1:21-22.
“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
So, if the one who is the Spirit of God and equal in power with God the Father and God the Son … why am I still struggling with sexual sin? We know God calls us to purity. We know it is God’s will for us to not let there be even a hint of sexual immorality in us.
What is holding the Spirit back from giving me the strength to stop???
Now that is a very good question even if I do say so myself. Obviously, God has the power to change us. Also obvious is how destructive sexual brokenness becomes to us, our spouse if we are married, our friends and family. Sexual sin is a powerful machine producing millions of sex addicts around the world.
So, why in the world are we finding it so difficult to stop? Even knowing that sexual sin is driving the continued growth of human sex trafficking, child abuse, sex slaves some of who are little children, sexually transmitted disease and other horrible things. Because sex is one of the most powerful and pleasurable things a person can experience, and the internet has made it available 24/7/365.
Now let’s talk about you and me. Why is the Spirit not changing us more quickly? Wouldn’t it be great if tomorrow we wake up and never feel the pull to sexual sin again? Here are some of the reasons why that has not and probably will not happen.
Part of this whole deal God has with us is He has given us free will. He does not want to make us puppets who are under His control. Part of being created in the image of God is that we are creatures with free will. Temptation is allowed in this world because it is a fallen world and under the domination of the fallen angel satan. His days are limited but still, he has a presence and uses his power against us.
Another reason we are not experiencing the transformation of the Spirit is that we do things that grieve and stifle his work in our lives. When we exercise our free will and choose to sin instead of continuing to walk in the Spirit it grieves Him, and He allows us the freedom to choose who we really want to be our master … sin or Jesus.
Another factor is the fact that we simply are not obeying God’s will for our lives. For so many Christians their Christian life is compacted down to a couple of hours at church on Sunday with no personal effort being made daily to help them grow in their relationship with Christ. We are often driven to achieve more success in our work than deepening our love for God. Rarely can I find people who are truly doing the daily disciplines needed for us to be living a Spirit-filled and Christ-centered life.
It is sad to say but I believe most men spend more time thinking about sex and having another climax than they do pursuing God and growing in their knowledge of Him.
Look at what Peter writes to his readers in 2 Peter 1:3-4;
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
He has already given us everything we need to live a godly life. We can escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. All this begins to happen as we learn His great and precious promises. All of this comes from learning what we are told in the Bible and living it out by the power of the Spirit.
Plus, we can participate in the divine nature. That means that we can be experiencing the divine nature of God in our own bodies as we are learning from Him His promises and by the power of the Spirit putting them into practice.
No matter where you are right now or to what depth of sin you have fallen, the Spirit is still in you. Apologize for grieving and stifling Him. Ask Him to fill and empower you and then do what He tells you to do. This happens by being filled with and walking in the Spirit.
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