Perhaps there is no one line of Christian truth that is so easy to lose sight of, both for the individual Christian and for the Church of God as a whole, as that of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.
When the Lord Jesus was here on earth companying with His disciples, going in and out among them, it was not difficult for them to realize His personal presence. He was visible and tangible. Their ears heard His spoken words, their eyes beheld His bodily presence and their hands handled His person (1 John 1:1).
But the time came when the Lord could no longer be personally present with His own. He must depart out of the world and go to the Father. He recognized that He had been a Comforter to His disciples, and that they would miss Him keenly. But His care for them was such that He planned immediately for their loneliness. He said to them, I cannot longer remain with you as your personal Comforter, but as soon as I go to the Father, I will ask Him and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. He said, “I will not leave you comfortless.”
According to the promise of the Savior, when the disciples on the day of Pentecost were all assembled in one place, the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they were all filled with His presence. The other Comforter had come, and that forever. Where is this Person today? Where is His dwelling place? Young Christian, listen to this solemn – this glorious answer – this third Person of the Godhead dwells inside that body of yours. You are His home.
Who is this divine Person who has taken up His abode in your heart? He is the Holy Spirit, and He is the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17; 1 Thess. 4:8). What does that mean for your life? It means, young Christian, that He can have no fellowship with anything that is not truth, nor with anything that is not holy. He is your Companion, your Guest. He insists on going with you wherever you go. You cannot go to the picture show and leave Him at home, for He is in your heart to abide forever. You can never shun His company. He is your seal unto the day of redemption (John 14:16; Eph. 4:30; 1:13-14). His purpose in coming into your heart was to comfort you, to help you in your weaknesses, to aid you in praying, and to enable you to understand your Bible (Rom. 8:26-27; John 16:13). But if you grieve Him, He will make you miserable until you confess your sin and repent of your wrong. He will insist that our talk one with another be holy (Eph. 4:29). He will lead us to seek the company of other people in whose hearts He has His dwelling. He will never lead us to seek an evening’s enjoyment in the world’s amusements, to don the world’s gay fashions, read the world’s fictitious trash, or join the world’s clubs and societies. But every time we open our Bibles, He is present to teach us; every time we seek to speak to an unsaved soul, He is ready to give us utterance; (Acts 2:4). if we walk in His ways, He will make our branches bend with the weight of His precious abiding fruits (Gal. 5:22-23).
Dear young Christian, as we thus meditate on this blessed abiding Friend, who dwells in our hearts, let us pray with the apostle, “Very God of peace, sanctify me wholly; I pray God my whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).