Spirit Life


Romans 8:9-11
9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11If 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.

“You, however, are not in the flesh…”

I love this phrase; if you are a believer then the Spirit is there inside of you. This is a statement of fact, not a supposition or a theory. The Holy Spirit didn’t come to you because you are a believer. You are a believer because the Holy Spirit came to you. Paul is assuming that He is there. In my mind’s eye there’s even a finger point and special emphasis to “You, however…”

The presence of the Holy Spirit is indeed mysterious and amazing. And there can be no mistaking Paul’s words here. The Spirit is there working in your life on a moment by moment basis. Years ago I learned this truth in a rather odd way. A friend and I were regularly going to the home of a woman who was dying of brain cancer to pray with her, read the Bible to her, and sing for her. As the cancer progressed she eventually passed into a place where she didn’t really even know that we were there. But before she became comatose she was acknowledging the presence of Someone – and it wasn’t us. She would look past us, over our shoulders to something we could not see. And she would reach out to that “something” and smile. Words and reality were gone from her mind. But I am certain that she could see into the spiritual because her Spirit was still strong. Her body may have been broken beyond repair, but the Spirit was alive and well. Do I have Scriptural support for my beliefs about these events? Nope. But you’ll never shake my belief that God was there with her and she knew it. I couldn’t see what was going on, but she could. I have witnessed the same thing at other bedsides over the years. Our bodies may fail, but the Spirit does not.

These words bring great comfort and strength as I read them. “You, however, are not in the flesh…” No, my real self is in the Spirit, completely and totally. When God looks upon me He sees Jesus and this broken, sinful body is not in His eye-line. These Words make me want to live in the Spirit and not in the flesh. That desire is the work of the Spirit as well. It’s a reading of great encouragement!

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