Chidinma had led the choir at her church in Port Harcourt for eleven years, and she had never once stood in front of the congregation feeling empty. Until the Sunday after her father’s burial.
He had died in the hospital in Owerri after a short illness that nobody expected to end the way it did. She had spent the last week of his life sleeping on a plastic chair beside his bed, and the week after his death travelling between the mortuary, the family meetings in the village and the printer who was producing the burial programme. By the time she returned to Port Harcourt she was exhausted in a way she had never been before. Her pastor told her to take a few Sundays off. She refused. Worship had always been the place where she felt God most strongly, and she needed Him.
So on that Sunday morning she stood at the front with the microphone and led the song she had led a hundred times: “Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place.” The keyboardist found the key. The choir came in behind her. The congregation lifted their hands.
And Chidinma felt nothing at all.
It was not that she was angry with God. She simply could not sense Him. The warmth that usually rose in her chest during worship was gone. The words felt like stones in her mouth. She finished the song, handed the microphone to her assistant and sat down in the front row with her hands shaking.
That night, unable to sleep, she opened her Bible and found herself in Psalm 51, where David prays, “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11). She had read the verse many times before. Now it frightened her. Had the Spirit left? Had she done something during those weeks of grief, some bitterness or neglect, that had driven Him away? She lay awake until the call to prayer from the mosque down the road, convinced that she had lost the presence of God.
Many believers have spent a night like that. Some have spent months. They have tied their sense of belonging to God to the feelings they experience, and when the feelings go quiet, they assume God has gone too. Scripture gives us a much firmer place to stand. In Christ, the Spirit of God has come to dwell in you, and His dwelling does not rise and fall with your emotions.
“If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you”
The great chapter on the Spirit’s indwelling is Romans 8. Paul has spent seven chapters explaining the gospel: that all have sinned, that righteousness comes as a gift through faith in Christ, that believers have died with Christ to sin’s dominion, and that the law, though holy, could never produce holiness in the flesh. Now he describes the life of those who belong to Christ:
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Notice where Paul begins. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” He does not say, “Try to get into the Spirit.” He says that this is where believers already are. The flesh, in Paul’s language, is the old sphere of human life apart from God, cut off from His life and unable to please Him. The believer has been moved out of that realm and into a new one. That is a statement about your position before it is a description of your experience.
Then Paul explains how this has happened: “if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” The phrase if so be does not express doubt. In context it carries the sense of “since” or “seeing that.” Paul is stating the basis on which believers are in the Spirit: the Spirit of God dwells in them. The verb is oikeo, from the word for a house. The Spirit has not come to visit. He has made His home in you.
Paul presses the point with a sentence that settles a great deal: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Turn that around and you have the comfort Chidinma needed. If you belong to Christ, you have the Spirit of Christ. There is no category of believer who belongs to Jesus but lacks His Spirit. Belonging and indwelling go together.
Notice also that Paul uses three expressions almost interchangeably. “The Spirit of God.” “The Spirit of Christ.” “Christ be in you.” The Spirit who lives in you is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son. When He dwells in you, God dwells in you, and Christ is in you. You are not hosting a distant representative. You are hosting God.
And then verse 11 lifts our eyes to the future. The Spirit who lives in you is the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, and He “shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” The indwelling Spirit is the guarantee of resurrection. The One who is in you now will one day raise you, body and all. That is not a presence that comes and goes.
The witness deeper than feeling
Before Paul speaks of the Spirit’s witness, he draws out what the indwelling means for daily life. “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh” (Romans 8:12). You owe the old life nothing. Then he says, “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). The Spirit who dwells in you is not a passive lodger. He works with you to put to death what belongs to the old life. And then: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). Another teaching in this series looks closely at that verse. Here it is enough to notice the order. The Spirit does not come to live in us once we have become holy enough. He lives in us first, and His presence becomes the power by which we grow.
Then Paul describes what the indwelling Spirit does in the believer’s heart. “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:15-16).
That witness is sometimes misunderstood. Some people think it means a constant, conscious feeling of being God’s child, so that if the feeling is absent the witness has failed. But look at how Paul describes it. The Spirit’s witness is expressed in a cry: “Abba, Father.” It is the instinct of a child who, in trouble, calls out to his father. Paul says the same in Galatians: “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6).
Sometimes that cry comes with joy and confidence. Sometimes it comes with tears. Sometimes it comes in a whisper from a hospital chair at three in the morning: “Father, help me.” The very fact that a grieving, exhausted believer still turns toward God and calls Him Father is itself the Spirit’s work. A person without the Spirit would not cry out to God as Father at all.
Paul goes further. Later in the same chapter he says that when we do not even know how to pray, “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26). Think about what that means for someone in Chidinma’s condition. On the nights when she could not find words, when she felt nothing and could manage nothing, the Spirit within her was praying. While she was silent, He was groaning alongside her.
John gives us another way of seeing it: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13). The assurance rests on what God has given, not on what we feel at any particular moment. A gift does not stop being yours when you forget to look at it.
Saul, David and the new covenant difference
But what about Chidinma’s verse? Did David not fear that God would take His Spirit away? And did that not happen to Saul?
It did. When Samuel anointed David, “the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward,” and in the very next sentence we read, “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul” (1 Samuel 16:13-14). David had watched that happen to the king he served. When he prayed in Psalm 51, after his own terrible sin with Bathsheba, he was afraid that the same thing might happen to him.
We should read David’s prayer with sympathy. It is the cry of a man who knew the holiness of God and the seriousness of his sin. But we must also read it in its covenant setting. Under the old covenant, the Spirit came upon particular people, often kings, prophets and judges, to equip them for a task. He could come upon them and depart from them. The prophets looked forward to a day when things would be different, when God would put His Spirit within all His people and write His law on their hearts.
That day came at Pentecost. And on the night before the cross, Jesus had already described the new arrangement: the Father “shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). For ever. Not for a season, not until your next failure, not until a hard month dulls your feelings. Paul adds this:
In whom ye also trusted , after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
When you heard the gospel and believed, you were “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” In the ancient world a seal marked ownership and guaranteed that what was sealed was protected until it reached its destination. And the Spirit is called “the earnest of our inheritance,” the arrabon, a deposit or first instalment that guarantees the rest of the payment is coming. When a buyer pays a deposit on land, he is committing himself to complete the purchase. God has given you His Spirit as the deposit on everything He has promised. He does not take back the deposit halfway through.
Sincere believers hold different views on whether a person who has truly believed can finally turn away from Christ altogether, and that question deserves careful study. But no view held by serious Christians teaches that the Spirit leaves a believer because she is grieving, exhausted or unable to feel Him. Chidinma did not need to pray David’s prayer in David’s fear. She could pray it in New Testament confidence: “Thank You, Lord, that You will never cast me away, and that Your Spirit abides with me for ever.”
PunchlineThe Spirit’s presence in you rests on Christ’s finished work and the Father’s promise, not on the strength of your feelings. You can lose the sense of His nearness for a season without ever losing Him.
Your body, His temple
The indwelling of the Spirit is a comfort, and it is also a calling. Paul makes that clear when he writes to the believers in Corinth, a city famous for its sexual immorality, where some Christians had begun to argue that what they did with their bodies did not matter to their spirits:
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The word Paul uses for temple is naos, which refers not to the whole temple complex but to the inner sanctuary, the holy place where God’s presence dwelt. In Jerusalem, only the priests could enter the holy place, and only the high priest, once a year, could enter the Most Holy Place. Now Paul says that the believer’s body is that sanctuary. The presence of God that once filled a room behind a veil now fills ordinary men and women in Corinth, and in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.
That truth carries two implications. The first is holiness. “Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” If the Spirit of God lives in you, then your body is not a private possession to be used however you please. Sexual immorality, drunkenness, the abuse of drugs and the careless destruction of your health are more than bad habits. They dishonour the Guest who lives within. Grace does not make that less serious. It makes it more personal.
The second implication is dignity. Your body has great worth. It is a dwelling place of God. That includes the bodies of the sick, the elderly, the disabled and the weary. Caring for your body with rest, food, exercise and medical attention is part of honouring the temple. When Chidinma’s pastor told her to take a few Sundays off, he was caring for a temple that had been pushed far beyond its strength.
A word of tenderness is needed here. Some who read this passage have suffered abuse in their bodies, and the enemy whispers that they are defiled and that God could not possibly dwell in them. Hear me clearly: what was done to you against your will is not your sin, and it has not driven the Spirit away. He dwells in you with full honour. If you are still in danger, please seek safety and speak to someone you trust, to the authorities and to qualified help. The God who made your body His temple is on your side.
Built together as His dwelling
The Spirit’s indwelling is personal, but it is never merely private. Paul’s other great temple passage speaks to the whole church:
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone ; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Paul has just described how Christ has broken down the wall that divided Jew and Gentile and has made one new people. Now he piles up images of belonging. You are no longer strangers or foreigners. You are fellowcitizens. You are members of the household. And you are being built into a holy temple, a building “fitly framed together,” growing as each stone is set in place on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the chief corner stone.
The final verse holds the key: “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” The ye is plural. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul uses the same plural: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” God dwells in each believer, and He also dwells in His people together.
This matters for anyone going through a season of spiritual dryness. One of the ways God makes His presence known to a struggling believer is through the rest of the building. When you cannot sense Him in your own heart, He is often very near in the brother who prays for you, the sister who brings food, the friend who sits with you without saying much. Chidinma found this to be true in the weeks that followed. The women of the choir took turns cooking for her. The pastor’s wife called every evening. An old deaconess, a widow herself, came and sat with her on a Saturday afternoon and said almost nothing for two hours. “I did not feel God in my prayers,” Chidinma said later. “But I felt Him in that sitting room.”
NuggetThat is why isolating yourself in a dry season is so dangerous. The temptation is to withdraw until you feel spiritual again. But the Spirit has built you into a house, and the house is one of the places where He dwells.
When God feels far away
Scripture is honest about seasons when believers cannot feel God. The psalmists speak of them often. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance” (Psalm 42:5). Notice that the psalmist talks to his own soul. He does not deny his feelings. He addresses them, and he points them toward God.
Isaiah gives a word for anyone walking in that kind of darkness:
Who is among you that feareth the LORD , that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD , and stay upon his God.
Look at the person Isaiah describes. He “feareth the LORD.” He “obeyeth the voice of his servant.” This is a faithful believer, no backslider or rebel. And yet he “walketh in darkness, and hath no light.” Isaiah does not tell him that his darkness proves God has left him. He tells him what to do in it: “let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.” To stay upon means to lean your whole weight on something. When you cannot see, you lean on what God has said.
Elijah’s story shows something similar. After his great victory on Mount Carmel, he ran for his life, sat under a juniper tree and asked to die. God fed him, let him sleep and then brought him to Horeb:
And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD . And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD ; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so , when Elijah heard it , that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
The wind, the earthquake and the fire were dramatic, and the Lord was not in them. He came in “a still small voice.” Elijah had been looking for God in the spectacular, and God met him in the quiet. Sometimes, when our usual experiences of God fall silent, He is teaching us to recognise Him in gentler ways.
There are many reasons why the sense of God’s nearness may fade. Grief is one. Physical exhaustion is another. Illness, hormonal changes and depression can all dull a person’s emotions, including their spiritual emotions. Sometimes unconfessed sin does cloud our fellowship, and the Spirit will lovingly bring it to our attention. But you should not assume that every dry season is a punishment. If the heaviness persists for weeks, or comes with loss of sleep, appetite or hope, please speak to a doctor or a qualified counsellor as well as your pastor. Seeking that help is one of the ways God cares for His temple, and it says nothing against your faith.
Growing in awareness of His presence
The Spirit’s indwelling is a fact. Our awareness of it can grow. How?
Begin with the Word. Your feelings are unreliable witnesses, but Scripture is not. When you cannot feel His presence, read aloud what God has said about it: that He dwells in you, that He has sealed you, that He abides for ever. Let the truth instruct your emotions.
Practise remembering. Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). An abode is a home. You can learn to turn your attention inward through the day: in traffic, at your desk, in the kitchen, and simply acknowledge the One who lives there. Over time this becomes a habit of the heart.
Worship even when it is hard. Chidinma kept leading worship, though for a few weeks she let her assistant take the lead songs. Worship offered without feeling is still worship, and it often becomes the place where feeling returns.
PunchlineStay connected to the household. Let others carry you when you cannot carry yourself.
And be open to fresh fillings. Paul tells believers, “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), and in Acts we see the same believers filled again and again. In Pentecostal churches like mine, we also speak of a baptism in the Spirit, a distinct experience of empowering that the Lord gives to believers. I hold that conviction gladly, and I encourage you to seek all that God has for you. Other believers understand these experiences differently, and they are my brothers and sisters. But all of us agree on this: the indwelling comes first, at new birth, and it does not depend on any later experience. A believer who has not yet spoken in tongues, or who does not feel anything dramatic, still has the Spirit of Christ. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” If you are His, you have Him.
It was nearly three months before Chidinma felt the old warmth in worship again. It came on an ordinary Wednesday evening at choir rehearsal, while they were practising a new arrangement. She told me she had to stop singing and sit down, and the sopranos thought she was ill.
“But here is what I learned,” she said. “He was there the whole time. I used to think He came when I felt Him. Now I know I feel Him sometimes because He is always there.”
She still leads the choir. She still sings “Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place,” but she sings it differently now. She knows that the welcome is not an invitation to Someone standing outside the door. It is a glad acknowledgement of Someone who already lives in the house. On the Sundays when she feels Him strongly, she rejoices. On the Sundays when she feels very little, she rests on the same truth: the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in her, and He has promised to stay.
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- Have you ever concluded that God had left you because you could not feel His presence? What happened?
- How does Paul’s statement, “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,” bring you assurance?
- What is the difference between the old covenant pattern of the Spirit coming upon people and the new covenant promise that He abides for ever?
- In what practical ways can you honour your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit this week?
- Who in the household of God has been a means of His presence to you in a hard season? Who might need you to be that for them?
This Week
Write out Romans 8:9-11, Ephesians 1:13-14 and John 14:16 on a small card and keep it with you this week. Each morning read them aloud. Three times each day, at set moments such as waking, lunch and bedtime, pause for thirty seconds and say, “Holy Spirit, thank You that You live in me.” If you are walking through a dry season, tell one trusted believer and ask them to pray with you this week.
A Prayer
Father, thank You that You have given me Your Spirit to dwell in me for ever. Thank You that my belonging to You rests on the finished work of Jesus and not on the strength of my feelings. When I cannot sense Your nearness, help me to stay upon You and trust Your Word. Holy Spirit, thank You for making my body Your temple; help me to honour You in it. Thank You for praying within me when I have no words, and for crying “Abba, Father” in my heart. Teach me to grow in awareness of Your presence, and use me to bring that presence to others in the household of God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.