The Holy Spirit: In You or On You
Bob Yandian
The Life Is In You
The first act of the Holy Spirit in the Life of believers is to give them eternal life when they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This transformation takes place in our spirit, not in our physical body or our soul (mind, will, and emotions). When we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside our human spirit. At that moment, we are given all of the Person of the Holy Spirit, not half of Him then and the other half at another time.
In John 14:17, Jesus tells His disciples what the ministry of the Holy Spirit would be to the Church after His resurrection. “ The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
The Holy Spirit who lives in us is the same Holy Spirit who lived in Jesus when He walked this earth. Because the Holy Spirit who lived in Jesus raised Him from the dead, our New Birth - the Holy Spirit living inside us - also becomes our guarantee of resurrection. The qualification for resurrection is simply the New Birth.
“ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)
A believer in the Lord Jesus becomes the New Testament temple for the presence of God. The glory of God, which is the presence of the Holy Spirit, moved out of the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death, and after Jesus’ resurrection, came to dwell in the hearts of believers. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”
The Power is Upon You
The purpose of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is to endue us with God’s power. God is not only concerned about our inward man, the human spirit, but also our outward man, our daily life. Our natural man faces the world each day and needs the power of God to overcome it. Since Satan is the god of this world and demonic forces control much of our society, we need His power for our own life, as well as to bless those around us.
When we are clothed with God’s supernatural power, we have confidence in facing any circumstance or demonic attack that comes against us. The infilling of the Holy Spirit sets us free from many of the restraints and insecurities which have held us back, even as believers.
When Lazarus was raised from the dead, he still had to be loosed from the grave clothes which hindered him. Jesus said, “Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44). The Holy Spirit IN us gives us life, but the Holy Spirit ON us gives us power to live the Christian life. It clothes the natural life of the believer with daily miracle power from God. This miracle power is for our life as a witness before the world. It opens us up to the supernatural gifts and demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit, which are so necessary to win the lost. Satan has empowered his followers in the earth, and God wants to empower us to courageously meet and defeat them.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
On the Day of Pentecost, the 120 were praying in one place in total harmony. It was then that the infilling of the Holy Spirit became a reality, and God’s supernatural ability became available to everyone in the Church. Acts 2:3-4 says, “Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” This promise of power was not only for those in the Upper Room but for all who would believe on the Lord from that time on, Jew or Gentile (Acts 2:39).
What a Difference!
What a difference this power made in the lives of the disciples! Before the Day of Pentecost, Peter was afraid to admit he even knew Jesus to a young girl who was warming her hands at a fire. Yet, after being clothed with power by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, Peter boldly stood up and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to 3000 religious Jews.
Peter’s sudden courage and dedication in presenting the Gospel did not stop there, either. A few days later, he grabbed the hand of a paralyzed man at the Gate Beautiful, and the power of God raised the man up and healed him. The disciple who once cowered before a little girl’s questions about his relationship with Jesus began to walk in such power from the Holy Spirit that his shadow caused people to be healed as he walked the streets of Jerusalem (Acts 5:15).
Is Satan any less powerful today than he was in Peter’s time? Obviously, he is not. If for no other reason than that, the same power believers needed in the Early Church is needed for believers today. Thank God, the Bible tells us that God is no respecter of persons (Acts10:34). The same power Peter walked in is available to all believers today.
Even Jesus, who had the Holy Spirit within, would not begin to minister until the Holy Spirit came on Him when He was baptized by John at the Jordan River. We need our Jordan River experience today! There is a world of hurting people who are in desperate need of ministry. They do not need a list of impossible rules and empty philosophies from powerless Christians, but powerful demonstrations of the only true and living God. They want to see God in action in their lives and in believers’ lives.
For this reason, the same God Who anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power (Acts 10:38), wants to do the same for believers today!
