The disciples were in the room with Jesus, and one immediately read discouragement and confusion on their faces. The reason for this was not farfetched. Jesus told them that one of them was going to betray him. We can only imagine how shocked that news made them feel, and how they exchanged surprising looks wondering why.
Jesus didn’t waste time, he mentioned names. He told them that Peter, the same Peter, the one who loved him so much, would deny him not just once, but three times, and that made the atmosphere even more tense. How is that even possible? Because for the fellow disciples, Peter, along with James and john, came across as the confidence of Jesus, his smaller circle. When Jesus went to pray, he took these three instead of all of them, and they were the three that experienced the amazing event of the transfiguration.
After telling the disciples this news, he finally broke the news of his departure to them. His time was drawing nigh. For the disciples, this period of time wasn’t a good time, bad news.
However, the wonderful thing about Jesus is, that he is a God that restores, and a God of comfort. After giving them this news, he told them, he wouldn’t leave them comfortless, he was going to send the Holy Spirit.
John 14, verses 16 to 18: “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever”. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither notice him. But ye know him, for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. We spoke a little while ago about the things that happen to you, when the Holy Spirit comes into your life. However, for a Christian, it does not end there. Once the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in you, he just doesn’t stay unnoticed, he changes you from within.
A change must take place. What it simply means is that the Spirit of the living God is now in you. Galatians two verse 20 tells us more about the transformed life, and our transition into Christ’s life at confession. Galatians two verse 20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I love the clear cut narrative the new living translation gives to the passage. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body, by trusting in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”.
If you have given your life to Christ, and there is no transformational change in your life, whether subtle or evident, it is high time you questioned who is living in you. Today, we are going to consider some of the habits that demonstrate the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the fact that you have Christ in you. Let us look at Psalm 15 and see what God says about a righteous and upright man: “He who walks up brightly and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart”. The truth about God, is that he is a holy God, whose eyes cannot behold iniquity. He desires us to work upright with him. If we want to work with him, we have to align ourselves with him by being holy. He demands holiness from us.
First habit-walking uprightly
A person with the Holy Spirit begins the process of walking uprightly with God. Now I am not saying the moment you are in dwelt with the Holy Spirit, you have arrived, and everything becomes perfect. It’s not a journey that one sets out on to attain perfection immediately. It’s a continuous journey towards perfection and holiness.
In Philippians, two verse 12, the Word of God admonished believers to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. It is a process that you begin to walk towards perfection. There is a clear progression.
What does it mean to be upright? Being upright is thinking right, walking right, talking right, doing the right things, and walking blamelessly before God with a pure heart. That is one of the habits of a person with the Holy Spirit. Is soul constantly yearns to do the Father’s Will, and do that which pleases Him.
There are no perfections in these areas, but progress and effort are needed to pull through.
Second habit-telling the truth
Have you ever told a lie before, that you are haunted by the truth and became restless? You became restless, you’ve had to tell the truth before you had peace.
If you have ever had that tingling sensation of mild discomfort, it’s the Holy Spirit nudging you forward. The blessing of Holy Spirit is also called the spirit of truth, according to john 16, verse 13.The person who has the Holy Spirit will exhibit truth, which is one major characteristic of the Holy Spirit. If you see someone who has become a perpetual liar, and claims he has the Holy Spirit, then the person is deceiving himself.
The Holy Spirit and lies are akin to light and darkness. Nobody begs darkness to leave at the sight of light. Immediately, there’s light, it evaporates. The Spirit of God teaches us the truth of the Scriptures, and makes us hold on to that which is the revelation knowledge, the will of the Father.
Even if you were in a position where telling a lie is the best thing to do, for you to get out of an awkward situation, you still won’t do it, not necessarily because of you, but because of the Spirit of truth that abides in you.
Those in whom the Spirit dwells will live a life of integrity, honesty, and uprightness, they will seek to tell the truth in whatever situation they are in.
Third habit-living by faith
The fruit of the Spirit, is the evidence that someone has the Holy Spirit. But today, we are going to focus on faith. A habit of someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is that they live their life by faith.
A person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit stands by faith, when the winds begin to blow, and the storms of life begin to rage. They stand by faith and not by sight. But not only do they stand by faith, the Bible tells us they walk by faith.
You cannot get away from this reality. A person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit is activated to live a life of faith. The word spirit here in this verse is written with a lowercase s. In other words, what Paul is saying here, is we having the same viewpoint of faith, the same outlook of faith, Paul is saying that irrespective of all the things I have been through, God deposited within me a spirit of faith and outlook and an attitude of faith. Held through everything it had, including the kitchen sink at me, but because of the spirit of faith, I didn’t give up, and I kept going on.
I personally believe that although in this verse, it is a lowercase s, denoting and indicating the human spirit, we could translate this with a capital S, which would make it the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is acting and working on our spirits, to give us an attitude of faith and a spirit of faith so that we can live a victorious life and not a defeated one. Faith is the foundation of all believers. Faith is the conduit by which we are saved. Faith is the avenue by which we actually receive the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us that, it is by faith that you please God according to Hebrews 11, verse six. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him.
A habit of someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is that they live their life by faith. So can we grow our faith, so that we can live a life of faith? Yes, we can. How? Romans 10, verse 17: “So then Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”. The word of God is made alive by the Holy Spirit, and when you begin to read the word of God, your faith begins to grow, and the confidence that the Holy Spirit gives you is not that that can only be used in church, but you will have faith that you can apply in the real world. The Holy Spirit gives us the attitude of faith.
