The Abiding Spirit

Written by John Carson

If you have the Holy Spirit abiding in you, He desires to work through you in bringing glory to God. 

John 14:17 says that those who do not have the Spirit in them cannot know Him. Romans 8:9 reads, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." In other words: 

A person that does not have the Holy Spirit does not belong to God. 

Furthermore, without the Holy Spirit there is still a need for sanctification. And since the Holy Spirit is the One who purifies us, or makes us clean (1 Peter 1:22), then without Him, our so-called righteousness is viewed by God as filthy rags. 

Mormons will say that you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by baptism and the laying on of hands by one who holds the authority. But in Mormonism this so-called "gift" is not, nor can it be the actual Person of the Holy Ghost. Mormons do not believe that the Person of the Holy Spirit can actually dwell in the believer. Read for example, to what Mormon Doctrine says on pages 359 and 753 about the Holy Ghost: 

"He can be in only one place at one time... The Holy Ghost may visit men... but may not tarry with them."

Whatever description is applied to this supposed "gift" that is received, it is clear that it is not actually the Person of the Holy Ghost.  

The Bible is very clear that the Holy Spirit does not have this limitation which Mormon Doctrine described. He is omnipresent. Please take the time to prayerfully read Psalm 139:7-10. The same Holy Spirit who lives in me and abides in me at this very moment in time, is at the same time living and abiding in someone else on the other side of the world, and in all other true Christian believers around the globe. 1 Corinthians 6:19 is very revealing about this fact. It reads: 

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” 

In this passage, Paul is describing the Christian believer's body as a temple that God gave. Who does the temple of the Christian believer belong to? It tells you right in the passage: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit..." It belongs to the Holy Spirit! Why would God make the Christian believer's body a temple? The answer is obvious: So that the One to whom it belongs (the Holy Spirit), may dwell in it... "the Holy Spirit who is in you." Our temples are not built for anything less than for God Himself to dwell in. Now since Paul did not write this epistle to only one person, but to all believers who would read this letter, the Holy Spirit cannot be limited to be with one person at a time. No. He dwells in all true Christian believers all the time. 

Remember what I said earlier, "Without the Spirit, there is still a need for sanctification. Since the Holy Spirit is the One who makes us clean, then without Him we are still filthy." We are still stained by our sins. 

There is another spirit that is being received other than that which was first given (). Do you have the right one?

See also Eternal Spirit