But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to – if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you. Romans 8:9a, GNT

 

I cannot vouch for the truth of this story, but during my time as a student it was told that a professor at the Theological Seminary would not disclose to the students what he did during his devotional time with God every night, – he saw it as a personal matter. One night, they heard the professor saying “goodnight Jesus” and then he went to sleep.

 

The next day they confessed about their eavesdropping and pleaded with him to explain what they have heard. His explanation was that Jesus was to him such a presence right through the day that he did not have a special quiet time. In the morning he said good morning to Jesus and in the evening, he said goodnight.

 

This is exactly what Paul wanted to convey when he wrote to the Romans about the presence of the Holy Spirit. God is with us by way of his Holy Spirit every minute of every day. There is no single moment that he is not with us, “in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you”.

 

When the Holy Spirit lives in us, we do not live as our human nature tells us to. It is important to really understand what Paul said. It is not that we do not sin anymore, but that we are no longer governed or ruled by our sinful nature.

 

Most of us will probably acknowledge that we are not nearly at the spiritual level that we should be at, but we can be absolutely sure that the Holy Spirit lives in us as well, therefore, we are not governed by our human nature anymore. Jesus would love to hear you saying good morning and goodnight to him every day.

 

Prayer: Dear Lord, please help me to experience your presence every moment of every day. Help me to really understand what it means that your Spirit lives in me. Amen