Christ Lives In Me!

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Christ "lives within" Christians, not like a baby lives within its mother, or like parasites and viruses live within the physical body, but in a far grander way. The Lord, through the Holy Spirit, lives and dwells in the renewed spirit of every believer in Jesus.

You have to have Christ "living within" to truly know the joy and satisfastion of it, to know what it means experimentally. No Christian can tell in words alone what it means to have God dwelling within them. But, every Christian desires to see others come to know the same joy. The name Emmanuel means "God is with us," and is a name of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he dwells within, you experience the meaning of his name.

The taking of Christ into the inner being of a man is symbolized in the Christian observance of the "Lord's Supper." Christ announced himself as being both the "bread of life" and "water of life," his body and blood, as spiritual food, being incorporated mystically into the heart of the believer. Just as we are "what we eat" in a physical way, so too in our spiritual lives.

When Christ lives within he takes control as a wise captain takes control of a ship in a storm. He takes the "reins" of the soul and directs the way before. He also inwardly speaks to and communes with the believing soul that has Christ within them.

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)

Truly he is talking about the door of the heart. When Christ enters, he takes up residence. He is not a mere guest in the heart, but he lives there. The ego no longer reigns in the house of the heart, but the Savior lives and reigns there. The heart then becomes a pleasant home, fortified and safe.

When Christ lives within a soul he "takes possession" of it. People are possessed of some "spirit" whether they realized it or not. Wrote Paul:

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience..." (Ephesians 2: 1,2)

Here is an evil spirit that possesses every lost sinner's heart and soul. It is the spirit of the world, the spirit of evil, the spirit of the Devil himself, the spirit of demons, which has entered and taken control of the person.

When a sinner comes to Christ, Christ comes to him, enters his inner being, casts out the evil spirits, "cleans house," and takes possession. Oh what a transformation is this!

Friend, what "spirit" possesses your heart, mind and soul?