“Well, goodness gracious and my granny’s new shoes! Ain’t that juss sumthin’!?!”

That was the familiar famous phrase of my grandmother when she happened upon something unexpectedly amazing and wonder-filled.  That’s how I feel every time I read chapter eight of Paul’s letter to the Romans.  There is just so much good stuff crammed into those 39 verses.  Every verse is filled with identification and conviction and affirmation. 

As we continue our study of the Holy Spirit Himself, Paul adds another piece to the puzzle making plain the whole story, another foundation laid in our understanding of the Third Person of the Trinity to be revealed…not third in importance!

God the Father was revealed in the Old Testament through creation, nations, bondage, deliverance, prophecy and covenant promise.  God the Son was revealed in the New Testament gospels through His life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and promised coming King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  God the Holy Spirit was given to believers on the day of Pentecost as recorded in the second chapter of the Book of Acts.  God sent Jesus.  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit sends…US…and goes WITH us!

In the first part of Romans 8, Paul is asking readers to determine their focus.  What is your mind set?  Are you walking according to the flesh or are you walking in the power of the Holy Spirit?  Jesus had said that among His followers, there can be no fence sitters.  You are either with Him or against Him.  No middle ground.  No gray area.  The same applies to the Holy Spirit.  You either have Him dwelling inside you or you do not have Him at all. There is no wiggle room.  The Holy Spirit is the inside evidence of your relationship with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Life lived “in the flesh” is death, hostility toward God and cannot please God. Life lived “in The Holy Spirit” is life and peace, belonging to God through Christ.  In verse 9, the Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.  This is one beautiful passage you can use to prove that God is One in Three in One.  The divine God of the universe made us and desires to live in us and remain with us internally in life so that we can remain with Him eternally after life. 

Paul says it plainly and simply:  those who have the Spirit dwelling in them belong to God through Christ.  Those who do not have the Spirit dwelling in them do NOT belong to God.  Even though we walk around in sick, sin-filled bodies and minds, the Spirit in us makes us alive in Christ.  We have the power to live in obedience to God because of the Spirit within us.  We are not righteous, but when we are in Christ, God sees us as righteous.  His Holy Spirit gives us the power to tell the tempter to flee.  Verse 11 declares that the exact same power that raised Christ from the dead also belongs to us.  We have the promise of resurrection living IN us by the Holy Spirit.  Wow. 

We have IN us by the Holy Spirit the very power we need to put to death the power of the flesh that wants to reign as king over our lives.  With the Holy Spirit IN us, we can crush satan like a bug.  We also have a new heritage and a promised inheritance.  We are now declared to be joint heirs with Jesus.  We are adopted into the family of God with full rights and privileges of eternal life.  We can call God our “daddy” even though I do not usually do that.  I prefer the word Father when I think of God.  When I see Him face to face, there’s going to be no doubt as to Who He is. 

The Trinity is a three-fold witness that every word in Scripture is true.  The Spirit in us testifies that we are covered by the blood of Jesus.  We are part of God’s forever family.  HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!