In other words, each Christian as the temple of God has the capacity to live in a way that glorifies Him.
Carrying the presence of God is important because it opens Heaven. It doesn't mean that everything in our lives will be perfect, it means that we live knowing that God will pull through for us (and that makes life so much easier!). By carrying this sort of atmosphere, it sets us up to live a victorious life – to live from strength to strength.
It gives us the power to see the invisible and do the impossible, through God.
When we are aware of the presence of God inside us, our relationship with Him becomes more intimate. There is such a strong sense of unity between God's will and your spirit, and we know we need to live in tune with what God wants for our lives.
Greek philosopher Plato (427 – 347BC), the man we can thank for much of Western philosophy and science, in his writings separated people into different parts - for example, mind, body, soul, spirit, emotions. Until then, and more importantly, when Paul was writing his first letter to the Corinthian church, people thought of a person as a completely integrated being. There were no different parts to make up a whole; we were a whole being already.
Therefore, when Paul talks about us being God's temple, he does not mean that only our soul or spirit is God's temple, but that our whole being is the temple of God.
God is with us
When we walk into a room, God enters the room. It just depends on us as to how much of Him we let in. This doesn't mean that we have to be happy or joyous every minute of every day. What it means is that when we are happy, we praise God, and when we're upset or angry, we still give God our praise. It means that every morning we shake off everything that happened the day before and we say that God is good, and He leads us in our walk.
Every morning asking God for a new fresh breath of life is this model. In Genesis 2 verse 7, it says "The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."
I believe that this was both literal and metaphorical. I believe the text states that God literally breathed life into Adam's nostrils. Likewise, when we ask God to, He can breathe fresh, new life into our beings (heart, mind, soul, spirit included!). He can make us a new living being every day.
When Jesus was walking around with the disciples, healing, teaching, performing miracles, the Spirit of the Lord was with him. When Jesus healed the paralytic, Luke wrote "And the power of the Lord was with him to heal" (Luke 5 verse 17). Luke is indicating that Jesus' power to heal came from the Holy Spirit, just as our power to heal comes from the Spirit.
After all, when Jesus was alive, he was titled the Son of Man. He wasn't the Son of God until he died. If Jesus himself had to rely on the Holy Spirit to create an atmosphere of God and to perform miracles, then how much more should we? We need God, and God wants to take us to where we can't go by ourselves.
The Spirit's Power
We create a certain atmosphere through God. He is within us, always, His power is there when we are in need. We don't only need Him for ourselves, we also need Him for the people around us. God is always there for us, to enable us to be there for others. So when someone comes to us needing prayer, comfort, or guidance, we can go to God, and ask Him to release what is needed. Christianity 101.
The idea being presented is that we each create atmospheres out of the Holy Spirit inside of us. All we need to do is to say "God, come." Or "Jesus, come." God's power is in the spoken word. Declare His sovereignty over the atmosphere and wait in expectancy. His Holy Spirit will fill you, and the Kingdom of God will shine through you, to fill up the atmosphere around you.
One of the coolest things about God, is that He has no favourites (thank you, Lord!) Anyone and everyone can receive the power of the Kingdom of God. Because God knows that people are important - that no one has limits. (We acknowledge some attempt to use this unwisely and inappropriately which makes us cringe).
However, as a Christian, the model presented is that you are important. You do not have a limit. You are capable of incredible things. Incredibly when taken to its fullest, you are capable of healing the sick and raising the dead. You are capable of casting out demons. Say it until you believe it. Hope until you have this faith. As the body of Christ, let's be a church full of people that know exactly what God wants for us, and from us.
My aim is that I want to live in such a way that I carry an atmosphere of God's peace with me. In order to do that, I need to live a life in and out of God's peace. For me, being a man of God means being a man of peace. What does being a man or woman of God look like for you?
What kind of atmosphere do you want to live in? What kind of atmosphere do you want to create?
Lehi is a youth worker at Zeal Youth Centre in Wellington, NZ, and is currently studying for a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He loves painting, writing bad poetry, and doing life in the company of people with big hearts.
Lehi Duncan's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/lehi-duncan.html