The temple of the Holy Spirit – Part 1

Text: 1 Corinthians 6:15 – 19
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (NKJV)

Our bodies are greater temple than our church buildings. One of the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic is the reality that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and not the magnificent church buildings all over the place. This was Paul’s emphasis in his epistle to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, when he reminded them that their bodies are God’s holy place, where God dwells. Someone sang a beautiful song, “Know ye not, know ye not, ye are a temple. Full of praise, full of power, full of glory. I am a temple of the Holy Ghost.”

Paul taught members of the Corinthian church the need to remember what was dwelling in them and how they would be held accountable for the care of their spiritual temple. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles God’s temple, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). The temple was a very special place in the Old Testament. God gave precise details about how it was to be constructed and furnished. It was the primary place where God revealed Himself and talked to the priests.

With all the praise and glory of the earthly church cathedrals, church buildings will not be raptured, even though we tell people we have a wonderful church in the building. There is nothing you will tell people about church building that will be as important as what you will tell them about yourself that you are a child of God, the Holy Spirit indwells you and that you are not an ordinary man walking in the street. That is why Apostle John said greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world and in my own grammar, I used to say, “Greater is He that is in you than the totality of all the satanic forces in the world” (1 John 4:4).

One of the greatest things that can happen to you is that you give your life to Christ. I cry and weep when I observe in the lives of some people that they are not living right, not because I want to be judgmental, but you can’t help it, you have to see. Jesus made it easier for us. He said that the difference between the false prophets and the true ones is their fruits (Mathew 7:16). It is by their fruits you will know them and never by their preaching, long prayers, fasting, singing and all the noise they make. Jesus made it easy, watch and see the fruits that come out of their lives.

When you give your life to Christ and reject Satan as your master, then you become the temple of the Holy Ghost. Can you imagine human beings become the recipients of the Holy Spirit? Can you imagine the Holy Spirit, a member of the Godhead, who is now in charge of the whole world dwelling inside you? If you are a temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore “’Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you’” (2 Corinthians 6:17).

Today’s Nugget: Our bodies are God’s holy place.
Prayer: Lord, I purge my body of anything and everything that is unclean and unholy
Prayer lines: 08054477940.
E-mail: servantofgod111@yahoo.com
Rev. Pastor Ejikeme Ejim, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God Nigeria.