The Indwelling Spirit

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 

Romans 8:9 

The Holy Spirit indwells believers. This changes us definitively and perpetually. It means we are literally not who we were. It is not that we have decided to change and have reinvented ourselves. It is that God has regenerated us and now lives within us. The Holy Spirit, living within us, renews us entirely after the image of Christ. Paul contrasted the practical effect earlier in the chapter when he said, ‘For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.’ If we consider how we used to think and do versus how we think and do now, we notice different motivations and purposes. The reason is the work of Christ through His Spirit. If we do not have the Spirit, we are not Christ’s. If we do have the Spirit then our motivations are different, as is our manner of life. This is a progressive work and it may ebb and flow in intensity. We may experience much change at some periods and smaller, more subtle changes over time. All these changes occur by the work of the indwelling Spirit and all draw us out after Christ.  

Our Holy and Wise God, 
we rejoice that You have sent Your Spirit to dwell within us. 
We praise You that He is doing a large work of grace, 
to conform us to the image of Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning