RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

“Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11)
When Jesus commissioned His disciples to make disciples of all nations, He told them to baptize those new believers in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those three names give us the clearest definition of who God is — His nature, His attributes, and His character. We see the fatherhood of God most often in the Old Testament. In His fatherhood we understand that God is for us. In the Gospels, we meet Jesus, who is God with us. But beginning in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, we come to know God as the Holy Spirit. In getting to know God the Holy Spirit, we discover that God is in us. Thus it’s important for every true follower of Christ to come to know God intimately as God for us, with us, and in us.
Often I hear people speak of the Holy Spirit as though He is some sort of power. The Holy Spirit is certainly powerful, but He’s much more than a power source. The Holy Spirit is often referred to as “it.” But the Holy Spirit isn’t a non-living entity. The Holy Spirit is God.
Several years ago, I was challenged by a man who contended I believed in three gods because I believed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I responded to his challenge by asking him a series of questions. I said, “Is there a spiritual part of your life?”
“Yes,” he quickly answered.
“Is that part of you completely different from the physical part of you?”
“Of course.”
I continued to probe. “Is there an intellectual and emotional side of you that’s different from the physical and spiritual part of your life?”
Again he answered positively.
“There must be three of you,” I said. “I’d like the physical part of you to leave while I speak to the spiritual and emotional side of you.”
“You can’t do that!” he said. “All three of these parts of me make up who I am, and you can’t just separate them like that.” All of a sudden, a light went on inside him. He realized what I was telling him about the nature of God.
There are three distinct aspects of God, but only one God. Each one of those aspects of His person shows us a different part of His character. There aren’t three gods. There’s only one, true, and living God. But He has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that part of God which is present within us. That’s why David cried out to God, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” David had sinned against a holy God, and he feared losing the sense of His presence.
We can know that the God who lives in us is our source of victory. The Bible says, “The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Satan and all the forces of hell can’t stand against us — when we rely on the One who dwells within us. Think of the immensity of that statement. The God who created the universe is the One who dwells within you. Oh, the wonder of it all — that the holy God would choose to make His dwelling place within you and within me. Get to know Him as the Holy Spirit.