The Apostle Paul said his purpose and destiny was to preach Christ; warning all men and to teaching all men in all wisdom in order to present every man mature in Christ. His duty was to present Christ as our hope of salvation and of maturing in glory as well.
Paul proclaimed in Scripture, “The mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory Whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man mature in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His (Christ) working, which (He) works in me mightily” (Colossians 1:26-29).
The Christian has the advantage in life in every way. We have the Scriptures, we have the church, we’ve been born again and possess a clear conscience before God. Still, we have more than that; we have Jesus Christ living in and through us. This provides the Believer’s Advantage and therefore ground for a solid witness of God’s favor and grace in our home, community, and in the marketplace.
The Believer’s Advantage is based on “Christ in You the Hope of Glory”. As Christ lives His life through the believer, He will take each believer through the process needed to handle various pressures of life. Additionally, Christ releases His Spirit through the believer to present to the world a supernatural image of the living God. In this way we overcome temptations, weaknesses, fears, emotional damage, and ancestral leanings while possessing the power to act as ambassadors of the kingdom in behalf.
In other words, living in Christ provides both; a life lived above the negative defeats and failures while offering positive opportunities for success and happiness. But, you ask, “Why is it important for God to dwell within believers? We will look into this now!
What we need is a relationship that abides in Christ so that He reflects our God through His Spirit working in us. The believer has this relationship with Christ , “and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10)….
So, you ask, is it really possible that God would live in a human body today? We only need to hear the words of Scripture to believe this. The Apostle John recorded these words of Jesus, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing” (John 15:4,5). — from The Indwelling Christ by Dennis Caroll (Kindle ebook).
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