Adrian Rogers - The Power of His Presence

The

Power

of His

Presence

Adrian Rogers

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THE POWER OF HIS PRESENCE

Copyright 2015 Love Worth Finding Ministries, Inc.

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015937137

ISBN 13: 978-1-61314-264-6

Interior Layout & Cover Design by Innovo Publishing LLC

and Eternity Communications

Printed in the United States of America

U.S. Printing History

Second Edition: May 2015

To Joyce

godly wife and mother,

cherished sweetheart,

wise counselor,

and

best friend

Preface

R eal salvation is not getting man out of earth into heaven, but getting God out of heaven into man. That seems like a simple truth. So why did it take me so long to know it?

It is not that God has willingly hidden these things. Yet, as a young Christian I was evidently blinded to a discoverable secret that literally saturates the Word of God.

I came to Christ for salvation as a teenager. I meant every word of it when I gave my heart to Christ. My young heart was filled with zeal and a love for the things of God. At that time, I gave all I knew of me to all I knew of Him.

Yet there was little victory in my daily walk. My small blips of overcoming and victorious living were rare moments in my continuing struggle. Raging hormones, a combative personality, and an untamed tongue were tools I placed in Satans hand to build a prison house of failure for me. It seemed that I lived there most of my days.

By the grace of God, I managed to hold on, to keep myself sexually pure and away from the more vile and open sins, but my life could not be described as victory.

Every so often I would venture from my prison house of failure. I would rededicate my life and make promises. Now I had a fresh start. I would do better. But resolve, resolution, and repentance were not enough.

I was sincere when I said I wanted to do better. I promised I would try harder. I had learned determination on the football field, and I thought perhaps I could gut it out in my Christian life. But before many days or even hours had passed, I had failed again. Back to the dungeon!

If I had only learned then what I know now. There is only One Who has ever lived the Christian life. His name is Jesus. If the Christian life is being lived through you, it indeed is not you but Christ who lives in you:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

Indeed, of all of the truths that I have finally learned, I do not know of one that is more encouraging and life changing than the marvelous and vital truth that God is alive and well in me through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Yet it is possible to be a Christian like I was and not be aware of this. Paul had to remind the believers at Corinth, What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19). He reminded them again in 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

It may take us this lifetime and into eternity to finally understand and grasp all that this means, but I know this: God meant it to be a bright, living reality in our daily lives! God wants to change the mundane into the momentous and drudgery into delight. He wants to turn struggle into victory.

So in these pages I want to explore with you some implications, applications, and, yes, some common misunder-standings of what it means to have God inhabit your humanity and make you a dwelling place with a Royal Resident.

I have not arrived, but these truths are helping me move on to maturity and victory. And I am eager to share with you what the Holy Spirit is teaching me.

In our journey together we will touch on theology and some very important doctrines, but I want to give you a word of caution. I have learned that one can know theology and still not experience the power of God. And I also know beyond a doubt that one can experience Christ without a full understanding of Christian theology. Thankfully, we dont have to choose between the two. Sound doctrine and holy living make up the norm for a victorious Christian.

One of Gods great ways of communicating spiritual truth so it is easily understood is by use of illustrations. The Bible abounds with these. Jesus used illustrations over and over as He taught. The vine and the branches, a farmers field, and a pearl are but a few examples.

One of the clearest illustrations and object lessons of spiritual truth is the Old Testament temple. This magnificent building, constructed according to a precise pattern, was given by the Master Teacher to help us grasp spiritual truth. Therefore, as we consider our experience of Christ, we will begin with the truths taught by the Old Testament temple.

Not to worry. We are not going to embark on a complicated study of the intricate details of the temple. Nor will we go down long and come up dry theologically. As you will see, our study is really about you and the victory that God has provided for you.

In the Old Testament, God had a temple for His people. In the New Testament, He had a people for His temple. Our very bodies are holy temples. And the Lord Himself is the Royal Resident who lives within us. What a staggering thought!

This truth of the fullness of the indwelling God is so very vital and valuable to each one of us. There is no greater truth than to discover that the great God of glory has condescended to indwell mortals such as we. No wonder Paul wrote, Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

I pray that these words will become a bright, living reality in you and that you will discover the key that unlocks the treasure house of a thousand other spiritual riches. Drabness and discouragement can be a thing of the past. You are a residence of the living God! Living supernaturally is the most natural thing a Christian can do.

CHAPTER ONE

Where on Earth Does
God Live?

I n order to understand and apply all of the benefits of Christs indwelling presence, I want to begin where God began revealing the truth that He would dwell among His people. That beginning point is Gods instructions to Moses. The Lord came to Moses and told him to have the children of Israel bring Him an offering for the building of the tabernacle, that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8).

Dont miss the importance of what God said. The great God of creation, the God who inhabits eternity, wanted a place to dwell among His people! No, the tabernacle could not contain the infinite God, any more than the temple could. But this sanctuary, which was later made permanent in the temple, was the one place on earth where God would meet with His people for instruction, worship, blessing, and atonement for sin.