The Light Within

This is a New Testament study, so we begin with the Greek. The word for Spirit is pneuma, and the lexicons give it breath and wind. And there is a word worth holding beside it, psuchikos, given as natural or belonging to the soul, and the King James renders it the natural man. That I call him the man running on his own soul power is my way of putting it, and I am not checking either one against the language. And the picture I have built on those two words is mine and not more Greek. This whole study lives in the space between them, the man trying to light himself, and the Light of God breathed into him. One gropes in the dark for wisdom, the other carries the Lamp within.

Introduction

Many believers spend their lives asking God for direction while forgetting that God has placed His Spirit within them. The New Testament teaches that the believer is not left to walk through life alone. God has given us His Spirit, the mind of Christ, His Word, and His abiding presence. The question is no longer, “Has God provided?” The question is, “Am I yielding to what He has already placed within me?”

This study follows the progression of Scripture to show that God has given every believer the resources to live a life of wisdom, discernment, and obedience. When we understand who we are in Christ, we stop living beneath our calling.

The Spirit Knows the Mind of God

Paul begins with a simple truth.

No one knows your deepest thoughts better than your own spirit. In the same way, no one knows the thoughts, purposes, and wisdom of God except the Spirit of God.

Human intelligence cannot discover the mind of God, education, experience, and natural reasoning all have their place, but they cannot reveal God’s heart. Divine truth must be revealed by the Holy Spirit. And Paul does not leave that hanging. Read the next verse.

Now we have received. That is the bridge, and Paul lays it himself. And note what he says it is for, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth. So the receiving and the speaking both come from the same place.

There is the natural man, in Paul’s own sentence, and there is why he cannot receive them. And he gives the other man in the very next verse.

He that is spiritual. Paul sets the two side by side himself, and only then does he reach his conclusion.

We Have the Mind of Christ

Paul now reaches his conclusion.

Since only the Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God, and that same Spirit has been given to believers, Paul declares, “We have the mind of Christ.”

This is not a claim that we become God or know everything God knows. And here is how I understand the phrase, and Paul does not stop and break it into parts for me. I take it as access to His way of seeing, through the Spirit who was given.

The Christian life is meant to be lived from Christ’s thinking rather than merely human reasoning.

The Mind of Christ Must Become Functional

Now Paul does not send me to John 15 and John does not mention the mind of Christ. That I read the two together, as the having and the walking in it, is my joining.

The mind of Christ operates as we abide in Him and allow His Word to abide in us. Abiding is remaining in continual fellowship with Christ until His Word shapes our thoughts, desires, decisions, and prayers.

The more His Word fills us, the more our prayers agree with His will. And that I read Paul’s mind of Christ and John’s abiding as the same thing working is my joining, and neither one names the other.

The Lamp Within

A lamp exists to give light, it reveals, it exposes, it guides, it prevents stumbling.

Now Solomon is speaking of the spirit of man, and he is not speaking of the Holy Ghost in this verse. But I cannot read it without thinking of the One who now dwells in that same place, and the thinking is mine.

We are not searching for Light somewhere outside ourselves. And for the guiding from within, Proverbs is not my proof. Paul is.

Led by the Spirit of God. That is the verse I lean on for it.

Why Jesus Went to the Father

These verses are connected, and what I understand by praying in His name is approaching the Father in agreement with Him. John does not stop and define the phrase, so take that as my understanding. And read what Jesus says next, right after the asking. If ye love me, keep my commandments. He does not tell me why He puts them together, and that I hear alignment in it is mine.

Our obedience does not earn God’s love, our obedience keeps us walking in fellowship with the One who lives within us. The flow of His wisdom is experienced by the believer who loves Christ enough to obey Him.

Because I Go to the Father

It is expedient for you that I go away. He says it Himself, and He says why.

Jesus repeatedly told His disciples that He was going to the Father. His departure was not a loss, it was a divine transfer.

While Jesus walked beside His disciples during His earthly ministry, after His ascension He would send the Holy Spirit to live within every believer. And Jesus says the moving Himself, in the same discourse.

Dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. With, and then in. With, and then in. That is His own wording, and the moving from the one to the other is in His sentence.

The Teacher now teaches from within, the Guide now guides from within, the Comforter now comforts from within, and the Light now shines from within.

Seated With Christ

Made us sit together, in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.

This is our position before God. And what I take from that position is that my circumstances are not where my identity comes from, and that it ought to change what I am looking at.

If we are seated with Christ, we should begin to think from where we are seated rather than from what surrounds us. And Paul does not make the having of it wait on anything. He says we have the mind of Christ.

The Children of Light

Wiser in their generation. Now Jesus does not stop and tell me why, and He does not say the children of light are neglecting anything. What I hear in it is a comparison that ought to sting, and that hearing is mine.

And here is what I take from the comparison, and it is mine and not His charge. The world acts with determination using temporary resources. I want to be as deliberate with eternal ones.

Before You Call

Before they call, I will answer. He is ahead of the asking, and Isaiah says so.

As we abide in Christ and our hearts become aligned with His will, our prayers begin to express what God has already purposed. And that is my way of saying it. Isaiah tells me He answers before they call. He does not stop and tell me what that makes of my praying.

Walking in the Light That Dwells Within

Light is never given merely to be admired, it is given to be followed.

The believer who follows Christ walks according to the Light already placed within.

Possession Is Not the Same as Yielding

Read what Paul says about who has the Spirit.

If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So the having is not the question Paul leaves open. And Paul has already said we have the mind of Christ, and the Word is in our hands.

Yet not every believer walks in wisdom, why? Because possessing spiritual resources is not the same as yielding to them.

The Holy Spirit teaches, leads, convicts, reminds, and illuminates. That He does not force the obedience is what I have found.

Position Changes Perspective

Those seated with Christ begin to see life differently. Faith replaces fear, purpose replaces panic, and hope replaces despair.

The believer no longer thinks like an orphan trying to find acceptance. The believer thinks like a son or daughter who already belongs to the Father. Identity shapes perspective, perspective shapes decisions, and decisions shape life.

The Great Tragedy

And here is what I am afraid of. Not the world walking in darkness, for the world has not received the Light.

The greater tragedy is when believers who possess the Light continue living as though they are blind.

The lamp still burns, the Spirit still speaks, and the mind of Christ is still available.

The Great Question

And there is one more, in the same chapter as the Comforter.

We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Jesus says it Himself.

So the Spirit knows the deep things of God, I have the mind of Christ, Christ calls me to abide, the Father and the Son make their abode with the one who keeps His words, my spirit is God’s lamp, I have been seated with Christ, and God answers before I call.

Therefore I must ask myself: if the Light dwells in me, what is my excuse?

Is my excuse ignorance? The Spirit teaches, is my excuse confusion? The Light shines, is my excuse weakness? Christ strengthens, and is my excuse that I do not know God’s will? Now Paul does not promise me that I will always know it, and I am not going to tell you he does. What he says is that the Spirit was given that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

The issue is no longer what God has provided. The issue is whether I will yield to what He has already placed within me.

Conclusion

The Christian life is not about trying to bring Christ down from heaven. Christ has already come to dwell within His people through the Holy Spirit.

The question is no longer, “Where is the Light?” The question is: will I walk in the Light that already dwells within me?