Living Temples of the Spirit

by Leslie Hall

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19, NET )

I’ve been listening to a lot of Maverick City Music lately. If you’re not familiar, I highly recommend giving them a listen – they are incredibly anointed in proclaiming the Truth and Beauty of Jesus through their music. I’ve been especially captivated by God speaking through two songs: “Temple” which is a bit of spontaneous worship that proclaims the powerful Truth that we are temples of the Holy Spirit and “Come Again” which is a cry for God’s Spirit to come and fill our hearts.

“Holy, Worthy, You call me Your home
I am a temple, I am a temple” (“Temple”)

The last few years have been some of the most transformative years of my life; not because of anything I’ve done or accomplished but actually because of the opposite: as I’ve been in a season of wilderness and pruning, God has invited me to be emptied. And though it’s been painful at times, it’s been the best possible thing that the Lord has done in my life. It’s been through this emptying that the Lord has absolutely blown me away by God’s ability to renew and restore.

“It’s not a building You want to fill, it’s our hearts
This empty space is what You wanted all along” (“Come Again”)

God is faithful to fulfill God’s promise that God gives me a new heart and desires to fill this temple, my very body, with the same power that raised Christ. And it’s changed everything – out of that new heart and in living by God’s Spirit, I have an identity that cannot be shaken by circumstance. It’s filled my life with a Love that truly is better than life itself, as David proclaimed in his own wilderness (Psalm 63).

I have spent so much of my apprenticeship to Jesus as a practical cessationist (though my theology would try to say differently) and the Lord has moved in patience, beauty, and grace to open my heart up to so much more than I could ever ask or imagine through the power of Holy Spirit filling the pruned, empty space of my heart. What an honour, what a privilege, and what a joy to be considered worthy of God calling me God’s own home. And praise be to God that it’s never based on my actions but based on the endless, perfect love of Jesus.

In Christ,

Leslie Hall

For Reflection:
Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:11, NET)

1. In what areas do you sense God bringing life? Are there practices, experiences, or rhythms that remind you of the life God’s Spirit brings to your body, mind, and soul?
2. How are you cultivating space for God’s Spirit to fill you each day? What are the things God could be asking you to prune away or empty yourself?