{"id":44061,"date":"2011-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/privilege-of-having-holy-spirit-live-within-us\/"},"modified":"2011-06-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T00:00:00","slug":"privilege-of-having-holy-spirit-live-within-us","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/privilege-of-having-holy-spirit-live-within-us\/","title":{"rendered":"The Privilege of Having the Holy Spirit Live Within Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Derek W. H. Thomas writes in &ldquo;How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home&rdquo;:<\/p>\n\n<p>One recent summer, in a large urn that sits outside the front door of my house, a blue swift made a nest in which she laid six eggs. This beautiful, shy creature had made her home in (almost) my house. I felt privileged that I had been honored by her presence, even if my cat viewed it entirely differently.<\/p>\n\n<p>If I felt privileged when a bird nested by my door, how much more privileged should I feel knowing that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in me? Our hearts should well up with gratitude and song at the mere thought of it. It is staggering.<\/p>\n\n<p>Some of us take photographs when distinguished guests visit our homes. I love to glance through a &quot;Visitor&#39;s Book&quot; to see who has stayed in our home. On occasion I see the name of a well-known [person] or a dear friend. But none of this compares to having the Spirit permanently [dwell] in our hearts.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3579,4157,4158,4589,4622,4699],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-44061","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-christ-indwelling","tax_ctp_tags-holy-spirit-filling-of","tax_ctp_tags-holy-spirit-indwelling-of","tax_ctp_tags-paraclete","tax_ctp_tags-pentecost","tax_ctp_tags-presence-of-god"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Privilege of Having the Holy Spirit Live Within Us - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/privilege-of-having-holy-spirit-live-within-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Privilege of Having the Holy Spirit Live Within Us - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Derek W. H. Thomas writes in &ldquo;How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home&rdquo;: One recent summer, in a large urn that sits outside the front door of my house, a blue swift made a nest in which she laid six eggs. This beautiful, shy creature had made her home in (almost) my house. 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