The Triune God: The Holy Spiit II

Ev'ry believer is God's third temple;
The Spirit indwells his body for life.
His task there is very far from simple;
He changes habits; rids the sin and strife!
Eros* love is only 'tween spouse and spouse,
All others are to be loved agape**;
With peace and patience he should ever browse;
Gentleness and goodness always display!
The Christian exudes joy on ev'ry hand;
He exhibits kindness the world around;
Trustworthy and faithful to God and man,
And self-control does forever abound!
The Spirit counsels all the day and night,
Unless ignored; then He becomes quiet!

*Eros love = physical or mental sexual intimacy
**agape love = platonic divine love for the well-being of another; pronounced ah-ga-pay

"So I say live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ... The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. ... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires." (Galatians 5:16-24)

When a new believer has come to realize that he has ignored God and been committing sin unknowingly, his first duty is to ask God for forgiveness, which is freely done, including past and future sins. This alone is enough for salvation. However, he also has a desire to learn to live a life with less sin; it is called a "new life in Christ" or being "born again". Every one of us is born with a sinful nature, as described in the scripture passage quoted above. You cannot rid yourself of those sinful traits alone; God sends the Holy Spirit to indwell your body for the rest of your life. He acts as an advisor, guiding you to avoid the sinful things of nature and to adopt the "fruit of the Spirit" listed above. It is likely impossible to rid yourself of all sin; but the more you love Jesus, the harder you will work at it. When you die, your soul is escorted immediately to heaven, where God will finish the job, ridding you of all sinful tendencies. In eternal life in heaven, there will be no one who commits sin.

Since the Spirit lives within every Christian, the believer's body is called by God the "temple" of the Holy Spirit, or the temple of God, since the Spirit is one of the three beings that are the manifestations of God. The word "temple" means "palace". King David's son, Solomon, when he became king, built the first temple for God in Jerusalem. Because the Jews were so sinful and disobedient, God allowed the Babylonians under Nebuchednezzar to destroy Jerusalem and the first temple in 586 B. C. About 50,000 Jews returned to the area of Jerusalem 70 years later and built a second temple; it was standing when Jesus was crucified in 32 A. D. The Romans, in 70 A. D., destroyed the second temple. No other building/temple has ever been built; none ever will; therefore each Christian may be referred to as the "third" temple.

You may be thinking there are millions of Holy Spirits in the world, since there are more than 2 billion Christians. No; there is only one Holy Spirit. He has the abiliy to divide Himself into as many different Spirits as required. Maybe we will have an ability like that in our new bodies in heaven,