21 days - Fasting & PrayerEsimerkki

Temple of the Holy Spirit

Read 2 Corinthians 6:16.

Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. In the first part of the Bible, there is talk of the temple and that God dwells in the Holy of Holies. Through Jesus, God now dwells in you and me – isn’t that fantastic?

When Jesus came to the temple in Jerusalem for the first time, he started to throw out everything he didn’t like.

Fasting is not only a time in which the intestines and thus the body purify themselves, it is also a time of the purification of your spiritual temple.

Have you noticed that the time of fasting is a kind of reinforcement? Sometimes we discover during fasting that we are more impatient and ill-tempered than we would actually like to be, and character traits emerge in us which we actually do not like at all.

At the same time, we become much more sensitive to the gentle speaking of the Holy Spirit.

When I myself fasted for several weeks for the first time, I hoped for major spiritual breakthroughs. I expected signs and wonders, healings and conversions. Instead, I woke up one day and saw points in my life where I behaved lovelessly and manipulatively in conflicts. God showed me blind spots in situations where, up until now, I had believed myself to be completely in the right. At first, I was almost disappointed, as I had expected completely different results. I wanted to do great things for God, and instead, he held up a mirror to me. But then I became really grateful. It is so difficult to discover one’s own blind spots.

King David himself prayed: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)

Prayer, Get Free & Next Step: 

Engage in dialogue with God and ask Him to search you and your temple. Are there perhaps one or several corners that should be tidied up? Where anger may still reside? What makes God happy in your temple and what delights Him?

If you think about your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, then you can also ask yourself how comfortable the Spirit of God feels inside of you. Consciously take time now; close your eyes and become aware of your body. Feel your hands, your legs, and take a deep breath, observing your breathing. Listen to your heartbeat.