This blog is based on a message by Pastor Todd Cosenza.
Real spiritual life is both simple and deep. It is simple enough to understand at the beginning, yet deep enough that we can spend our whole lives growing in it.
Think about the ocean. It is made of water, a remarkably simple compound (H2O). Yet an ocean can reach depths we cannot fully explore. The life God offers us is like that. We do not need to be afraid of its depth. We need to step in.
The source of real spiritual life is not merely doing religious things around God. It is living in a real, ongoing relationship with Him. Jesus showed us exactly what that life looks like.
Jesus Revealed the Source of His Spiritual Life
In John 14:8-11, Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father. Jesus answered by explaining that anyone who had seen Him had seen the Father, because “He was in the Father and the Father was in Him.”
That is deep territory. Jesus was not simply saying that He knew facts about the Father or occasionally received help from the Father. He described a complete, living union:
- Jesus was in the Father.
- The Father was in Jesus.
- The Father worked through Jesus.
- The words Jesus spoke carried the Father’s authority.
This explains the power, purity, authority, love, and freedom demonstrated throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry. He healed the sick, confronted demons, forgave sins, brought truth, and set people free. His life flowed from His unbroken relationship with the Father.
But this is not a relationship that belongs to Jesus alone. Jesus revealed the pattern of spiritual life that God intends for His people too.
He Is in Us, and We Are in Him
Many of us learned a foundational truth early on: when we are saved, Jesus comes into our hearts. That is true. But it is not the entire picture.
He is in us, and we are in Him.
This two-way relationship is vital. It is not just that God enters our lives. He also invites us into His life, His love, His truth, His wisdom, and His reality.
A sponge gives us a helpful picture. Put a sponge into a container of water, and the sponge is in the water. At the same time, the water is in the sponge. It is not one or the other. It is both.
That is how we were made spiritually. Whatever we immerse ourselves in begins to fill us.
If we give ourselves to God’s love, God’s Word, prayer, and fellowship with Him, we are in Him and He fills us. But the opposite is also true. If we immerse ourselves in the things of the world, those things begin to get into us too.
Giving ourselves to sinful or unhealthy things does not leave us untouched. What we continually take in can defile our hearts, shape our desires, and become an inner master. Even entertainment needs wisdom and moderation because we absorb what we continually surround ourselves with.
We were made to be immersed in Jesus. That is where real spiritual life is found. When life squeezes us, what is inside comes out. The goal is that Jesus would come out.
What This Means: Reality, Intimacy, and Security
1. God Enters Our REALITY
God does not stand at a safe distance from our mess. He enters our reality.
Jesus left the perfection of heaven and came into an imperfect world. He was born in a manger. He stepped into human pain, weakness, need, temptation, grief, and suffering. That is the heart of the gospel.
And He still comes into our reality today.
When we need forgiveness, He meets us there. When we need healing, wisdom, release, help, or transformation, He is not intimidated by what is broken in us. He is present and willing to work.
But this relationship is not only about Him entering our world. He also opens the door for us to enter His. His reality is greater than ours. His life, wisdom, peace, and love are better than anything we can build on our own.
2. God Invites Us Into INTIMACY
There is incredible closeness in the truth that God is in us and we are in Him. It is a oneness the enemy cannot break.
Jesus had intimacy with the Father because He lived in the Father and the Father lived in Him. God desires that same depth of fellowship with His people.
He did not save us only so that we could eventually go to heaven. Thank God for the promise of heaven, but He saved us so that He could make His home in us now.
That is where joy is found. That is where spiritual power flows. That is where we begin to know God not merely as an idea, but as a present Father.
3. God Gives Us SECURITY
When we know that we are in God and God is in us, fear, worry, and anxiety lose their right to rule our lives.
We can stand against every attack and declare that our security does not rest in our circumstances. It rests in this unbreakable relationship with God.
The enemy may knock, trouble may come, and pressure may rise, but we are not alone and we are not unprotected. We are in the Father, and the Father is in us.
The Holy Spirit Makes This Relationship Real
The apostle John, who wrote the words of Jesus when he said he was in the Father and the Father was in him, also wrote the epistles of 1, 2, and 3 John. In 1 John 4:13 he makes this promise personal for us: we know that “we live in God and He lives in us” because He has given us His Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not an optional extra in the Christian life. He makes this two-way relationship real.
According to 1 Corinthians 2, the Spirit searches the deep things of God and reveals them to God’s people. The things spoken in the throne room of heaven are not meant to remain distant from us. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s heart, truth, and wisdom so that we can know them and live them.
This is why relationship with the Holy Spirit matters so much. He does more than empower spiritual gifts. He does more than enable us to pray in the Spirit. He brings us into a life-changing relationship where God lives in us and we live in God.
This is meant to be real. It is meant to affect how we wake up, how we speak, how we handle pressure, and how we love people. The Spirit of God does not merely give us information about God. He brings us into the experience of God where we live in him and he in us.
Agree With What the Spirit Is Saying
1 John 4:15 teaches that those who acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God also “live in God, and God lives in them.”
Our confession matters. At salvation, the Holy Spirit reveals that we are sinners in need of a Savior and that Jesus is the Son of God who saves us. We respond by putting our faith in Him.
But agreement with the Holy Spirit does not end there. The Spirit continues to reveal the deep things of God, whether through Scripture, godly insight, prophecy, or the ways He brings truth to our hearts. Our words need to come into agreement with what He is saying.
Jesus taught that our words come from the overflow of the heart. God wants heart transformation, not surface-level religious language. As the Spirit changes the heart, our words should begin to reflect His truth.
Often, the reality we live in is shaped by the words we continually use. If our words remain filled with hopelessness, fear, defeat, bitterness, and unbelief, something needs to change. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to work deeply in our hearts so that our language begins to line up with heaven.
There is a connection between heaven and earth. God desires for kingdom realities to come down, and He desires for His people to live in a way that brings His power and truth into the world around them. Having our words align with the Holy Spirit is another way that we experience this powerful relationship of living in God and he is us.
Rely on the Love of God
1 John 4:16 says that we are to know and rely on the love God has for us. Then it declares that God is love, and those who live in love “live in God, and God lives in them.”
There is a difference between knowing God loves us in theory and relying on His love in real life.
To rely on God’s love means trusting Him when we do not understand the situation. It means becoming still enough to believe that He sees us, He has us, and He is working even when the answer has not yet arrived.
God is love. Not merely rules. Not merely correction. Not merely information. God is love.
That does not mean there are no boundaries or standards. There are. But love must lead. If God only dealt with us according to the rules we broke, none of us would have hope. Yet God loved the world and sent His Son for us.
Love softens everything.
A hard heart is like hard ground in a garden. Seed can still be planted, but it will take more work, more time, and more painful digging. Soft ground receives seed much more easily.
God can work in a hardened heart, but a heart that lives in love is ready to receive more of Him. Love creates an inner culture where God can work freely and we can experience the dynamic relationship of living in him and he in us.
This needs to be true in our hearts and in our homes. We can establish necessary rules and boundaries without becoming harsh. Sometimes the correction may be right, but the spirit behind it can still be wrong. Love must govern the way we speak, correct, lead, and respond.
When we recognize that we have been harsh or unloving, humility matters. We can apologize, ask forgiveness, and allow God to soften us again. Without love, even a home full of rules will struggle. With love, truth can be received and relationships can grow. We can fully walk out “we live in him, and he in us.”
How to Go Deeper in God
This life of being in God and having God in us is not just a truth to understand mentally. It is a reality to experience. We may start by getting our feet wet, but God wants to take us deeper and deeper into His life.
Three things help us live in that depth:
- Live by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit leads, guides, reveals, and makes the life of God real within us.
- Speak the language of God. Bring your words into agreement with what God is saying. Ask the Spirit to transform your heart so that your speech reflects His truth.
- Live in the love of God. Release unforgiveness, let God soften hardened places, and build a personal culture of love in your heart and home.
In This World, We Are Like Jesus
1 John 4:17 finishes our passage and brings this message home: “in this world, we are like Jesus.”
Not someday. Not only after heaven. In this world.
Jesus is the model for our spiritual life. He was fully God and fully human, and as He walked on earth, He gave Himself completely to the Father. He lived immersed in the Father, and the Father filled Him completely.
That was the source of His spiritual life. It was the source of His love for people, His power to heal, His authority over darkness, His ability to forgive, and His intimate fellowship with the Father.
Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, this life has been given to us. It is not earned by trying harder or proving that we are good enough. It comes because God made us for this relationship, sent Jesus for us, and gave us His Spirit.
Real spiritual life is not shallow. It is deep, and there is no bottom to the depths of God. The invitation is to keep going further in, to live in Him, and to let Him live fully in us.
Application Questions
- What am I currently immersing myself in, and what is it producing in my heart?
- Do I truly believe that God is willing to enter my present reality, including the parts of life I would rather hide?
- Where do my words need to come into agreement with what the Holy Spirit is saying?
- Is there unforgiveness, harshness, fear, or bitterness that is hardening my heart?
- What would it look like for love to lead more fully in my heart, my home, and my relationships?
- How can I intentionally rely on the love of God this week?
