Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you…
1 Corinthians 6:19a
I recently listened to the song “Welcome Holy Spirit.”
The first four lines go like this:
Welcome Holy Spirit
We are in your presence
Fill us with Your power
Live inside of me
My first thought was, “Why am I singing to the Holy Spirit to live inside of me?” He’s already there.
And what about singing a song to Him? Is that okay?
Should Christians sing to the Holy Spirit and tell Him to live inside them?
Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
Should Christians Ask the Holy Spirit to Live Inside Them?
The Holy Spirit comes to live inside you when you are born again. The Bible says in Romans 8:9b, “…But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit. So, if you have believed that Jesus died and paid the debt for your sin and know that He is the only reason you can be made right with God, you are a born-again Christian. And you do not need to ask, tell, or sing to the Holy Spirit to live inside of you.
You Received the Holy Spirit at Conversion
Some Pentecostal or Charismatic groups claim the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second blessing. First, you receive Jesus, and later, the Holy Spirit. Some even go as far as to say tongues are evidence of a believer having the Holy Spirit.
It is true that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the church age included tongues as evidence of His arrival. However, this was descriptive for a specific time in history. It is not prescriptive for what has happened since or now.
On the other hand, the Bible teaches that believers receive the Holy Spirit when they accept Jesus as their Savior and are baptized into the body of Christ.
1 Corinthains 12:13a For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…
My NASB Bible Study note explains the meaning of we were all baptized, “The Spirit joins all believers to the body of Christ. The tense of the verb indicates a past action, and it is something all believers (even carnal ones) have experienced.”
However, the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a one-time event doesn’t exactly answer the question of when He starts living inside us.
Verses That Support the Indwelling Holy Spirit in Every Believer
Above, you saw Romans 8:9 stating that the Holy Spirit is in every believer. Now, we will look at a few more verses that teach or imply He has been there since conversion:
Romans 5:5b …because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
1 Corinthians 2:12a Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God…
2 Corinthians 5:5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
Jude 19 These [unredeemed false teachers] are the ones who cause decisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
As you can see, the Bible talks about believers having the Holy Spirit and unbelievers not having Him. There is no in-between.
Either you are born again, or you aren’t. If you’re born again, you have the Holy Spirit.
RELATED > > > > > What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? – Let’s Ask Jesus
What If…
Suppose I got what the line of the song was saying wrong, and you aren’t asking the Holy Spirit to dwell inside you. You already know He is there.
Instead, you’re using the word “live” in a non-literal sense.
For example, someone who says they have a new lease on life, and now they are really living. They didn’t mean they were dead before, but they weren’t embracing life or living it to its fullest.
As Christians, we know the Holy Spirit lives inside us, but it doesn’t mean we have given Him complete control.
Therefore, we aren’t letting the Spirit “live” inside us because we aren’t letting Him do what He wants to do in and through us.
And even though the Bible makes it clear that the Spirit permanently indwells you, He doesn’t automatically fill or empower you.
Being Filled With the Holy Spirit
Christians are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, not ask for it.
Ephesians 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.
Got Questions says,
Sin is what hinders the filling of the Holy Spirit, and obedience to God is how the filling of the Spirit is maintained. Ephesians 5:18 commands that we be filled with the Spirit; however, it is not praying for the filling of the Holy Spirit that accomplishes the filling. Only our obedience to God’s commands allows the Spirit freedom to work within us. Because we are still infected with sin, it is impossible to be filled with the Spirit all of the time. When we sin, we should immediately confess it to God and renew our commitment to being Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.
So, it would seem that the Holy Spirit fills believers when they obey God. And not something He does because we ask.
Furthermore, we still aren’t sure what the author of the song intended.
However, I think this particular line in the song would be better if it said, “You live inside of me,” as a declaration or statement of fact.
Singing or Praying to the Holy Spirit
It was interesting to look this song up and read the comments. No one questioned the specific line “live inside of me” or expressed concerns about addressing the song to the Holy Spirit.
After all, the Holy Spirit is God, and we know He hears us. We know He is a person and a member of the Godhead.
True, but what does the Bible teach about the way we are to relate to Him? Are we taught to pray to Him? Do we have examples of someone praying or singing to the Holy Spirit?
I don’t know of any.
I also couldn’t find any reviews on this song. But I found a few on the song “Holy Spirit,” written by Bryan and Katie Torwalt and sung by multiple big-name Christian artists.
Below is one review I found interesting that addresses praying to the Holy Spirit and specifically inviting His presence into your church:
Stop Inviting the Holy Spirit to Your Church by Jeremy Howard
Jeremy makes three points:
- It’s not sinful to pray to the Holy Spirit, but neither is it biblical.
- It’s illogical to invite the Holy Spirit into a place where He is already present (this would apply to inside you or a room full of believers).
- Inviting the Holy Spirit to come or telling Him He is welcome in a church service is practically begging for a mystical experience.
I would agree with his points for the most part.
My Experience
I’ve sung many songs in the past, inviting the Spirit’s presence or welcoming Him to “this place” (wherever this place was). And lately, I’ve questioned the logic of it.
Plus, I’ve wondered if people knew what they were asking for when they sang songs about wanting the Spirit to show up in power.
I mean, what did they think would happen? Or were they only looking for an experience and the emotion it brought?
It always brought emotion for me, a feeling of being close to God. The funny thing is feelings don’t care if what you’re singing is biblical or not. And the feeling of closeness doesn’t last.
Therefore, I will choose sound doctrine over a feeling of being close to God or the Spirit any day of the week.
I’m not saying I’m against emotions. Emotions can be powerful, but simply feeling close to God cannot replace being close to God by knowing His Word.
You can listen to the song and see for yourself if it sounds like you are asking the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of you or if it’s another way of asking Him to fill you with His power.
Welcome Holy Spirit
Final Thoughts
As you can see, believers do not need to ask the Holy Spirit to live inside them because He’s already there.
Welcome Holy Spirit is a catchy song, but telling Him to come and live inside you when He already does is not logical.
And though it’s not sinful to sing this song or any song inviting the Holy Spirit into a place He already is, it is bad theology.
The Holy Spirit came to live inside of you when you were born again. You can’t ever lose Him, and that is biblical.
2 Corinthians 1:22 who [God] also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
I also suggested that the writer may have meant something different; that possibly the word “live” means fill or reign rather than indwell.
What do you think this song means when it says, “live inside of me?”