The Indwelling One

Palm Sunday, March 2026

An Easter Verb

Dear Friend,

I’m writing these words on Palm Sunday 2026. And I’m putting off the conclusion of our series on Little Faith and God’s Faith because a word has been impressed on my heart. It’s a Greek word that sneaked up on me during my morning Greek research this past week; but now it’s also an abiding Easter verb for me because of its special association with the Resurrection.

Here’s the background: Oikos (οἶκος) is a very common New Testament noun. It means a house or dwelling or just about any place a person might live; and by simple extension, it also means household, that is, all the people who live in the oikos. There’s a closet full of oikos-related words in the New Testament, some of which come down to us in English, like our word economy (oikonomía / οἰκονομία — management of a household).

A related verb—oikéō / οἰκέω—means to dwell [in a home]. It’s used of a married couple dwelling with each other (1 Corinthians 7:12-13), and of the sin nature dwelling in a believer (Romans 7:17,20). Oikéō describes God dwelling “in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16); and, closing in on our Easter point, this same verb is also used of God’s Spirit dwelling in believers (Romans 8:9,11; 1 Corinthians 3:16). We’re very familiar with this.

You might think that preposition in should have been sufficient when describing the Spirit’s dwelling place in us; but, no, that wasn’t sufficient! Paul, wanting to make a point, intensified (pun discovered, but not intended) the verb oikéō by prepending the Greek preposition en (ἐν), making enoikéō en (ἐνοικέω ἐν)—to indwell inside. This word is reserved exclusively for the Spirit’s inner presence, and for the faith and the word He plants within. The apostle uses this indwell verb to describe the faith of the matriarchs of Timothy’s family (2 Timothy 1:5); the indwelling relationship we’re to have with “the word of Christ” (Colossians 3:16); and God’s promise to indwell us (2 Corinthians 6:16), as well as the Holy Spirit actually indwelling us to fulfill that divine promise (2 Timothy 1:14).

I said that we’re familiar, at least intellectually, with the idea of God’s Spirit living inside us. Maybe we’re too familiar, even jaded and indifferent. Stop to consider: we’re “partakers of the divine nature” because the Godhead has taken up residence within us. That “eternal life” we have isn’t a “thing” or a nebulous spiritual commodity, but a Person living inside us!

With that reality refreshed in our minds and hearts, let’s look at one more New Testament use of enoikéō. This is the instance that gave me a new sense of Easter awe and insight into our intimacy with Christ’s resurrection:

That’s the NASB translation. Allow me to alter it just slightly to emphasize With Capitals the participles which the English obscures, and to give enoikéō a little more punch:

If we’ve grown dull, distant, and insensitive to the reality of “Christ liveth in me,” let this be a “raise the dead” morning alarm! “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead!” The Spirit of the Raiser of Jesus from the dead now indwells us! In you and me! That’s no doubt a promise related to our future resurrection. But aren’t there any implications for now, for our intimacy with God, for the potential to be channels of the Spirit’s power? O Spirit of the Raiser of Jesus from the dead who indwells us now, make us as alive in God as we can be in this life!

An “Easter Basket”

Since this is Holy Week, it would be a good time to share some of the Good Friday and Resurrection-related resources on the Finest of the Wheat website.

Hymns and poetry:

Articles and Audios:

• Perhaps my favorite chapter (also Easter-related) from Isaiah Reid’s Sunnyside Papers is “Daffodil Days.”
• I taught on Jesus’ Seven Words from the Cross a week ago Saturday at the local Bible school. The material was well received. I had hoped to have the Seven Words message ready as a teaching article for you, but time was in short supply. However, for those of you with the leisure, curiosity, and desire, here is a link to the class audio (warning: nearly two hours!) and the two multi-page handouts we used.

Publishing Progress

Some months leave me a little daunted when it comes to measuring writing progress—but not this month! Here’s the tally:

• • Boyhood Memories and Lessons:
  • As promised in the last newsletter, I have started posting chapters from Isaiah Reid’s Boyhood on the website. “Memory Hours” (the introduction) and “My Native Hills” (the first chapter) are now available online.
  • “The Strength of the Hills Is His Also” (chapter 2) is already in progress. We should be able to find a “Mother’s Day” message for May by jumping ahead to “Mother’s Legacy” (chapter 10), and I think “The Old Log Church” (chapter 4) could prove suitable for a Father’s Day tribute in June.
  • Studies in the Book of Joshua (working title):
  • Denise and I ping-ponged through seven drafts of chapter 1, “From Moses to Joshua,” which is now about as complete as it can be before eventually stitching it together with the other chapters to form a complete book. I’ve also been able to bring the original transcriptions (which I call “draft zero”) of chapters 2 (“Preparation for Victory”), 3 (“The Idolatry of God’s People”), and 4 (“The Divine Interlude”) up to draft-one status; now those printouts are quivering on Denise’s editing clipboard as they await her wise but merciless red pen. Draft one of the fifth and final chapter, “The Triumph of Our Joshua” (again, a working title) is 85% complete as I write these words.
  • While the longer-term goal is to see this in book form by December this year, the more immediate and practical use of this labor of love is to be ready to teach this material at the Iowa Holiness Association camp meeting in June (just 10 weeks away!).
  • Hearing God:

• Chapters 1-3 have been complete and available online for almost 13 years. But based on teaching through this series at the Bible school over the last few months, there are parts of each chapter I would like to update before it goes out in book form. Having taught the fourth chapter’s content in February and the final chapter’s material in January (long story!), I now have detailed outlines for writing those portions. My intention was to finish up with “chapter five” in class this month, but I was led to teach on something else—Jesus’ Seven Words from the Cross, mentioned and linked above. The goal is to generate The Seven Words as an article and have it available here on the site two months before Easter 2027.

By the way, we’ll be looking for preview readers to help us vet and improve these chapters as they become available. If you’re interested in helping, please drop me a line.

Ongoing Prayer

As you pray for the ministry, please join me in our current focus—Preparation!

• Preparation to teach at the local Bible school each month, and at the Iowa Holiness Association camp meeting in June.
• Preparation to do the best possible job in editing, writing, and publishing the book projects which the Lord has given us.

Thanks for your prayers and support and feedback and encouragement. May the Lord bless you with a renewed recognition and energized enjoyment of God’s Spirit who indwells you!

Much love in Jesus,

Jim

Tax-Deductible Donations Gratefully Received
Have you thought about making this a monthly gift?