The Extraordinary Spirit in Our Ordinary Lives

Life in the Spirit can often feel ordinary. We wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, handle chores, and repeat the cycle day after day. But behind what looks like routine lies a reality that is anything but ordinary God Himself lives within us.

One of Satan’s subtle tactics is to convince us that life with the Holy Spirit is no different from the life we once knew. He distracts us with worries, lures us with pleasures, and whispers that our sins define us. He does everything possible to dull our awareness of the miracle of God’s presence. But Scripture tells a different story.

You Are a Temple of God

Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” This is no small truth. If you belong to Christ, the Spirit of the living God has made His home in you. He isn’t watching from heaven, waiting for a prayer request to cross His desk. He is with you, in you, every moment of every day.

This changes even the simplest parts of life. Eating, drinking, working, resting all are now infused with divine purpose. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). What looks ordinary becomes extraordinary when it is done in the Spirit.

Signs of the Spirit’s Work

If we could see the Spirit’s work in full, we would never call life in Christ “ordinary.” For now, we look for glimpses and they are everywhere.

• Childlike dependence: When you cry out “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15), that is the Spirit within you reminding you of God’s fatherly love. Every impulse to pray in weakness or fear is a miracle of grace.

• Spiritual understanding: Whenever you grasp the meaning of Scripture and treasure its truth, that understanding is not natural it is the Spirit’s gift (1 Corinthians 2:12).

• Victory over sin: Every time you resist temptation or put sin to death, it is the Spirit at work in you (Romans 8:13). Sin doesn’t die by human strength, but by divine power.

• Christlike character: The Spirit does not just remove sin; He grows beauty. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control these are His fingerprints on your soul (Galatians 5:22–23).

• Gifts for the church: Each believer receives Spirit-given abilities to bless others. Paul reminds us, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).

• Love for Jesus: Perhaps the clearest evidence of all is this: you still love Christ. Paul says no one can truly confess “Jesus is Lord” apart from the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). If your heart treasures Him, it’s proof the Spirit is alive in you.

The Spirit as a Guarantee

The Spirit’s work now is only the beginning. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:14 that the Spirit is “the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” What we experience today answered prayers, glimpses of God’s glory, growth in holiness are appetizers of the feast to come.

Every moment of peace, every victory over sin, every burst of joy in Christ is a prophecy of paradise. They point us forward to the day when what feels extraordinary now will be our new ordinary forever. In the new creation, glory will no longer be hidden; it will surround us and fill us without end.

Don’t Miss the Miracle

So yes, life in the Spirit may feel ordinary but that feeling is deceptive. The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (Romans 8:11). He empowers your steps, strengthens your prayers, shapes your love, and transforms your heart.

The challenge for us is not to make life more extraordinary, but to see the extraordinary God already present in it. Our daily lives are saturated with the Spirit’s power, if only we will look.

And one day, when Christ returns, the veil will be lifted. What we now call ordinary will be revealed as miraculous, and glory will become our everyday reality.

Share this with someone who needs to be reminded that their ordinary life is filled with the Spirit of God, or subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly encouragement.