The Holy Spirit

ByJim Stephens

Scripture: John 14:15-21 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor*, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. (John 14:15-17 NLT)

*The Greek word Paraclete, translated here “Counselor”, also translates Comforter, Encourager, Advocate. What a rich word to describe the Holy Spirit who is always with us, and who actually lives inside those who believe in Jesus!

If you love me, obey my commandments. A little quick review here, friends! His commandments are: Love God, Love Others (even our enemies), and Love Each Other!

I will ask the Father and he will send the Holy Spirit: 1) who will never leave you, 2) will lead you into all truth, 3) who lives with you now, 4) and soon will live inside you! Now there’s a real gift, friends!

Jesus didn’t promise us an organization to grow the Kingdom and to fill the world with his grace and truth. He didn’t spell out a structure, write articles of incorporation and bylaws, and say, “Before you get too far along, be sure to register the whole thing with the government.” He didn’t create an operations manual about how to elect officials to run the program, what their terms of service would be and how much they should be paid. He didn’t even promise them (and us) a book of laws, rules, guidelines, and answers to all the questions and solutions to all the issues that would arise. Although he did eventually give us a lovely Bible!

Jesus said, “Obey my commandments and rely on the Holy Spirit to lead you into all these things that will eventually have to be dealt with, because this thing is going to grow and the world is going to change in ways you can’t imagine, and stuff will come up that won’t fit into a system and a manual. You’ll have to keep learning and growing and changing and adapting from here to eternity!”

Prayer:

Father, Thank you for the Holy Spirit, for a simple set of commandments, and for grace to learn and grow. We do tend to muck it up, to over-complicate things, and to make little issues more important than the big ones. Please help us to do better! Amen!