We are not alone - the Holy Spirit, part 1
Jesus told his disciples He was going away, but they were confused by what He meant. We have the advantage of seeing what took place soon after He shared this prophecy with them, along with His explanation for why He had to leave (be crucified).
Here is what Jesus said in John 16:5-14, “But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged. There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.”
How absolutely incredible and amazing is it that we can 100% know what our baseline for identifying truth is, as follower’s of Christ?! When Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, He literally means in every area of our lives! It’s unnecessary to be ambiguous, or doubtful, or uncertain, or indecisive, or conflicted, or reluctant, or vacillating, or unsure, or inconclusive, or undefined, or skeptical, or cynical, or unconvinced surrounding how we process the world around us, and how we go about making daily moment-by-moment decisions.
Jesus told His disciples in John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 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.”
Paul says in Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit as owned and protected [by God]. The Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of God’s own possession [His believers], to the praise of His glory.”
Our responsibility as believers is to follow the dynamic leading of the Holy Spirit! He’ll never force us to receive and act upon His guidance, or counsel, or accept His comfort … as it’s entirely up to us to trust that He knows what’s best, and then to act upon His promptings.
We’ll look at some of the Holy Spirit’s more specific ways in which He’s eager to help us in part 2 … but for now, let’s celebrate that we literally are never ever left alone to figure out how to live this life in such a way that will glorify our Lord and Savior!