The Comforter

"If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforter to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

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"All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

"You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me."

(John 14:15-20;26-31)

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

(John 16:12-15)

I share these two verses tonight because of a conversation I just had with a friend that changed the course of my entire evening, and ultimately will shape the course of my life. It made me remember how tremendously important the Holy Spirit is in our lives as Christians. I think so often in the Church today, we pray to God the Father, and worship God the Son, but we forget that the Holy Spirit is the most important one in our daily lives.

The world is full to overflowing with pain, but the Holy Spirit is the comforter. He is here to guide us out of temptation and deliver us from evil, and most importantly He is here to send directly to our hearts the Living Word of the Father. The Truth (with a capital T) directly to our very souls. Things that Jesus never spoke about... things that are much bigger and more difficult and more beautiful than the issues that Jesus addressed during his ministry. The Word of the Lord is not the Bible, it is the Spirit of Truth living in our very being, every moment of every day revealing to us the Truth when we need it most. Remember that Jesus was a progressive in his own day, and His Spirit is too. Christianity would never have survived as long as it has without the freedom that comes with the revelation through the Spirit. If Christianity is to continue survive, we must begin to listen more closely to the Spirit, and obey, even when it seems ridiculous or impossible!

"This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us."

(1 John 4:13-16)