On the Holy Spirit-Lent 18, 2015

John 14:25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, 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.”

Jesus knows that the disciples who are With Christ in the Upper Room are beyond baffled.  Jesus understands their limitations and in His grace, He gives them encouragement in His own words before He dies.  They hear it from His own lips.  After that, the Holy Spirit will take over making things understandable.  And with the Trinity, there’s a lot left to comprehend.

I love the Holy Spirit.  I’ve often called Him the best kept secret of Evangelical Christianity.

He’s the closest I’ll ever get to being in the presence of Christ…in this lifetime at least….since Jesus ascended to heaven almost 2000 years ago.

So many of us treat the Holy Spirit like the crazy uncle of the Trinity and are embarrassed to talk about Him out of fear that we’ll be seen as people who have lost our minds or are living in some bizarre fantasy world.  Other people turn Him into the litmus test of charismatic Christianity and worship the Holy Spirit more than the Father or Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

But I love the Holy Spirit.  Without Him, the Church wouldn’t be the Church.  Without Him, we could not adequately understand our Bibles.  Without Him, we wouldn’t have a decent prayer life.  Without Him, we’d be missing our guarantee of belonging to Christ.

While there was human breath in His body, Jesus tells the disciples all this confusing stuff, yet He knows they don’t and won’t understand…until later.  So He gives this beautiful promise: this Counselor is coming and He’ll help them from that point on.

The Father will send the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ Name in order to teach what they were not capable of learning while Jesus was still in the flesh.  This Counselor will remind them of everything Jesus said…because the Holy Spirit is God and so is Jesus.

Do you love the Holy Spirit?

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Give it Up for Lent: Treating the Holy Spirit as a second rate deity or a litmus test

Put it On for Lent: Love of who the Holy Spirit is

For further thought:

Read these words by Pastor AW Tozer and pray about the reflection points:

• “When Jesus is glorified, the Holy Spirit comes.  He does not have to be begged—the Holy Spirit comes when the Savior is glorified.”  Is Jesus glorified in your life?
• “Now a plain word here about the Christian Church trying to carry on in its own power.  That kind of Christianity makes God sick, for it is trying to run a heavenly institution after an earthly manner…The church that wants God’s power will have something to offer besides social clubs, knitting societies, the Boy Scout troops and all of the other side issues.”  Is your church carrying on in human power?
• “The cross of Jesus Christ always changes men’s plans.  The cross of Christ is revolutionary, and if we are not ready to let it be revolutionary in us nor let it cost us anything or control us in any way, we are not going to like a church that takes the things of God seriously.”  Are you willing to let the Cross of Christ change your plans?
• “The Holy Spirit is an Illuminator.  He is Light to the inner heart and He will show us more of God in a moment than we can learn in a lifetime without Him…He won’t throw out what we have learned if it is truth—He will set it on fire.”  When’s the last time the Holy Spirit set a truth on fire in your heart?

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