WATCHWORD:
5 “But now I am going away to the one who sent me; and none of you seems interested in the purpose of my going; none wonders why.6 Instead you are only filled with sorrow. 7 But the fact of the matter is that it is best for you that I go away, for if I don’t, the Comforter won’t come. If I do, he will—for I will send him to you.8 “And when he has come he will convince the world of its sin, and of the availability of God’s goodness, and of deliverance from judgment.9 The world’s sin is unbelief in me; 10 there is righteousness available because I go to the Father and you shall see me no more; 11 there is deliverance from judgment because the prince of this world has already been judged.
12 “Oh, there is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t understand it now. 13 When the Holy Spirit, who is truth, comes, he shall guide you into all truth, for he will not be presenting his own ideas, but will be passing on to you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He shall praise me and bring me great honor by showing you my glory. 15 All the Father’s glory is mine; this is what I mean when I say that he will show you my glory. John 16:5-15
Meditation:
Holy Spirit I
Who is the Holy Spirit? I wonder if some people see the Holy Spirit as kind of God Jr.? You know, less than God, the Father. After all that is God the Father, emphasis there. And what about God the Son, is he another God Jr.? Wait a minute. Is the Holy Spirit even related? Those are the crazy thoughts that the evil one sticks in whenever we seek to understand the Trinity, the Triune God, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit…all One.
For some, the concept of a Triune God is difficult to grasp, at first. The tendency is to look at the entities separately because, often times, we are introduced to the whole idea of God exactly that way. We learn from our early years that Jesus was the Son of God and so, right away, we think of the father-son relationship as we have in our human sphere. Two separate entities, related, but completely apart. That identity is constantly being reinforced as we learn more and more about the role of Jesus. Jesus is sent by the Father, to be among us, to teach us. We eventually learn that Jesus was God incarnate and we grapple with that idea and how Jesus can be both Jesus and God. And so it goes.
When it comes to the Holy Spirit we have other struggles. We think of spirits as an intangible, a voice in our mind or thoughts, maybe even our conscience. Or, perhaps, we imagine the Holy Spirit nudging us along according to the Will of God. But, it’s hard to imagine the Holy Spirit being God, especially if He is dwelling within us. It gets further complicated when we think about the Holy Spirit being sent by the Father in the name of the Son. What’s that about, you may ask?
Here is the unanimous skinny from the fountains of theological knowledge — I’ll call them The Holy Gang, THG for short: “The Holy Spirit is not a Force or an It, He is one of the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He is God! (But, why did you call them ‘3 persons’?) [Don’t get distracted!] The 3 persons of the Holy Trinity are inseparable, they are one, even though they have different tasks. A major part of the Holy Spirit’s task is to lift up Jesus and glorify him. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
Okay, let’s make this clear, the Holy Spirit dwells within you, and wants an intimate relationship with you, and as a result the Holy Spirit speaks with us. THG tells us that the Holy Spirit wants to be our friend and guide, and in times of confusion He is our helper. He will tell you all Truth and He will tell you of things to come, if you will but listen. He will glorify the Triune character of God and take what is God’s and give it to you. In other words, God has not left us alone in this world to fend for ourselves.
The Holy Spirit wants to heal, restore, encourage and bless us. Yielding to the Holy Spirit’s control and guidance is a day by day, moment by moment choice on our part. He knows all truth past, present and future and wants an intimate relationship with us. Our struggle with sin gets easier with reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit. So be it.
One final point, in closing. With the Holy Spirit we will never feel alone and know the assurance of our salvation. According to the THG, “Being filled with or controlled by the Holy Spirit is a continual experience. We could be controlled by anger, bitterness or jealousy, but not when we are controlled by God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Be at peace. Amen.
(Thanks to a member of our network who submitted a compilation of commentaries from Robert Morris, Robert Jeffress, Tony Evans, Joyce Meyer, David Jeremiah, and others on the simplicity and complexity of the Holy Spirit. For this Watchword and for Friday and Saturday’s I will try to do justice in summarizing the work of these masters.)
Closing Prayer:
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. Oh God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructs the hearts of the faithful, grant, that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
