Jesus' Promise: The Holy Spirit

Scripture from John 14:15 – 31 and 16:1-16

     When you are convicted of your sins, repent of those sins, and through faith accept Jesus Christ as your Savoir, the Holy Spirit enters your heart.  He is there.  I know.  I grew up in a Christian home and became a Christian when I was ten years old.  It was not a life changing event.  I was in a home where Biblical truths were taught, so life continued as usual.  There were times I felt a calling to service and searched on my own what service.  After leaving home for school, I drifted away from the church and had other influences in my life.  I still attended church, but it was not God centered for me.  It was when I became a member of a Woman’s Missionary Society with a Bible Study.  I was twenty-six years old, married, and a mother.  Maybe, my life’s purpose had changed with new responsibilities.  I don’t know.  However, this Bible Study changed my life.  Early, on an October morning as I sat on my back porch, God spoke directly to me.  It was no voice but a strong conviction within me.  I was convicted of my need for repentance and a commitment to serve God.  As the sun rose over the trees to give new light to a new day, God placed a light within me that changed my life.  I knew the Holy Spirit was abiding in me.  A love was placed in me for the people God chose me to serve.  The Holy Spirit lifted me up and I followed.
     When you read the scriptures about the gift of the Holy Spirit, do not let doubts cloud your faith.  Jesus promised the disciples the Holy Spirit, and the promise is for all who believe.  In the last forty-four years, I’ve seen people with addictions change becoming free of drugs or alcohol.  I’ve seen a person with a speech problem become a gifted speaker sharing God’s Word.  I’ve been blessed to witness the power of the Holy Spirit when people have faith in God and let God abide within them.  This is the gift promised to the disciples on the night Jesus was arrested.  This is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
     Jesus had shared his last supper with the disciples and was telling them that he must die.  They didn’t understand.  We are the same.  Our minds make things the way we want things to be.  The disciples did not understand that when Jesus had told them that he will be lifted up that he was going to be lifted up on a cross at Calvary.   Attempting to reassure them, Jesus says, “In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:2,3)   No, they still did not understand. 
     Phillip asked Jesus to at least show them the Father.  No, they did not understand, and Phillip needed to see.  Jesus replied, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe on account of the works themselves.” (11)  Jesus wanted them to just believe.  Jesus wanted their trust and love.
   In John 14:15 Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  He continues in verse seventeen with his promise of the ‘Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.’  The Spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit who will abide within them and be in them. 
     Jesus continues to explain, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. In a little while, the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.” (18-21) Jesus will be revealed to them and to us through the Holy Spirit.  There is more.  Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will teach them ‘all things and will remind them of everything’ he had told them. (26)
     Shortly after Jesus finished explaining this promise to the disciples, they got up to go to the place where Jesus will be arrested.  Jesus talked as they walked to Gethsemane.   After sharing a parable with them, he returns to the subject of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said to them concerning the Holy Spirit, “And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned. I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you. Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.” (John 16:8-15)
     The Holy Spirit who abides in those who believe will teach and show them God's truths.  Do you believe?  Where is your faith?  Is the Holy Spirit filling you with God’s love and leading you in God’s truths?