Going and Coming

Posted on by korgrocker

“Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.”
John 14:28-29 NLT

Once again Jesus reminded His disciples that He was about to go away. Earlier in John 13:33, Jesus said to His friends, “Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going”. And we remember what followed, “Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.” “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you””(John 13:36-37). The disciples were aware that something terrible was about to happen to their Lord and Master, but Jesus then went on to say, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me” (John 14:1). But after He said he was going away, Jesus then said He was coming back again. Were the disciples confused? Of course, but they had trust in Jesus and His Father in Heaven, who had all under control. Imagine what the disciples might have been saying though, “But Lord, …”

With the benefit of hindsight, we pilgrims know what was going to happen. We know all about Jesus’ death and resurrection. After all, the events that were about to happen in Jerusalem were going to be pivotal, not only in our lives, but in society and history ever since. Jesus also reminded the disciples of their love for Him, something that would see beyond the immediate pain and grief, and even rejoice that He was going home to be with His Father. Yes, they were going to feel a sense of loss – their humanity was still with them. After His resurrection, Jesus ascended into Heaven. Perhaps at that point, the disciples remembered what he had said to them earlier in John 14:2. We read, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” I wonder what the disciples thought about their coming Heavenly home? What do we pilgrims expect? One thing is for sure – it will be far better than anything we can imagine.

Jesus seemed to accept that informing His disciples that “I am going away, but I will come back to you again” might have been difficult to take in, but He followed this with the words, “I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe“. If they had any doubts or confusion beforehand, these would definitely be dispelled as they watched events pan out on that fateful weekend. But their faith and trust in their Master would carry them through.

We pilgrims know that Jesus came and left, leaving us with the gift of the Holy Spirit. But we still need much faith in God, because there is our own going just over the horizon. Then we will come into Heaven, to be with Jesus for ever. Jesus is not physically present on Planet Earth, but he will come again. Not as a baby in a manger, but as a victorious King. His last words were recorded in Revelation 22:20, “He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”. We echo that today and every day.

Dear Lord Jesus. We do indeed say to You “Come”. We look forward to Your return, bring peace and hope to this troubled world. Amen.


Peace

Posted on by korgrocker

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
John 14:27 NLT

There is much in the Bible about “Peace”. The Jewish word, “Shalom”, meaning “peace”, amongst other things, is well known and adopted by many as a greeting, along with a hug, kiss, or handshake, according to the culture. Paul started off his letter to the Ephesians with, “May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace” (Ephesians 1:2). Jude included such an introduction in his short letter, “May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love” (Jude 1:2). Letter writing convention today sometimes concludes with a blessing of peace.

In a world of wars and chaos, people desperate for an oasis of peace somewhere try to find it by visiting churches and monasteries, or joining a pilgrimage to a place previously associated with a move of God or where a particular saint or other holy person used to live. But much searching after peace is destined for disappointment because a worldly solution cannot be found for the yearnings for peace within. Everywhere we look there is a deficit of peace, a deficit that extends from a national and international level all the way down to family relationships. The impact of sin and devil-induced wickedness seems never-ending. 

But in it all there is a ray of hope. Jesus was not referring to a worldly peace. Even with an absence of such a peace, there is still the inner turmoil and strife that can afflict all people facing the worries and anxieties of life. At the end of a war there is jubilation and relief, now that the conflict has ended. But soon such feelings are replaced by the reality of living with the economic and societal consequences and realities of life, an external lack of war replaced by the internal wars in people’s souls. 

Jesus reassured His disciples that they would never have to feel again the chaos of a lack of peace within them. He told them that He was leaving them with a gift of “peace of mind and heart”. Kingdom peace is nothing like worldly peace, which never lasts very long. Jesus’ gift of peace was to be a permanent presence in the lives of believers for ever. The disciples experienced it and so can we pilgrims. There is no war and strife in God’s Kingdom. Instead there is a positive environment of love, joy, righteousness, and all the wonderful spiritual attributes we find in God’s presence. So the world around us will be dissolving into a chaotic panic while we calmly continue to trust in God who has the solution. Jesus came to this world to bring peace to mankind, as prophesised many years before, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Through His gift of forgiveness of sins, Jesus, by His death, introduced an opportunity for the salvation of people everywhere, people otherwise riven by a lack of peace, and His gift continues to be available today. 

Paul, an Apostle treated so badly by the world around him, could write, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Paul understood the same and eternal peace that is available to us as well, that peace promised as a gift by Jesus, “peace of mind and heart”. Fellow pilgrims, are you in a storm of chaos and a lack of peace just now? If so, there is a gift awaiting for you that will provide a remedy. It won’t necessarily take away the worldly situation you are facing, but God’s peace will somehow provide the strength and positivity to carry on, step by step, towards our Heavenly goal. 

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise and worship You today with thankful hearts. Your peace floods over us in strife-ridden times. Amen.

The Aide-Memoir

Posted on by korgrocker

“I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”
John 14:25-26 NLT

One thing that gets worse with age is our memories. Memory loss is gradual and it affects some people more than others. As we get older we forget people’s names, for example, but then remember them  after a few minutes or later in the day. We can also forget appointments so we mitigate the effects by putting in place a system of reminders. Other people put their faith in “to do” lists, with phone or tablet apps or a paper and pencil providing the means. As many a preacher will know, asking a congregation about what he or she preached on the previous week can be demoralising, although many skilled orators will limit the amount of information and will use repetition to help audience retention. Buzz words and techniques such as catchy and related titles and sub-titles will also assist a congregation’s recall capacity. 

Jesus told His disciples that when He returns to His Heavenly home, He will send His representative, the Holy Spirit, who will have two main functions, teaching and reminding. I wonder what those early disciples were expecting? A physical presence sitting on their shoulders and whispering in their ears? Today we could perhaps imagine an “Alexa” or a “Siri” performing in the same way; after all smart phones seem to be ubiquitous. But the Holy Spirit was and is nothing like any man-made aid. Instead He is a gift from God, given to us through His grace and mercy and to fulfil the John 14:26 promise made by Jesus.

Another feature of the Holy Spirit is that non-believers do not have any knowledge of His presence at all. In John 14:17, Jesus said, “ …  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“. Not for the world are the benefits of believing in Jesus – the Holy Spirit is a special Person who comes to live within us to teach us all about the way to our ultimate spiritual home and to remind us of all the things that Jesus taught about. The first disciples had received three years or so of teaching from Jesus, teaching that was both by word, such as the parables favoured by the Master Preacher, but also through the day to day experiences, as they followed their Lord and God. It was, to them, all life-changing “stuff” but probably difficult to make sense of at the time. 

We pilgrims have the benefits of the written down words of the New Testament, but before we think that we don’t therefore need an aide-memoire, the teaching contained in the Scripture has to be applied to our daily lives. The Holy Spirit does favour an academic exercise or philosophical debate. We read in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect”. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is life changing and transformational. We transition from being a world-follower to being a God-follower and there is literally a “world” of a difference. Someone I know feels very inadequate because they cannot remember Scripture very well, but the amazing thing is that they find what they need in the recesses of their mind when an opportunity arises and requires it. Watching the Holy Spirit at work in another believer is a thing of joy. The Holy Spirit, a teaching aid and a memory aid. What an amazing God we serve and follow!

Dear Father God. Thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit, allowing Your presence to be with us for ever. Amen.

Last Moments

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.”
John 14:23-25 NLT

A person’s last words carry much weight and importance. Many a film has included a cameo of an old or very sick person lying in a bed during their last hours, with friends or relatives hanging onto their every word, especially if these are few and far between, and their inheritance is at stake. But this scenario didn’t apply with Jesus. In His last hours He was fit and well, and He had much to say to His disciples. The shadow of the Cross was becoming shorter and He must have been feeling many emotions. Of course, the ever present thought of the pain and humiliation ahead of Him must have been uppermost in His mind.  Jesus would also have been looking forward to the joy of returning to His Heavenly home and being with His Father once again. But His primary concerns were for His disciples. How would they cope without Him? And it is true that they would have had no chance except for the Gift coming their way, the Holy Spirit. But in this interlude bounded by the Last Supper, and a few hours later, His arrest, Jesus had much to say to His friends. As we have already read, Jesus reassured them, “No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live” (John 14:18-19). 

As a preface, Jesus told His disciples that the information He was making available to them was not something He was arbitrarily making up – His words originated with Father God Himself. In other words, what He was telling them could not have been more important. And He emphasised the significance of love and obedience, primary requirements in their relationship with Jesus that would underpin their future life without Him. 

We pilgrims are modern day disciples of Jesus; His teachings still apply today and will continue to do so until the end of time. So everything we are about, doing and thinking, must be conformant with the need to love Jesus and diligently be obedient to all His commands. But this is not a legalistic demand. There is no law or rule about loving God that can be quantified and applied. Such love comes out of a relationship with Jesus that motivates and guides us through all we do and say. And that love will define our obedience to His commands. Paul taught in Ephesians 4:21-24, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy“. Love and obedience to Jesus can only come from a new birth experience.

Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. Without Him and His truthful guidance, we would be incapable of living in the way Jesus demands. In Matthew 11:29-30, Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light“. Living the Jesus way, infiltrated with love and obedience, somehow puts us into a zone of Kingdom compliance that is surprisingly not nearly as hard as some make out. In Acts 26:14b, we read what Jesus said to Paul on the Damascus Road,“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will“. Paul had to come to the point where he totally abandoned his old self and way of living, and instead became a true believer living in the way of love and obedience to Jesus. And so it must be with us pilgrims, as we once again consider the last words of Jesus.

Dear Lord Jesus. We celebrate, because You are alive today. Thank You for Your love. Amen.

The Three-Way Love

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.”
John 14:23-25 NLT

The love of, and obedience to, Jesus leads to a three-way response. We know of course that Jesus loves us, because He demonstrated that through His death at Calvary, where He took onto Himself our sins and instead gave us His righteousness. Jesus also said that if we love Him and are obedient to His commands, then His Father in Heaven will also love us. But Jesus followed this with a remarkable statement – Jesus and His Father will make their home with us. And how else will He do that other than by the Holy Spirit? Earlier we read what Jesus said in John 14:15-17a “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, …“. 

Perhaps it is easy to gloss over verses such as Acts 2:38, “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. The four stage process in the initial decision to become a Christian was summarised by Peter into a few words, but working out what “repent of your sins and turn to God” means will take a life time of diligent application. And then we gratefully accept the “gift of the Holy Spirit” without really understanding the ramifications of what this really means. But if Jesus said that he will come and live with us through the Holy Spirit then we had better believe it. To refuse to accept such a gift from God goes against the whole premise of loving Him and being obedient to His commands. 

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself …”. And then we have Romans 12:1, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him”. This is serious stuff, having the Holy Spirit live in us, but I suppose some will resent this because they will feel as though they have a policeman living with them 24/7. They will consider the (to them) negative connotations that because the Holy Spirit is with them, they will have to stop doing certain things that they previously enjoyed doing. They perhaps think that there will now be many sins that they enjoy that will become visible to God, although he would have known about them anyway. God sees all. 

But the positive side of having the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is that he will lead us into all truth. When we make a commitment to be obedient to Jesus and love Him with all our hearts, we embark on a process of sanctification, where we start to eliminate all those behaviours that fall into the category of “sin”. So the Holy Spirit helps us at every step, as we listen to His truth.

When we become a Christian, a true believer in the full counsel of God, we find that there are three People loving us and living with us. God the Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, in our prayer times, there are three extra People there praying as well. We might think that we are on our own but that cannot be further from the truth. 

Father God. Thank You for the precious gift of the Holy Spirit who is with us all day and every day. We worship You today. Amen.

Why, Jesus?

Posted on by korgrocker

“Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. … Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?””
John 14:19, 22 NLT

For the disciples, the picture is building that Jesus will soon be leaving them but they are puzzled  about where He will be going and why it would just be them who would see Him. Of course, they had previously been told about what was going to happen. Matthew 17:22-23, “After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” And the disciples were filled with grief“. But had Judas forgotten what Jesus had said when he asked Him the question in John 14:22? 

There is little information about the Judas who wasn’t Judas Iscariot. Some think that he was the same man as the disciple referred to as Thaddeus. Others think that he was one of Jesus’ half brothers. But the Holy Spirit nudged John to write down this conversation between Judas and Jesus because it must have been relevant and important. 

Perhaps the thought process in Judas’ mind was to do with the continuation of Jesus’ ministry and its extension into the world outside Israel. Surely, he thought, if Jesus was going to rise from the dead then the impact of this on the world would grab everyone’s attention and lead to the growth in the number of believers. But Jesus also told the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, and it ends with a conversation between the Rich Man in hell, and Abraham with Lazarus in Heaven. We read this in Luke 16:30-31, “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead'”. Isn’t it strange that even when faced with overwhelming evidence, the human response is often to rationalise it away or ignore it, particular if the evidence concerned doesn’t fit in with their world view.

But perhaps the real reason for Judas’ question is contained in the Message translation of today’s verses from John 14:22-24a, “Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?” “Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. … “. We pilgrims do indeed live in a “loveless world“, where strife and selfishness abound.

We are salt and light in our families, communities, workplaces, churches, and in any place where we have the opportunity to share the love of God. The people around us stumble around in a dark place where God cannot be seen. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God”. We pilgrims are light-bearers bringing light and life to counter the darkness and death of our world. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the look on someone’s face when they see the “light” for the first time.

Father God. We read in Your Word that we have Your “light shining in our hearts”, something that we are truly grateful for. Amen.

Obedient Love

Posted on by korgrocker

“Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
John 14:21 NLT

“Accept and obey”, Jesus said. The trouble is, too many people will accept the veracity and appropriateness of His commands, but when it comes to obeying them, it’s a different story. So much of what Jesus taught is counter-cultural and, consequently, life-changing if it is followed. Take for example the Beatitude, “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth” (Matthew 5:5). The secularists in the workplace will promote the opposite, saying things like, “Those who shout the loudest will reap the rewards”, or, “If you don’t push yourself forward you’ll miss out”.  There is no humility present on the promotion ladder. A bit further on in the Beatitudes, we read, “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” Matthew 5:10). Those people with the courage to defy the authorities by standing outside an abortion clinic, doing right by silently praying for those who enter in, are persecuted, arrested and, if the politicians have their way, will soon be incarcerated just because of their prayerful thoughts.

As we read further through the Sermon on the Mount,  we find commandments that are impossible, humanly speaking, to keep. In Matthew 5:21-22 we read, “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell”. The Pharisees claimed that they were ok because they hadn’t murdered anyone. Jesus said different. Another thorny area is what Jesus said about judging others. “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2). And as for lust and divorce … but we won’t go there.

How do we show our love for Jesus by keeping His commandments, not just accepting them? How do we follow all His teaching? Jesus said to His disciples, and as recorded in Matthew 19:26, “Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible”“. In John 14:15 Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments”. But here’s the thing – straight after He said this, He said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you” (John 14:16). Jesus recognised that in their humanity, the disciples were never going to be able to keep His commandments, so He asked His father to send His indwelling Holy Spirit who would empower His followers to be obedient to all He had said. 

Thankfully, we pilgrims have Someone who is praying for us, as we tramp ever onwards towards our Heavenly goal. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have a Saviour who forgives us as we confess our sins, and as we allow the Holy Spirit to refine our lives day by day. We have a win-win faith because God sacrificed Himself for our salvation. No other religion comes anywhere close to this.

Dear Father. We can only bow before You, the God who saves, in deep gratitude and worship. Amen.

Spiritual Orphans Never

Posted on by korgrocker

“No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
John 14:18-20 NLT

The word “orphans”, meaning a vulnerable and parentless young person, is mentioned regularly in the Bible, and usually in the context we read in Psalm 82, “Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute” (Psalm 82:3). James 1:27 reads, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you“. In a society with a low life expectancy, it was commonplace to find a child without a parent and those more fortunate in the society were encouraged to help and support them. But orphans were abused and exploited by unscrupulous men and women, and God warned them of the consequences.

So against this backdrop, Jesus reassured His disciples that He would not abandon them “as orphans”. Jesus had been a spiritual Father to His disciples for the previous three years and they had learned so much about the Kingdom of God. This motley bunch of fishermen, a civil servant, zealots and others had seen and experienced miraculous signs and healings with the Man who claimed to be the Son of God. A Man who regularly pointed to His Father in Heaven but who also warned His friends around Him that soon He was going to leave the world and return to His home in Heaven. But Jesus was concerned for those He was going to leave behind. And the disciples would remember what Jesus had previously said about the way they would be treated, “But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me”Matthew 10:17-18). 

But in today’s verses from John 14, Jesus clearly stated to His disciples that He would soon disappear from the world around them. He could see His trial and death sentence coming, snatching Him away from His friends, but He then reassured them that He would reappear as a living person, alive once again, and soon afterwards. Although an orphan would be left hopeless and helpless by the death of their parents, Jesus promised that this would not happen to His disciples. The events of His death, resurrection and ascension into Heaven, would act as a backdrop to the first Day of Pentecost, where His disciples and others would be gifted with His presence through the Holy Spirit. They were going to be alright, He knew, and His few words of reassurance and comfort would be remembered by them over the dark days ahead.

What about us pilgrims? We have the assurance that we have a Heavenly Father who cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you”. That in itself is a reminder that we are not orphans. But we also know that Jesus is interceding for us; Romans 8:34, “Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us“. And we are also blessed with God’s presence through the Holy Spirit, the Gift that accompanies our Christian birth. Acts 2:38, “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. So we pilgrims are not spiritual orphans, regardless of our human circumstances, and never will be. Praise be to God!

Dear Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is amazing and mind-blowing to have such a Parent. With deeply humble thanks we worship You today. Amen.

The Indwelling One

Posted on by korgrocker

“If you love me, obey my commandments. 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.”
John 14:15-17 NLT

God created man with a physical body and a spirit. We all have these attributes but it is how we consider them that is important. The societies in which we live are full of people making their claims about diets and nutritional foods, all to help us live healthier or longer lives but little attention is paid to the spiritual side of our beings. This is left to the gurus and the yogis, the ministers and the rabbis and imams. But the relationship with God through the Holy Spirit is definitely only appreciated by a minority of people, with even many Christians wary of a contact with the third member of the Trinity. In our secular cultures, the Holy Spirit is generally ignored or avoided.

About the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognise him”. Why is that, do we think? One answer is that the devil has indeed blinded people’s eyes and senses, and propagated a lie about God. Another reason is that we live in a touchy feely world, where anything intangible or invisible is avoided and ignored, leaving an obscure academic cohort of philosophers to debate such things. But the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit is denied and ignored.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit visited certain people at a time of necessity to empower them for a particular task. For example, we read in Judges 6:34 how the Holy Spirit came upon Gideon, “Then the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power. He blew a ram’s horn as a call to arms, and the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him”. In 1 Samuel 16:13 we read, “So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah”. David was not only anointed with oil, he was anointed with the Holy Spirit as well. In the following verse, we see how the Holy Spirit departed from King Saul, “Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, … “.  

In John 14:17, Jesus also said, about the Holy Spirit, to His disciples,  “But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you”. An incredible verse, with Jesus perhaps saying that His presence and that of the Holy Spirit, were one and the same, but Jesus could see forward to the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to live in each one of the people present in that upper room, and has been available for every believer ever since. We can see the many occasions in the Acts of the Apostles where the Holy Spirit came to live with believers. 

Sadly, there are those today, who claim to be Christians, but who deny the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. In his book “The Normal Christian Birth”, David Pawson writes about the four factors present in a born again believer. We can also find them in Acts 2:38, “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. We repent of our sins, we believe in the Lord Jesus, we seek and realise baptism in water, and we receive the Gift of, or baptism in, the Holy Spirit. John 1:33, “I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptise with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit'”.

So, dear fellow pilgrim, have you received the gift of the Holy Spirit? Have you been baptised in the Holy Spirit, as John said of Jesus? Does He dwell within you? If not, then seek God today because the Holy Spirit is waiting at the door of your heart, ready to enter. And He will never leave you and He will lead you into all truth. How do I know? Well, Jesus said so. And Peter continued – Acts 2:39, “This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God”. 

Dear Father God. In this moment we reach out to You and receive once again a fresh infilling of Your Spirit. Your Spirit moves within us and changes a monochrome world into a vivid multi-colour world. Thank You. Amen.

The Advocate

Posted on by korgrocker

“If you love me, obey my commandments. 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.”
John 14:15-17 NLT

Who is this “Advocate”? The Amplified version of the Bible helps – “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counsellor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever—” (John 14:16). The impression emerges that there are insufficient words in the English language to describe who the Advocate is. The Greek word is parakletos, from where we get the word Paraclete, another description of the “Advocate”.

But we know who the “Advocate” is because He is the third Person of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit. And Jesus continued – “He … will never leave you” and “He … leads into all truth”. This is mind blowing! That God would condescend to live within us through the Person of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is beyond humbling. And the fact that he will never leave us … Through ever situation we are ever likely to encounter, God is there with us. Perhaps we comfortable Western believers can see how our brothers and sisters in other places in the world can look death in the face and overcome the persecution, the loss of property, the imprisonment and even death. God is with them and He never leaves them.

The Holy Spirit “leads [us] into all truth”. Earlier in John 14 Jesus said that He is the truth, and even though He isn’t with us in person, that truth is still with us. We find that the “truth” is in God’s Word and as Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). There are many customs in our modern times, many of them with dubious intentions, that don’t appear in the Bible, but it is amazing that there are Holy-Spirit-inspired principles to follow that apply today. For example, mobile phones didn’t exist in Jesus’ day, but we know how to use them in an honourable way through Biblical principles, the Holy Spirit providing us with guidance as we use them. And the Holy Spirit will lead us in our daily lives wherever we find ourselves. 

One of my favourite verses is in Acts 2, embedded in Peter’s amazing sermon following which three thousand people were saved. He described the Holy Spirit as being a Gift to all believers. “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Paul reminded all believers that the Holy Spirit lives within us. “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” (Romans 8:11). How can we pilgrims ever refuse this amazing God-gift? Free and powerful, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. No secular philosopher or scientist, atheist or otherwise, can ever make such a claim, as they fumble their way through a dark devil-inspired corridor of ultimate shame, searching for truths that are only found through our amazing God.

Heavenly Father. We praise and worship You, with gratitude for Your heavenly Gift, the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Comforter. Amen.