Hi All
John 13-17 are a series of chapters set around the last few days of Jesus’s life. In these he attempts to get through to his disciples that he is going to die, and he promises the Holy Spirit to them, they won’t be left as orphans. I believe that the person of the Holy Spirit is one that we need in our lives. We need his help to guide and keep us on the narrow way we are called to follow. I pray that you may be empowered by him this week
John 14 vs. 15-21 – The Promise of The Holy Spirit
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,
For it seeks after the things of the flesh which are at enmity to the Spirit, for him they don’t seek or wait
You are called to seek after those things which are good, to avoid evil and flee the devil and his whims
Jesus calls us to avoid the wide way which leads to destruction and to follow him through the narrow gate
We can’t do this on our own and for this reason we have the Spirit who leads us in truth, we need him
For he know God’s word and is able to help us to interpret what we read and hear into an intelligible state
For we need assurance that we know and are led in the truth by the Spirit, for the world can’t 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. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world
Would no longer see Jesus and he was trying to prepare the disciples for his death which would ensue
For his resurrection and the tumultuous time they would face and for them to have faith in his solemn word
They would no longer have Jesus in their presence and they needed help to these changes understand
And the promise of the Holy Spirit to them was something they at this point unable to grasp, hold in view
They weren’t prepared for life without Jesus and couldn’t comprehend what he was saying or did intend
The next weeks were going to be ones which radically change not only their lives, but that of 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.
Jesus promises to them that they would see him again, and they would His Lordship comprehend
That he was one with God and that in him they had life and they could keep him in view
Faith is about holding on to what is true, like Thomas often we want proof and on that we depend
Blessed are those who believe without having seen, God’s desire is that we hold to what is true
Thomas got to see the physical evidence; today we have the whole word on which we depend
Jesus’ desire is that we know that he is one with his Father, we are in him, and he is in you
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.”
We are called to be his disciples and demonstrate this by our love one for another, each and every day
Our challenge to Love the Lord our God with all we are, to love our neighbours all of them
God calls us to be in relationship with him, and out of that relationship to love others who follow his way
Yet we struggle in our communities to be light and salt and often do little to flavour them
In this we need help and God has given us His Holy Spirit that we can hear his voice and his will obey
For he desires to stir up good work in us, will we fan into flame that from which the Spirit stems?
Mark Maffey, March 2008
(NLT)