WHY DID JESUS PROMISE TO SEND
THE HOLY SPIRIT TO HIS FOLLOWERS?
BIBLE PASSAGE:
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away.
Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go,
I will send him to you.
(John 16:7)
MEDITATION:
Jesus made a promise to His disciples
(which includes those who follow Him today)
His promise:
When He was resurrected, He would send us an “Advocate”.
The dictionary defines “advocate” as:
“A person who publicly supports or
recommends a particular cause or policy”
Of course Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit, who He has sent
to support and guide believers in living as a child of God. We get
the Holy Spirit when we receive salvation from God (it’s part of
the salvation ‘package’ which also includes a ‘spiritual gift’).
The questions we need to ask ourselves include:
Have I discovered the spiritual gift God has given me?
What am I doing with the spiritual gift God I have received?
Would God give me a spiritual gift and not expect me to use it?
Do I respect the Holy Spirit enough to invite Him into my life
and create a righteous environment within me for Him to flourish?
Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to change my thoughts, words,
emotions, habits, and attitudes as part of His transformation
(sanctification) process of molding me to become more like Jesus?
What things can I point to in my life, which are
indications that the Holy Spirit is changing me?
God did not save us to sit. He has a purpose and desire for every
person to ask for, and receive His salvation. Consequently He has
given us the ‘tools’ to be a part of His effort and we will be held
accountable for what we have done with what He has provided.
The Holy Spirit is the third prong of the Trinity
(God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit).
He is not a thing, but a person.
The Bible tells us that He:
Teaches
(John 14:26)
Has an Godly and infinite intellect
(1 Corinthians 2:11)
Has a will
(Hebrews 2:4)
Has emotion (love)
(Romans 15:30)
Speaks
(Revelation 2:7; Acts 13:2)
Witnesses (testifies)
(John 15:26; Romans 8:16)
Guides
(Romans 8:14; John 16:13)
Convicts
(John 16:7-8)
Commands
(Acts 8:29)
Helps us with our weaknesses and prayers
(Romans 8:26)
Reaches out to sinners
(Genesis 6:3)
Performs miracles
(Acts 8:39)
Can be obeyed
(Acts 10:19-20)
Can be lied to
(Acts 5:3)
Can be resisted
(Acts 7:51)
Can be grieved
(Ephesians 4:30)
Can be quenched
(1 Thessalonians 5:19)
Can be insulted
(Hebrews 10:29)
Can be blasphemed (spoken against)
(Matthew 12:31)
Is eternal
(Hebrews 9:14)
Is omnipresent (always present)
(Psalm 139:7)
Is omniscient (all-knowing)
(1 Corinthians 2:10-11)
Is omnipotent (all-powerful)
(Luke 1:35; Job 33:4)
Regenerates (renews) us
(Titus 3:4-5)
Dwells within us
(Judges 14:19; John 14:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 3:16)
Seals us in Christ
(Ephesians 1:13; 4:30)
Guarantees our inheritance
(2 Corinthians 5:5)
Baptizes us
(1 Corinthians 12:13)
Fills us
(Ephesians 5:17-20)
There are many more scriptures which show us the importance of the
Holy Spirit in our lives, and why we should embrace His presence.
Spend some time reading all the Bible tells us about the Holy Spirit.
ACTION:
After reading the scriptures listed above and learning more about
the Holy Spirit, we can see why it was important for Jesus to send
Him to His disciples (both then and now).
Every believer who claims to be
a follower of the Lord needs to ask themselves:
“What will I do with the Holy Spirit in my own life?”
“Will I just acknowledge He was sent by the Lord and
recognize His availability, or will I embrace His
presence, and ask Him to fill me completely?”
Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit, but we have to make
a choice to invite Him into our lives and allow Him to remold us into
people who are more pleasing to our Heavenly Father (which means
we have been transformed with new priorities, attitudes, etc.). When
we are filled with the Holy Spirit, there is less room in our life for things
that displease the Lord.
How can we know if we have been filled with the Holy Spirit?
When we are filled to overflowing, there are some things that
will spill over for all to see – they are listed in Galatians as the
‘fruit of the Spirit’.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such
things there is no law.
(Galatians 5:22-23)
Have you been “filled” with the Spirit, or do you just have
an intellectual knowledge of His presence and availability?
Do you have a spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
Think about how each one of these ‘fruits’
is either evident, or missing in your own life.
– How are you showing love through your attitudes, words, and
actions? Are your acts of love an effort to feed your own ego
and receive accolades from others, or do you express love out
of a genuine concern you have for others you know, and some
you don’t know, but come in contact with?
– Can others detect the joy in your life as a follower of Jesus?
Do others feel the warmth of your smile, and enjoy your
attitudes? Is your joy in the Lord contagious enough to
create a desire in others to know Him and receive God’s
salvation?
– Do you have an unusual peace that others can see in you, or
would they consider you as someone who is tense and stressed?
Are you more of a peacemaker or a troublemaker? Do you feed
or defuse turmoil? Do you look for the good things in others, or
do you frequently point out the flaws in others? Jesus warned
us about being critical of others:
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your
brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in
your own eye? How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all
the time there is a plank in your own eye?
(Matthew 7:3-4)
– How would you rate your patience? Are there any areas where
you would consider yourself impatient and intolerant? Even
worse, do you have zero patience when you see others doing
things differently than you would? If that describes you, you
might have an ‘attitude controlling’ egotism that is preventing
the love of Jesus from being shown in your life. Out of seven
things God HATES, egotistical and arrogant pride (haughty eyes)
is listed at the top.
There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are
detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands
that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked
schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false
witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up
conflict in the community.
(Proverbs 6:16-19)
Haughtiness is defined as:
Someone who is described as “haughty” is proud in the
worst way. This is not the pride a parent feels for a child
who’s worked hard at something, and it’s not the pride a
marathoner feels for completing a race. The word haughty
communicates a kind of pride that is obviously full of
contempt for others deemed inferior or unworthy.
– How do you express kindness toward others? Do you obey God’s
command to ‘consider the needs of others ahead of your own needs’,
or are you more focused on yourself most of the time? Do most of
your conversations revolve around you, your possessions, your
talents, and your family, or do you ask others about themselves
and look for opportunities to encourage them?
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
not looking to your own interests but each of you
to the interests of the others.
(Philippians 2:3-4)
– What acts of goodness do you show toward others? Do you go out
of your way (sacrifice) to encourage and brighten the lives of others?
Are you sensitive to the needs of others, or do you convince yourself
that someone else is (or needs to be) attending to them? How often do
you make a special effort to encourage others (even if it means you
will have to inconvenience yourself, or leave your ‘comfort zone’)?
Do you allow Satan to control you with thoughts like,
“They don’t encourage me, so why should I encourage them?”
That’s not the attitude Jesus had, and it should not be an attitude
of His followers either.
– How are you proving to God, yourself, and others that your faith is
real? Are you still choosing to ‘go your own way’ in some areas of
your life? Have you been guilty of excusing your attitudes, actions
and disobedience with comments like,
“That’s just the way I am. People need
to get over it and accept me as I am.”
– Would others describe you as gentle, or harsh and wanting to have
your own way (and even being inflexible and inconsiderate at times)?
Do others enjoy being around you because you have a positive and
uplifting impact on their lives, or would they choose to limit the time
they are around you, due to your attitude and actions?
– How much self-control do you have in your life? Are you allowing
yourself to be controlled by your passions, emotions, and selfishness?
Do you show self-control by forfeiting some things you want to do, so
you can do what the Lord asks you to do? When the Lord plants ideas
in our minds, we can ignore them, make excuses for not doing them,
blatantly choose to be disobedient, or we can embrace them and act
on them, even if it causes us an inconvenience, or takes us out of our
‘comfort zone’. We will be held accountable for how we respond.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, You and I both know which fruits
of the Spirit are missing in my life. Whenever any of
these fruits are missing, it shows that I that I have not
been filled with Your Spirit and I have not completely
surrendered to Your Will. Help me to allow more of
the Spirit into my life so that I can be more pleasing to
You, and become a greater witness by the way I live my
transformed life. Your Word tells me of His availability
and I ask You today to completely fill me with Your Spirit
so the ’fruits of the Spirit’ will be evident in my life.”
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