The Divine Helper

In our last look at John, we studied peace—the kind only God can give. Now imagine that you are with the disciples in the Upper Room listening to Jesus teaching and you hear Him say that He is leaving to return to the Father.  What would your first thoughts be?  Would you understand what He was talking about?  And if you did, would you fear a future without Him and His guidance?

I know I would!  If you were in the disciples’ shoes, how would you feel about being left in a hostile world without your Teacher?  Terrified, right?!  Jesus knew this, and He knew that the disciples could not carry out His work on their own, which is why He gave them this promise:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him…But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
​~John 14:16-17, 26

And this promise applies to us too as 21st century disciples of the Risen Christ!

​Have you ever been in a situation where you just wanted some help, whether it be physical help or simply guidance and direction?  We all need assistance at various points in our life, but instead of looking to the corrupt world for help, we should look to our Divine Helper, who was sent to us by God to guide and direct us as we walk this Christian life.  The word Helper is also translated Comforter, and our English word comfort comes from two Latin words meaning “with strength”.  So the Holy Spirit not only helps us live this Christian life and teaches us all we need to know, but also comforts us and fills us “with strength”!  What an encouragement!

As we’ve been reading and studying through the gospel of John, have you marveled at the life and ministry of Jesus and secretly wished that you could have been there to walk with Jesus and talk with Him in the physical body? I know I have a few times!  However, our Lord said that it was better for us that He go, for Jesus could not be everywhere at once, but the Holy Spirit can.  And Jesus could only be with the disciples, but the Holy Spirit would dwell in them.  As Warren Wiersbe explains in his BE commentary concerning John 14:

"During His earthly ministry, Jesus had guided, guarded, and taught His disciples, but now He was going to leave them.  The Spirit of God would come to them and dwell in them, taking the place of their Master.  Jesus called the Spirit “another Comforter,” and the Greek word translated “another” means “another of the same kind.”  The Spirit of God is not different from the Son of God, for both are God.  The Spirit of God had dwelt with the disciples in the person of Jesus Christ.  Now He would dwell in them."

So while we cannot physically run up to Jesus and dwell with Him, we have something better:  the third member of the Trinity dwelling in us.  And in light of this, the question I pose to you is…are YOU living your life in such a way that those around you can tell that you have the Spirit of the Living God dwelling within you?  And just as Jesus required those following Him to give Him everything, have YOU given the Holy Spirit every single square inch and corner of your heart so that He might dwell there comfortably without having to vie for space and supremacy?

May we be people who can easily be spotted as possessors of the Holy Spirit by the way we live, and may we always strive to make and keep our hearts worthy homes for our Divine Helper!

​“I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.”
~John 14:18