John 14:15-28
Jesus' Promises the Holy Spirit, the Counselor
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counselor, 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. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.
Jesus assured us that with His departure from earth He would not leave us as orphans...He would send us the Holy Spirit, the Counselor to a new way to pray to Him, see Him and talk to Him, by opening a door for the Counselor to enter...And in our prayers it is a cooperation with God, a consent that shows us His Grace...And for those with faith, The Counselor like God, most of the time the Counselor works so subtly what happens around us seems like a part of our lives...With the Counselor it is easier to free our hearts of trouble...
Like God talking to the Great Prophet Elijah, God comes often in a whisper...God told Elijah, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.”...And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind...And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake...And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire...And after the fire the sound of a low whisper...Could this be God?...And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave...And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”...Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts...God had come to him in a whisper...
Philip Yancey says this about the Holy Spirit...“I know Christians who yearn for God's older style of a power-worker who topples pharaohs, flattens Jericho's walls, and scorches the priests of Baal...I do not...I believe the kingdom now advances through grace and freedom, God's goal all along...I accept Jesus' assurance that His departure from earth represents progress, by opening a door for the Counselor to enter...We know how Counselors work: not by giving orders and imposing changes through external force...A good Counselor works on the inside, bringing to the surface dormant health...For a relationship between such unequal partners, prayer provides an ideal medium...Prayer is cooperation with God, a consent that opens the way for grace to work...Most of the time the Counselor communicates subtly: feeding ideas into my mind, bringing to awareness a caustic comment I just made, inspiring me to choose better than I would have done otherwise, shedding Light on the hidden dangers of temptation, sensitizing me to another's needs...God's Spirit whispers rather than shouts, and brings peace not turmoil...Although such a partnership with God may lack the drama of the bargaining sessions with Abraham and Moses, the advance in intimacy is striking...The partnership binds so tight that it becomes hard to distinguish who is doing what, God or the human partner...God has come that close.”...