John 14:15-31
Jesus Promises the Spirit of Truth
15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31 but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
John 14:6
Jesus is Truth
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Galatians 5:16-26
Life by the Spirit
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Hebrews 6:17-20
Hope is the Anchor to our Soul
17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
The Holy Spirit is a mystery, but He is there...He is there because Jesus says He is there...But I take heart in many of God's mysteries (the Trinity is a Great Mystery), because I do not understand many things, yet I see that they work -like my hearing, my seeing, and my thinking...These things are just there and they work...Most of the time, I do not even care to know how they work, as long as they do work...So learn to take heart in God's Great mysteries...Believing in my Holy Spirit gives me great hope for eternal life...
The Holy Spirit that Jesus told us that His Father would send, has several names...He calls the Holy Spirit, an Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, a Helper, and a Counselor...The Holy Spirit is always searching and guiding us for Truth and to the Truth...When we follow the Holy Spirit we fee our faith is being strengthened and we are closer to God...When we are in fellowship with our Holy Spirit, we can better feel the Presence of God...When we sin, we are led away from our Holy Spirit by the sin or sins we commit...We need to constantly confess to our LORD that we have sinned...If we live by our sinful nature, it is in very much contrary to the Holy Spirit, and we are not in fellowship with God, or close to Jesus...Our sinful nature and the sins we commit conflict with our Holy Spirit and we become out of sorts, and feel very much out of step in our lives...We can feel this constant conflict in our minds and hearts that Paul writes about...
The Holy Spirit in us wants us to be positive and think positive about love, forgiveness, and the things that Jesus teaches us...Negative things bring on negative thoughts, and negative behavior and negative feelings...The Holy Spirit is guiding us to the Truth, with is always good and always positive...The Holy Spirit is in our souls and He is there with hope, and hope anchors the soul...
We are more in sync with our lives when we are filled with the Holy Spirit...When the Disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit after Jesus had ascended, they showed and spoke great acts of faith...The Holy Spirit came upon many during the first acts of the apostles...These people were changed when they heard about Jesus and became aware of the indwelling of their Holy Spirit...They realized that Jesus was the Savior that had came to save our world...
When we are close to Jesus and trust in Him that He is our Messiah, we are better equipped to be aware of the Holy Spirit...Sin keeps us away from Jesus...Confessing our sins to His Father brings us back a little closer to Him...We need to stay close to God, by studying the Bible and His Word...We need to take the time each day to give Him thanks and praise...We need to stay in contact with God through our prayers...Learning and studying His word helps in these things...
The Holy Spirit is there guiding us to the Truth, and trying to comfort us...The Holy Spirit maybe what is comforting us with time and His soothing of us during our great times of grief, our times of troubles, and our times of sadness...We wonder at those exact present moment times of deep grief -how am I going to get through these troubles and this grief?...But over time the grief has left you or the suffering has lessened or left you, as you cling to Jesus and His hope...I sometimes think it is the Holy Spirit that was what got me through those hard times of troubles...And though the comforting did not take place in one grand instant -as I look back I feel I may have been comforted through that time, with the Comforter that Jesus spoke of...How else, could we lose a best friend or our mother or father without some Great Comforter helping us...The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...When these positive things fill our minds, these are truly the fruits of the Holy Spirit will help you through life...