Spirit of Truth

John 14: 16 – 17

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.

Yesterday we saw the impact of truth on our lives. Because Jesus is the way to the Father, and he is the truth then the truth is the way to the Father. It is interesting, then, that as Jesus was about the leave planet earth, he made this statement about the Spirit of Truth to his followers.

As we go forward, I hope every time you hear “truth” you will think of Jesus saying, “I am the truth,” (John 14: 6). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth which makes perfect sense since he is the Spirit of Jesus. When Jesus left earth, he sent a helper. It turns out the helper he sent is truth, that is the Spirit of Truth. Ultimately, truth is an aide to you. I think that was apparent in yesterday’s Word of the Day. It is truth which leads us into divine integration. You and I are consistently assisted by truth because Jesus is the truth and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Jesus told us that the Spirit was to be with us forever which means that we were designed to live in and with truth all the days of our lives including our life in eternity. Can you see, then, how offensive untruths are to the Kingdom of God and its inhabitants? There can be no falsehood, white lies or deception in the Kingdom. None!

The world does not know the Spirit and it can’t because it doesn’t know truth. Those who will not accept and acknowledge truth cannot know the Spirit. The Spirit and truth are inseparable. However, Jesus said you can both see him and know him. When you embrace truth, then you make a resting place for the Spirit of Truth. When you embrace the lie, he cannot dwell with you. In the beginning, the Spirit was hovering over the formless mass of the earth. He was brooding, waiting, prepared and ready for the Father to speak. When the Father spoke, the Spirit brought forth whatever Yahweh said.

The Spirit of Truth is hovering over you right now. He is prepared and listening. When you speak truth and faith, he becomes energized to operate in that space. What, do you imagine, is his response to lack of truth or outright falsehood. I imagine that he is stripped of his power in that space. He operates in the light, draws his power from the light. If we dwell in darkness and deception, I believe we handicap the Spirit of Truth. Life and love operate in and by truth. That is how the world was created. It can create in our lives too.

Part Three

John 16: 13 – 14

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.

Jesus said that it was to our advantage that he go away because he was going to send the Holy Spirit (John 16: 7). I’ve got to say that when I read that for the first time I was really surprised and I had a hard time believing it. How can we be better off without Jesus here? As we continue to read chapter 16 we begin to understand what Jesus was conveying to us. The Holy Spirit is a powerful ally. He is a comforter and a teacher, a guide and a constant helper. I do not believe, however, that we (the church) have a revelation of the Holy Spirit. There is so much more about this third person of the trinity than we are experiencing.

Did you know that you can have a relationship with the Holy Spirit the way that we have relationships with Jesus and the Father? He will even speak to you. Well, I suppose that is really quite apparent if you think about it. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth so how would he do that if he didn’t speak to us? Furthermore, today’s message from Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will “speak” whatever he hears. So there it is in plain language. None the less, many times we do not embrace this idea of communicating with the Spirit.

 So what is he disclosing? Jesus says that the Spirit takes what is Jesus’ and discloses it to us. That is his role. Jesus goes on to say that whatever the Father has is his so whatever the Father or Jesus have, that is what the Spirit is here to give you. Now I am thinking that is pretty huge. He is going to take whatever Jesus knows and disclose it to us. Is anyone hearing this as big as it sounds to me? The Holy Spirit is here to disclose to us everything that Jesus has and Jesus has everything that the Father has.

It seems to me that a worthy goal might be to get to know the Holy Spirit. We are missing out on too much and not taking advantage of the Father’s plan. To develop or further develop your relationship with the Holy Spirit is, I believe, as simple as talking to him. Tell him your desire to get to know him. Begin to communicate with him daily and give him your questions. He has been sent here to help us so let’s cooperate with his purpose. Get to know the third person of the Trinity.