“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  “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.” – John 16:12-13

Notes:

The night before Jesus was crucified, His disciples gathered around Him to break bread, and listen to some of His last words while He would be upon the earth.  A constant theme that circulated with Jesus was the Holy Spirit, and how absolutely important He is in the life of a believer. Jesus said that it is BETTER that He would go away, or else the Spirit would not come.   In our minds we think, “What would be better than Jesus being right next to us physically?”  But Jesus knew that as long as He was on the outside of us, then His work would ultimately be limited.  What Jesus did on the Cross allowed our earthly vessels to be cleansed in order to have the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus ascended into the heavens to sit at the right hand of the Father, it activated the appointed time for the Spirit of truth to come to us.  The Holy Spirit is therefore essential to walk victoriously in Christ.  According to Ephesians 3:14-21, He gives us the ability to walk the walk.  To try to live our lives in obedience to Christ without the Helper and His graces is simply to live in struggle and failure. The Holy Spirit is not merely a force, but a person. He has feelings, a personality, and a will.  He enables our hearts and lives to be Holy, as God is Holy.  

He reveals to us truth about Christ and allows us to minister to others in supernatural way (the gifts of the Spirit), and His main purpose is to glorify the risen Christ.  He empowers us for ministry and to share the gospel.        

Willing to Take the Challenge?

We can live our lives trying to live the Christian life in our own strength, or we can live it according to the strength of the Spirit of Christ, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight.  Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be our teacher as well as our comforter.  If the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, how much could we, through being sensitive to His voice, affect this world?