Shared By: Pastor Jose V. Velasco, Jr.
Jesus explained to His disciples that very
soon He shall leave them. This saddened the disciples deeply. Thus He told them,
“It is for your good that I go away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not
come to you; but if I go I will send him to you” (Jn. 16:7). When Jesus left
the disciples after His resurrection the Holy Spirit came to them to minister
to their needs. That is what the Holy Spirit does up to the present. He is God
working in the lives of all believers. What are His roles?
Teacher. “But the Counselor, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and
remind you of everything I have said to you” (Jn. 14:26). This pertains to
truth or doctrines. What He teaches will be in line with what Christ has
already taught. In our case when we study the Bible, hear a sermon, or read a Christian literature the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the truth.
Counselor. The Holy Spirit is
called Counselor (Jn. 14:16, 26;15:26). One work of a counselor is to advise.
After Jesus went to heaven the Holy Spirit was always present with His
disciples advising them in their activities. The Holy Spirit advised Peter to
join three men to go to Caesarea (Acts 10:19). He advised a praying group, “Set
apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts
13:2).One time, Paul and company were advised by the Holy Spirit to avoid going
to some places in their missionary journey because God has something else for
them to do (Acts 16:6-7). That is what He does to us also if we commit unto God
all our undertakings.
The Holy Spirit sanctifies. To
sanctify means to make holy. It means to transform us to be like God because
God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). It includes cleansing us from all sins and infusing
us with a Christ-like life and spirit. This is the sole work of the Holy Spirit,
not ours (2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Thess. 2:13). All we need to do is to acknowledge our
sins and mistakes, confess them to God and ask Him to forgive and cleanse us.
Then the Holy Spirit works in our lives to do this cleansing and renewal.
The
Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment (Jn. 16:8). A
big pitfall to believers is blindness to sin and unrighteousness. The goal of
the devil is to confuse us morally, disabling us to distinguish between good
and evil. And thus we may be sinning even unknowingly. So the Holy Spirit will
open our minds to know the difference between good and evil. And when we sin He
disturbs our conscience and we feel guilty. But when we do the good the Holy
Spirit affirms us and we feel happy, satisfied and fulfilled. Judgment is the
feeling of condemnation and guilt when we sin. The Holy Spirit causes this in
us and we lose our peace and joy. We spiritually get disconnected from God.
The Holy Spirit strengthens us. Paul
says, “I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power
through his Spirit in your inner being” (Eph. 3:16). In trials and temptations
the Holy Spirit will strengthen and empower us to overcome.
So, the Holy Spirit is constantly with us to
provide all our needs for full Christian living. When we pray for help God sends the Holy
Spirit in answer to our prayer.
Prayer:
Father God, thank you for your being with us through your Holy
Spirit. Help us to avail ourselves to all the help that the Holy Spirit
provides. In Jesus’ holy name. Amen.
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