Is the Holy Spirit your
Counselor?
John 14:12-18
12. I tell you the truth; anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
14. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
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--
17. the 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. (NIV)
Who or what is the Spirit of truth? The Spirit of truth speaks of the Holy Spirit. In the Bible the Holy Spirit has many names, which describes or illustrates His works. First, let us establish that the Holy Spirit is a person with the attributes of a personality. He has Divine attributes that generate Divine works. It is difficult to form a picture of the Holy Spirit because we do not have a clear mental image of a body to describe Him. Because, we do not see Him, does not mean he does not exist. We can not see the wind, but know it is there, because we sense it by feeling the winds temperature as it blows by our body, and we see it's effects on the tree's when the leaves rustle and move. Yet, the wind is one way that describes the Holy Spirit regenerative work in every human being. In different translations of the scripture, (John 14:12-18), we have words such as helper, comforter, and counselor. In the Greek text, the word is "paracletos", which means; one called to the side of another for the purpose of helping him in any way. We have the promise when Jesus said, " I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." This was His prayer to the Father on the disciple's behalf, but it applies to us today. The Holy Spirit is one who would come along side of us to help and teach us during our Lord's absence here on Earth. It is the Holy Spirit that draws us towards Christ. The Spirit never bears witness of himself. He will always point to Christ. The Holy Spirit speaks of the Lordship of Christ. Is Jesus Lord? Did Jesus Christ come in the flesh? These questions are the test we should always make in regards to the Spirit, since there are false spirits roaming upon the earth that go around seeking someone to devour. We need to be aware of the truth as laid out in the "Word of God" and not just rely on a person's word, that what they speak is the truth. We can be assured that the Holy Spirit will always convict us of our sin, our unbelief, and point us to the righteousness of Christ. John 16:8 states, that He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement. Read the passage for yourself (John 16:7-11). It is the Holy Spirit that brings life to the Word of God. What I mean by this is, He illuminates God's word and brings understanding of its meaning into our hearts and mind. In our every day life, the Holy Spirit's purpose is to help us understand the Word of God, Jesus Christ's teachings, help us to worship God and glorify Christ, help us to grow in the image of Christ that we may bear good fruit such as holiness, righteousness, patience, love, joy and so forth.
We have the indwelling Spirit and the outpouring of the Spirit. The indwelling Spirit comes and resides within our heart when we have accepted Christ as Lord in our Life and realize that we are sinners in need of a Savior to cleanse us from our willful ways. To realize that we were living in darkness and under the power of Satan (a hard concept for many to believe), his influence {Satan} always points to our egotistical self and then degrades us of our humanity with various kinds of abuses. Is it any wonder that we are seeing a great decline today in regards to moral standards in our society? The indwelling Spirit helps and enables us to live for Christ, whereas the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon men is for witnessing and edifying the body of believers. The outpouring speaks of the gifts of the Spirit as describe in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11; "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." (KJV)
There has been some confusion as to the workings of the Holy Spirit and I have spent many hours asking the Lord in prayer for clarification through the 27 years of my walk in Christ. If there is one thing I can convey in this message is, that our worst enemy is our self. We must always strive to focus on who is the head of every church, home, family, and business. It is Christ Jesus and he alone. "Christ in me is to Live, to die is to gain." This should be our motto in our Christian walk. Paul stated this in Philippians 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (KJV) What are we dying of? What does Paul mean when he says, "to die is gain"? In establishing some meaning to this passage in a practical way, it means to die to our selfish ways; die to self confidence; die to self indulgence; die to self righteousness; and even die to self love, which breeds pride in all of our accomplishments. It is our pride that wants to put on a good show. It is our pride that wants to run the show our way and not His way. This is the very reason why we grieve the Holy Spirit. We all want to be our own boss. Until we can come to some agreement that we will allow the Spirit to reign in our lives, He will become distant in our life. The Holy Spirit is a perfect gentleman. He is not pushy, bossy, or conniving. He will not push Himself upon us. We have the choice. The Holy Spirit is pure, gentle and speaks within our hearts to reveal the truth of who we are. The Spirit filled life will always be contrary to the ways of the world. It will not boast or show off what it has, but will always points to Christ as the one who saves. A.W. Tozer asked this question, which we all should ask ourselves, "Is there anything bigger in your life than your desire to be a Spirit filled Christian"? Whatever is captivating and taking first place in your life has a specific hold on you; this will rule your life. Tozer made the statement, "Everyone has what he wants." In reality each one of us has what we want out of life. Tozer also made this statement, "You're as good a man as you want to be." "Your not as good a man as you think you want to be". Can we meet the conditions and the requirements of a Spirit Filled Life? It may cost you something. It cost the New Testament believer's their worldly possessions as well as their life. Some of us may go through a stripping, and or a refining process. However, there is no excuse for being alone when we have the Holy Spirit to guide us through the stripping and refining process in our walk as a Christian. He desires to help us in every aspect of our walk here on earth. When our Heavenly Father tests and disciplines us, the Holy Spirit will come to comfort and guide us if we yield ourselves to Him to perform the work within us. Do not get discouraged, but rather rejoice when you are feeling the resistance of change within your heart and you know you must change but you don't know how. If you encounter trials that are to overwhelming, you feel that you're at the end of your rope; then remember you are closer to God now then you think you are. The Holy Spirit is there willing to come along side you to help you along your way. He will be your counselor, helper and comforter. But, how can we to cultivate His guidance? We must yield our self-will to Him, then ask Him to come in and renew and change our hearts. After, the renewing of our hearts, we can then ask and believe that He will fill us with the indwelling and the outpouring of the Spirit as we learn to obey and walk with the Spirit as our helper, counselor and comforter just as the Word of God says. John 14:26, "But the Helper, 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 said to you." (NAS)
Written by Inge Schultz