“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning... I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you." — John 15:26-27 and 16:1-4 (NIV)
Imagine How It Must Have Looked
Let me paint a little word picture for you. It's the Last Supper. Jesus leans to one side as He shares the Passover meal with his closest friends. They're all reclining too. John the Beloved is resting his head on Jesus’s shoulder.
Jesus looks at the Passover table, at the lamb slaughtered to remind the Jews that the redemption of their people out of the bondage of slavery had required a sacrifice. He thinks of the horrific week that lays before Him, ending in His crucifixion. Taking a deep breath, He glances round at the men who had become his family and begins talking.
As He's speaking, everyone begins to realize that He's telling them goodbye.
He tells them that He's going to be betrayed, and it would be by one of them. Everyone sits bolt upright at that revelation, starting to deny that such a thing could ever be! Then, amid all the loud protests and proclamations, Judas quietly slips out.
Jesus tells Peter that Peter would deny him. Peter flatly refuses to believe it's true.
Christ confirms that He's leaving them, and that where He's going they can't follow. That their time together is at an end.
And then He tells them of the persecution they will endure after his death.
What a devastating conversation that must have been! For three years, the disciples had been building their lives around this man. They traveled with him. Ate with him. Learned from him. They were forever changed because of His investment in them. They had accepted him as their Lord, and now He was leaving?
How hard for the disciples to conceive of a life without Jesus. It must have been bewildering. Terrifying. They depended on Jesus for everything, so what could they possibly do without Him?
This was not the end they anticipated! Their hope was for Jesus to lead an army that could throw out the Romans. They had dared to believe that the Jews would once again be free and living under the teaching of this great master.
And now? Jesus was going to leave them alone.
To them, it must have seemed that it had all been for nothing.
How could they know? How could they understand that Jesus’ ministry, far from being over, was about to multiply in a way entirely unachievable if He stayed with them on earth.
All they could see was their immediate loss.
Jesus then offered a ray of hope.
Imagine How It Must Have Felt
When He spoke of a helper that He'd send, it must have sounded like a poor comfort. A helper, Jesus said.
Helper for what?
Was Jesus going to send someone to help them with their grief, their pain? Was he going to send someone to help them to figure out what to do next? What could possibly replace what they were about to lose? To them, nothing could replace Jesus walking with them, talking with them every day.
I don’t think that we can really blame them for that perspective. It’s no wonder the disciples were confused: Jesus was about to reshape the very fabric of the universe.
What came at Pentecost was a first in the history of the world. The first in the history of anywhere. Never before had the Lord of the universe come to live within anyone. Never had there been an opportunity for everyone to invite the king of creation to be part of them.
Gentiles, Jews, man, woman, slave, free... Everyone was invited to the party!
How could those twelve simple men possibly have understood that they were about to experience a bigger miracle than any that Jesus had performed before? They were on the threshold of something mind-bendingly wondrous, but their immediate response to this incredible news was sadness and fear. Jesus they knew. Jesus they loved. This “helper” that Jesus spoke of was an unknown commodity.
Sometimes we react the same way to the Holy Spirit, don’t we? We have a way to change our whole being, our whole world, right at our fingertips. All we have to do is to let the Spirit do his job. We have to let the Helper help us.
Sadly though, more often than not, we sideline the Holy Spirit and strike out on our own, secure in our own strength. We do our best to complete a work that was never meant for us to do alone, and we’re disappointed and, if we’re honest, sometimes a little angry at God when we don’t succeed. We turn to God and his Spirit as a last resort rather than the place to start.
A short time later, the disciples were hiding in a room at Pentecost. They were terrified that the authorities were going to hunt them down and kill them as they had killed Jesus. Grief and fear ruled them — and then the Spirit came as a rushing wind that blew away that grief and fear, washing them clean of their doubts and disappointments. The Spirit breathed on them and flooded every cell of their bodies with his presence.
The Spirit came upon them and they went out and changed the world.
We Don't Have to Imagine
We can do that, too. We can allow the Spirit to do his work within us. We can let Him blow away our fears, our doubts, and our pain. We can welcome his presence within us. We can change the world for Christ. We just need to let go of some of our self-sufficiency and pride and admit that we can’t do the work that is for God alone to do.
So why don’t we? Why don’t we let the Spirit in?
Maybe we don’t because we haven’t really encountered him yet. If that’s the case with some of you, I encourage you to try an experiment. In your prayer time, perhaps you might tell God that you want everything that he means for you to have. Invite the Holy Spirit to come and dwell inside you. God is faithful. He wants to answer that prayer. He is desperate to answer that prayer. He has been waiting your whole life for you to ask.
Try it and see what happens!
If you’re a little anxious about trying such a thing on your own, let me know. I’d be thrilled to pray with you for you to receive God’s
special gift for you.
Sometimes, though, we already know the Holy Spirit. We’ve seen the amazing things that he can do. We’ve experienced his power in our life, but we have forgotten something very important. We have forgotten that the infilling of the Holy Spirit is not a one and done deal. It is a process of constant filling and refilling. We need to be refreshed, but we forget to ask.
Trying to do the will of God without the help of the Holy Spirit is like trying to race at Daytona Beach with an empty tank of gas. We can push on the accelerator all we want, but we’re not going much of anywhere. If you haven’t taken the time to ask God to refill your
tank, why don’t you do that right now? It makes a huge difference in our walk to walk it in the power of the Spirit.
Sometimes, though, quite frankly, we just don’t want the Holy Spirit to be involved with our daily lives. It’s okay for him to show up at tent revivals, and we always want him to be available when we need healing or some other mighty miracle, but dealing with him every day? That could be troublesome. After all, he might not like some of the things that we want to do. We don’t want him to interfere with our plans. We have things well worked out, thank you very much! Inviting him into the situation could upset the whole apple cart.
I don't disagree.
When the Holy Spirit comes in, God's agenda is the only one he cares about! So, for the Spirit to work in power, we need to be
willing to set aside all our good ideas and expectations.
Easy to say, hard to do.
I can say from personal experience that it does get easier with practice. Let him in and, who knows? He might come up with a plan that’s better than ours.
The disciples took that scary step and let the Holy Spirit in. He helped them do the impossible. Twelve simple men from a Jewish backwater changed the face and the fate of the known world. They stepped out in faith and told their story. They told Jesus’ story, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, it spread and spread. Because of them and their willingness to work with the Spirit, we are still telling Jesus’ story over two thousand years later. Not bad for a bunch of fishermen and a tax collector!
Their witness is proof that God can take anything that we offer Him and transform it into something awesome.
God Wants to Send His Helper to You
The trick is, though, that we first have to offer. We have to step out into that scary place of commitment and offer ourselves to whatever God wants to do with us. Whatever he wants to do. That’s something that he can work with. We are something he can work with.
Are you ready to pray that now? If you don't know what words to say to God, I offer you these to use:
Dear Lord, I know that I have hesitated to let you into all of my life.
I've turned away from the great gift you have offered: Your Holy Spirit.
Lord, I’m done with turning away. I want all that you have for me.
Holy Spirit, I invite you into my life.
Fill me with your power. Refresh my soul. Renew my spirit.
I pray this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, I want to hear from you! I want to know what God does with what you offered him today. I’m sure it will be an amazing story, and it’s only just the beginning, folks! It’s only just the beginning.
