February 24, 2021
John 14:15-17, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
Here is this important promise from Jesus about the coming of the Holy Spirit. The word for “helper” is a famous one that you might have heard before: it is often known as the “paraclete.” Paraclete comes from the Greek παράκλητος (paráklētos). This is the first time this word is found in the Bible. It’s a combination of "para" (beside/alongside) and "kalein" (to call). The Holy Spirit is called to come alongside you and be with you in all that you do. This is where Jesus finds the power to say “greatest things than these you will do” in previous verses. Jesus, then, as member of the Trinity, will never really be apart from them, even after he ascends into Heaven. This helper will not only propel the mission of the church forward after the Great Commission and into the early church as recorded in Acts, he will help us to ‘keep my commandments.’ The Spirit is the one who convicts us of sin, helps us to resist sin, and to feel comforted in the face of sin based on God’s promises. Use this time to confess sin, to ask the Holy Spirit to show you your sin, not so that you can bask in your own self-defeat, but so that the Spirit can give you comfort in reminding you of Christ.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, show me my sin. Show me where I am weak or suffer from unbelief. And remind me of my salvation in Christ and the assurance I have in being a child of God forever. Thank you Lord, for making a way for me to be with you forever. Amen.
40 Days of Joy: Check out this music video for Chance the Rapper’s “Sunday Candy.” You can find it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4ooH8frBWg; it’s a song about going to church with his grandma as a kid. I love the joy here - the diversity here, and the emphasis on church as a source of life-giving rain.
