God has blessed us with the Holy Spirit as our guide. This daily devotional looks at how the Holy Spirit bears witness to us and helps us witness.
Nuggets
- Jesus told the disciples that, though He had to leave them, He was sending a Comforter.
- The Holy Spirit tells us of Jesus as our Savior.
- The Holy Spirit helps us bear witness to others.
Devotions in the Never Alone: The Holy Spirit in Our Lives series
We are starting a new quarter in our Sunday Morning Bible Study. It is going to be a really good study. We are going to be looking at the Holy Spirit and how He guides us.
First, the Holy Spirit convicts us. Let’s see what John recorded when Jesus told the disciples He would send the Comforter.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Sending the Holy Spirit
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father …” (Jn. 15: 26 EVS)
Jesus told the disciples that, though He had to leave them, He was sending a Comforter.
The disciples would have jumped right 0n that. They were upset that Jesus was leaving.
Now, Jesus was saying there would be Someone else to be there with them – and us.
That was going to help the disciples and will help us. They were persecuted – and we will be, too.
We have a Comforter to help us through those times.
It isn’t just about soothing our hurt feelings. We aren’t just talking physical here.
We are talking a spiritual Comforter. That is what our trials are about.
The Holy Spirit is described as a Person.
Yet, the Holy Spirit doesn’t act alone. He is part of the Trinity. The Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three distinct Persons within one indivisible Divine nature.
Glossary
The function of the Holy Spirit is to act as an intermediary between God and mankind.
Look at it this way. God the Father is self-existent. That is because He was not created by another and is accountable to no other entity.
God designed the Plan of Salvation where He sent Jesus to be our Savior. Jesus would not have come if He had not been sent.
Then Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be sent by the Father to be our Comforter and Guide.
The Holy Spirit Bears Witness
“… he will bear witness about me” (Jn. 15: 26 EVS)
The Holy Spirit tells us of Jesus as our Savior.
As we witness and testify to others, the Holy Spirit is the one to prompt sinners of their need for Jesus.
We lead others to Jesus. God saves them.
It doesn’t matter what people have done. If they admit they are sinners, believe in Jesus, and confess God as our Father.
God meets us where we are at. He comes to us as who we are.
After that, the sanctification comes. Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
What the Holy Spirit is showing us is the truth. “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14: 6 CSB).
The truth sets us free of our self absorption. We learn to focus on God instead of ourselves.
Maclaren reminded us that “… he will bear witness about me” (Jn. 15: 26 EVS) means the witness will be to believers, not non-believers. That is logical.
Resource
We know the Scriptures only gives us an introduction to God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit reveals more to us.
We Bear Witness
“And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning” (Jn. 15: 27 EVS)
The Holy Spirit helps us bear witness to others.
There is the expectation that we will witness to expand God’s kingdom after God has revealed Himself to us.
We can only witness through the power of God. It is not us doing the convicting — it is Him.
We each have the truth as God has revealed it to us. We each know the essential doctrines. We each have our conversion story.
No, it may not have the Hollywood splash that Paul’s conversion had, but we can still tell how Jesus saved us from the darkness of our sin and brought us into the light. We can tell of forgiveness and hope.
Lockhart said the Holy Spirit does this by “… [carrying] home the truth in power to the hearts of those to whom it is addressed, and by His sweet constraint leads them to yield to the Saviour and to put their trust in Him.”
Resource
We witness by our testimony. What is our testimony?
- We testify of the need for a Savior because of our sin.
- We testify that Savior is Jesus.
- We testify that accepting Christ as our Savior adopts us into the family of God.
- We testify of God’s call to holiness.
Making the Connections
“But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you” (Mt. 12: 28 NLT)
The Holy Spirit is real. Through the Spirit, Jesus was able to cast out demons.
Jesus said that, when the Spirit is within us, the kingdom of God is also present.
How Do We Apply This?
Maclaren plainly told us we need to read the Scriptures. He wrote, “If Christians will not read their Bibles, they need not expect to have the words of these Bibles interpreted and made real to them by any inward experience.”
Resource
- We must exercise self-discipline.
- Make sure salvation is at the heart level.
- We are called to be witnesses.
- We must search for and seek God.
Resource
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Father God. We thank You that You sent Your Son Jesus to save us from our sins. Thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to prompt and instruct us. We long to grow closer to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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