Background Story: Jesus is days away from fulfilling His mission for coming to earth. As He speaks to His disciples the last teachings before the cross, He shares with them hope for what is to come.

Read John 14:15-27

¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and 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. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

²² Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³ Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

²⁵ “All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Big Idea: God is with Us.

In Isaiah 7:14, the prophet spoke of Jesus’ birth and said, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The word Immanuel or Emmanuel is translated as, “God With Us.” John 1:14 says that Jesus, “the Word”, “became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Jesus was physically with the disciples, eating, sleeping, and living among them. Yet when it was time for Jesus to go to the cross, He said something remarkable. He said in John 16:7, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

The disciples must have been shocked by this statement. What could be better than Jesus, the Son of God, physically walking with them? But Jesus promised them something better- the Holy Spirit. The word Advocate in the Greek is Paraklētos which means “the Helper.” Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit, the Helper, who would live with us and be in us.

These disciples who ran in fear, would stand boldly with the help of the Holy Spirit. The disciples who struggled to understand, would now have the Helper to teach them about God every day. The disciples who asked Jesus how to pray, would have the Helper to pray with them. Never alone, never abandoned, never outside of God’s presence, they would have the tangible, peace-giving, active presence of God with them at all times giving them the power to live the life God was calling them to.

And the amazing thing is- all of this is true for you and I today. God does not ask us to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, and then expect us to have the power to do the rest ourselves. No, God has given us the Holy Spirit, the Helper, to live with us and in us. He is the One who empowers us to walk boldly and victoriously with His power, peace, and wisdom.

You are not alone- the Helper is with you. Pray today, thanking God for the Holy Spirit, and surrendering yourself to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

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Dig Deeper: John 16:7-15, Isaiah 40:28-31, Zechariah 4:6, Romans 8:11, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:38-29, 1 John 4:4, Philippians 4:13

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