The Comfort and Power of the Helper

“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” (John 14: 15-17).

Jesus knew it would be difficult to love and obey Him in this rebellious world, especially when He went home to His Father. He promised His disciples a “Helper” that would actually live in them. The Greek word translated “Helper” here is paraklētos and it means intercessor, consoler, advocate, and comforter. But Jesus presented a condition for His disciples if they wanted to experience the full blessing of the Helper in their lives. Jesus taught that the fullness of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, was theirs if they loved Him and kept His commandments… “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper”. The Holy Spirit is a very personal and precious part of the Trinity. He is the person of God that actually… “Dwells with you and will be in you”. The Spirit inspired Paul to teach that the home of the Helper is our heart… “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). Unless our hearts are fully committed to loving and obeying Christ, there is no room within for the comfort and power of the Helper.

Where is it that you need comfort today? Are you facing a trial so overwhelming you just wish somebody else knew what you were going through? Do you need someone to advocate or act on your behalf? Do you need someone to intercede or to speak for you? All Christ followers and disciples have moments like these. If we look to the Holy Spirit during our trials we will find comfort, encouragement and so much more. Jesus promises today that the Helper, whom He called the Spirit of truth, will also show us the truth about the people and circumstances we are facing. He will enable and empower us to love Jesus and obey His commandments through trials like these, and as we do, Christ gets all the glory.

 Jesus promised to send the Helper to enable and empower His disciples to set their hearts on the goal of loving and obeying Him… “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). Jesus further identified the Helper as “The Spirit of truth”. Every decision to love and obey Christ is a choice between believing truth or deception, and the Holy Spirit leads us into truth… “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13). Even more, the Spirit glorifies the Son as He interprets and reveals the truth God has inscribed in His word… “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14).

Hence, truth is the connection Jesus makes between loving Him and experiencing the full indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He says if we love His truth more than anything else, His Spirit will reveal His truth to us. The Spirit inspired Paul to prophecy that in the last days many would succumb to the deception of antichrist and perish because they do not love the truth… “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). Jesus wants our love for Him to grow even through the trials of this difficult earthly life. He wants us to know and seek His truth in every situation, so He has given His children the Helper to empower and enable us to abide in the Father through any trial... “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (1 John 3:24).

As we grow up into Christ, loving Him and His truth and obeying His commandments, we enjoy…

The comfort and power of the Helper.