“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Jesus at various times and places in conversations with His disciples, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman by the Well, and even the Pharisees, would speak of the Holy Spirit, but the fullness of who the Spirit is and what He does in and with you was not yet revealed. John, the son of Elizabeth and Zacharias, was looking for the Holy Spirit to identify Jesus to him and he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove and remain with Him at the time of His baptism.
John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” John 1:32-34.
And you should not be surprised that I told John that was the way to recognize Jesus, for the Holy Spirit testifies to Jesus, John 15:26-27, and the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:10.
“When the Helper (Paracletos, one called alongside to help; Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” John 15:26-27.
And in a conversation with His disciples, Jesus revealed to them the joy of relying on the Holy Spirit as your advocate, counseling you on what to say when witnessing to Jesus.
The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. Mark 13:10-12.
I will give you words and wisdom no one can take exception to or contradict. Luke 21:15. Not by human wisdom, power or might, but by My Spirit.
Indeed you see Me giving Bezalel and Oholiab and those working with them on the intricate and beautiful furnishings for the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the vestments for beauty and majesty for My priests, the skill and wisdom needed to do such artistic work by My Spirit upon them as instructor and guide.
And if you go back to the beginning in the conception and creation of the heavens and the earth, you see My Spirit hovering over the void as I spoke forth what was conceived within My innermost to bring it to birth in the earth and turn a dark and void space into one filled with beauty and light and life. The Spirit alone knows My very deepest thoughts and now He shares them with you who are indwelt by Him by being born again of My Word by water and the Spirit.
But even before Jesus died for you and was glorified and sent the Spirit, My promise to you, I anointed My kings, prophets and priests with My Spirit. But the Spirit was upon them and not in them. He could leave them or be with them, depending on if they grieved Him. But with My servant David, the Holy Spirit rushed upon him on the day he was anointed by Samuel as king, and the Spirit never left him, as He left Samson and the first king of Israel, Saul.
But even though the Holy Spirit takes a very active role from the beginning of the book of Genesis to the final pages of the Book of Revelation, He still is not known, loved and appreciated as He should be by you with whom He dwells.
Many doctrines of men, even some who call themselves “Christians,” do not believe in the Spirit as a Divine Person who is One God with Me and Jesus. He is not a force, He is not a dove, He is not a flame of fire or a strong wind, although all these are manifestations of His divine presence, He is the third person in the Godhead of One God in three divine persons. He is God as I AM and as My Son is. He speaks to the Church, Revelation 3:22, declares the things to come to you, witnesses with your spirit, and teaches you all things. He is a person. One of His early manifestations among you was as the Priest of the Most High and King of Righteousness and Peace, yes, Melchizedek. And even then, He was revealing Jesus by bringing out to Abraham the bread and the wine and receiving tithes.
Both the Son and the Spirit proceed from Me, but they are both of Me and operating divinely. We are three in One and One in three. We came once in three to visit My friend Abraham, and we were as One in appearance and age.
Now the LORD (Yahavah) appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My Lord (Adonai), if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.” Genesis 18:1-3.
And it was then we spoke the promise to Abraham and Sarah that their son would arrive by that time the next year. Sarah laughed, but it came true just as we said.
Three persons operating together as One and the same. I was in Christ reconciling you to Myself. And My Spirit takes of Mine and gives it to you. To you a mystery but to Me most clear and practical for we each relate to you in a different way that together makes you complete in every area of your life.
With the Holy Spirit always with you and in you, you are never without My abiding presence, for He is how I make My dwelling with every believer to counsel, guide, instruct, lead, and fellowship with you individually.
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 14:23-26.
But let us look directly at what Jesus tells you in His conversations of the gift He came to qualify you to have, and He called that gift “the promise of the Father.”
And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:49.
Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Acts 2:33.
Do you know why? The prophecy I had spoken by My Spirit upon him to Ezekiel many years before its manifestation as birthed in the earth, though it was already conceived in Me, as you all were, at the creation of the world.
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. Ezekiel 36:25-27.
Jesus died to cleanse you of all sin and bring you holy and blameless before Me, born again from above, so that your dead spirit became alive to Me and dead to sin and My Spirit could unite with and dwell in your spirit.
“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But 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 16:5-7.
The Holy Spirit has always been a teacher and a leader:
“You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, and You gave them water for their thirst. Nehemiah 9:20.
Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. Psalm 143:10-11.
But now Jesus was taking you to a whole new level of oneness and intimacy with Me by the abiding presence and fellowship of the Holy Spirit in you and on you enabling you to do the works Jesus did and greater.
And there are many wonderful things Jesus revealed to you about My wonderful Holy Spirit and we will continue with those in our next Life Lesson. Today enough has been said for you to ponder upon.
I love you and I have entrusted to you the gift of the Holy Spirit and clothed you in power from on High. Do you even know it? My people perish for lack of knowledge.