Testify

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

TESTIFY

John 15:26-27

26 "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

NIV

This is how we know all this is true. It is the Counselor, the Parakleetos, the Holy Spirit of truth who makes all the scriptures real to us. People who have not yet allowed the Spirit of truth to speak to their hearts and mind cannot see the truth in the scriptures, in fact, their cannot see the truth period, for they live in a vacuum of their own thoughts and ideas. The Spirit tells us the truth about Jesus, he reveals all the truth to us and allows us to understand the truth about Jesus. It would seem even those disciples who had spent those years with Jesus did not fully understand all that he was, but as we know from other scriptures when the day of Pentecost came, and the Spirit of truth descended upon those disciples then they truly understood all about Jesus. Peter, a simple uneducated fisherman, stood and gave one of the most eloquent speeches, testifying to who Jesus was and what he had done for the people. His testimony brought thousands to faith in Christ. It was the power of the Spirit of truth within Peter and it is the same power that resides within us. It does not matter of our personality, whether we are extroverted or introverted, it does not matter how much education we have or in what area it is in. It does not matter our position in life, whether we have much or little, whether we employ or are employed. It simply does not matter who we are in any way at all, except the fact that we are believers, that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit of truth, and that we are to testify about Jesus. The Spirit will always give us the right words to say at the right time to the right person or people. It is not for us to make an effort to convince them of their wrong thinking. It is not for us to convince them to believe in Jesus. It is simply for us to testify, to tell them what we have seen, heard and experienced. If we were to testify in a court of law, that is all we could say, and Jesus tells us that is what we should say also. What have we experienced having the Spirit of truth dwell with us? What have we heard? What have we seen? The Spirit speaks to us, The Father answers our prayers, and we have experienced miracle after miracle in our lives, miracles far beyond our own ability to achieve. This is what we can testify about; this is what we must tell others about, even other believers. What we say to non-believers can bring them face to face with the Spirit of truth and he will do the rest. What we say to believers can strengthen; encourage their faith and allowing the Spirit of truth to have an even greater influence in their lives. As the Spirit testifies within us, we must testify with our life and our words.