The Guide

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE GUIDE

John 16:12-15

12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

NIV

Jesus was referring to what we call the day of Pentecost when the Spirit came and filled all the disciples and the poured out into the street praising God in language they had not known. The Spirit came in an instinct as a mighty rushing wind, it was a happening, a moment in time when he filled them with power, such as the speech Peter preached that day. But he did not leave them either and he kept revealing may things to them that Jesus had spoken, as well as he told them of want was to come, as in the case with John’s revelation. The Spirit is still here and he is still ready to fill anyone who desires and is expecting his filling, as the disciples were. Who can really understand the truth of scripture without the filling of the Holy Spirit? If it is the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth, we must listen, and follow his leading. If we do not, if we are not filled with the Spirit we cannot see the truth, it is that simple. The Spirit makes known to us all that Jesus said, all that is recorded for us. We cannot make a religious ritual out of being filled with the Spirit. It is not something any denomination can determine when a young person, or for that matter an adult, can and should receive the Spirit. This is a very personal matter for each and every person to desire and ask Jesus to send the Spirit to them. Although he is here in the world he, like the Father and the Son, will not force himself on us, we must ask and be ready to receive him. Having the filling of the Spirit is not an evolution of maturity in the Lord, but it is a moment in time, an event as was the day of Pentecost. Just as we should be able to mark the day we were saved, when we became born again, we should be able to mark the day, or least remember the time the moment when we were filled with the Spirit. The Spirit is our guide, without him we do not know the way to the truth. Without the Spirit we could not bear the truth, it would be too heavy a burden, that is why the non-believers cannot bear to hear the truth, they rebuke the truth because it convicts them of their wicked heart. But we who have accepted Jesus, and have been filled with the Spirit can bear to hear that truth even when he reveals areas in our life that need repentance and change. We thrive on the truth, we feast on the truth, and we devour the truth, as the Spirit guides us to it and through it. Come Holy Spirit we need thee.