John 16
We are reading through the Gospel of John over 21 days at River Church. I am posting a quick thought every day from my reading. Today we are looking at John 16. In John 16:7-15 Jesus tells us about the work of the Holy Spirit. I saw three things in this passage that I would like to share with you.
In John 16:8,13,14 Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit as "he". The Holy Spirit is a person not just an experience. We can experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit but we must remember he is the third person of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14). Jesus introduces us to the Holy Spirit in John 14:26, John 15:26 and John 16:7 as the comforter, counsellor, helper, intercessor, advocate, strengthener and standby.
In John 16:8 Jesus tells us that "the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin, righteousness and judgement". By conviction of sin the Holy Spirit shows us we are sinners in need of a Saviour. By conviction of righteousness the Holy Spirit draws us into a right relationship with God through Jesus. By conviction of judgement the Holy Spirit shows us we will each have to give an account to God for our lives.
Then in John 16:12-15 Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit will guide us and lead us into all truth. The Holy Spirit leads us as children of God in our everyday lives (Romans 8:14). The Holy Spirit also leads us as we spend time reading the Bible. It is so exciting when you are reading your Bible or praying and the Holy Spirit reveals things to you. Like Jesus said in John 16:13-14 "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. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you".
(There is so much more in the Bible about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Today we are just looking at what Jesus said in John 16 but if you are interested you can also read Acts 1:4-5 and Acts 1:8 to read about how Jesus promised to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and empower us to be effective witnesses for him. We see in Acts 2:38-39 that this is still available for us today.)
My prayer for today is "Thank you Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit to be our helper. Please convict us of sin, draw us into relationship with you and lead us into all truth. Please reveal more of Jesus to us during this 21 Days with John".
