Abide – Part 4

We are continuing in the series of posts on Abiding in the Lord.

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” – The words of Jesus found in John 14:16-17

In this series on Abide, we have been talking about what abiding in the Lord looks like. And we have been focusing on Bible verses that have a specific Greek word in them (μένω menō). If you have been following from the beginning of this series, then you might recall that this word means: “To stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy):—abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry…”

In the passage above, Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. And He uses the Greek word for abide twice. When keeping the meaning behind the Greek word in mind, Jesus’ words shed new light on our relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit living within you. And Jesus basically says here that the Holy Spirit continually dwells in you. What an amazing gift we have!

Let’s take a look at the Amplified Bible version (AMP). In case you are not familiar with this version, it amplifies the text with additional wording and synonyms. You will see what I mean when you read John 14:16-17 below…

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever— the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.”

Look at all the ways the Holy Spirit is described here – Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby, the Spirit of Truth.

You have the Helper, the Comforter, the Advocate, the Intercessor, the Counselor, the Strengthener, and the Spirit of Truth living inside you. He is with you every moment of every day. These verses in the AMP version also call Him the Standby. The definition of standby is “readiness for duty or immediate deployment.” The Holy Spirit is always ready to help!

I think many of us struggle to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit for many reasons. For one thing, we may not have heard a lot about Him in church. Some churches don’t talk about Him too much. God the Father and Jesus the Son are who we hear about most often. Or we might have heard Him mentioned, but we simply didn’t realize the immense gift we have.

When Jesus was talking to His disciples about the Holy Spirit in John 16:7, He said, “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 depart, I will send Him to you.”

Jesus told His disciples that it was to their advantage that He was going away, because He would send the Holy Spirit in His place. I bet the disciples were so grieved, they couldn’t imagine how Jesus’ departure would be advantageous. Yet those were Jesus’ words.

And now here we are, over two thousand years later; and we too have the advantage and precious gift of the Holy Spirit as well.

The Holy Spirit likely already helps you in so many ways each day. Many times, we might not realize it is Him. When you have a certain gut feeling about something, when you feel like God is warning you about something, when you seek wisdom, or when you seek strength – The Holy Spirit is there!

Max Lucado said, “For us not to consult the Spirit of God would be [foolish]. He is here to teach us. Our privilege is to stay in mindful communion with him. Day by day. Moment by moment.” [1]

Throughout this series we have talked about how abiding in the Lord helps us to grow good fruit in our hearts. And the Holy Spirit helps us in that regard as well. The Holy Spirit gives us discernment. He helps us to make better choices. He guides our actions and words, when we rely on Him. And when we mess up, the Holy Spirit convicts us, which in turn aids us in repenting.

In the words of Dr. Charles Stanley, “We must rely on the Holy Spirit if we truly are going to have a renewed heart and mind and be able to develop spiritual maturity so we aren’t led around by the devil as if we were on his leash.” [2]

This quote points out the importance of relying on the Holy Spirit when it comes to spiritual warfare. And this quote also tells us that the Holy Spirit will help us to have a renewed heart as we grow in our spiritual walk. Those are some of the same things we have been focusing on throughout this series, as we have talked about developing fruit in our lives.

And the good news is that we always have the Holy Spirit with us. Dr. Charles Stanley also said, “I often hear Christians pray to invite God’s Spirit to join them. The truth is, we don’t need to invite the Lord to come into our presence. We are always in His presence! We are never apart from Him.” [3]

Let us remember what a precious gift we have in the Holy Spirit. He is constantly dwelling within each of us. We are never alone. We always have a Friend right there with us, to help us, guide us, encourage us, and so much more.

Dear Lord, today we give thanks for the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. What a priceless gift we have. Every single moment of every single day, the Spirit of Truth abides in us. We have the ability to seek wisdom and discernment in every situation in our lives, thanks to the Holy Spirit. And we have Someone who will alert us of danger. And Someone who will comfort us and strengthen us. But this is something we need to remind ourselves of daily. It can be easy to forget that we have the Holy Spirit with us at all times. So, Lord, we ask that you help us to remember this and to become more aware of His presence. Thank You. We love You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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Gratitude Challenge for 2022

If you want to end 2022 on a positive note, then perhaps you will consider finding several things you are grateful for each day, through December 31. You can either write them down, or simply say a prayer of thanks. Gratitude is a great way to abide in the Lord as we look around for the blessings He pours into our lives.

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© 2022 Bridget A. Thomas

[1] From the book Help Is Here by Max Lucado.

[2] & [3] Both quotes come from the book When the Enemy Attacks by Dr. Charles Stanley. Outstanding book, by the way. Very eye opening to the schemes of the devil.