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Devotion June 5th

MONDAY June 5th

 

Matthew 5:33 -37

‘Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.’

 

As we continue to look at some of the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, we come today to a few verses that ultimately are summed up in

v37 ‘Let what you say be simply ‘yes’ or’ No’; anything more than

this comes from evil!’

 

Without going into the details of ‘taking an oath’, we could sum up these verses as being an instruction to always be truthful and honest in our conversation.

 

Whatever we speak or say should always be truthful and should be able to be

relied upon by others. I wonder how often we have heard it said (or maybe have said it about someone ourselves) ‘Take what they say with a pinch of salt’, in other words you cannot be too sure as to what they are saying is the truth.

 

We can all elaborate or exaggerate about something if we are not careful, for example when relating the story as to how big the fish we caught was!  It can

happen so easily, but the moment we do so we are no longer telling the whole truth or we are not relating something truthfully.

 

As Christians we have come to know the One who is the truth. We daily read from his word which is truth, therefore truth or truthfulness should be a hallmark of Christianity, therefore we should endeavour at all times to be men and women who are truthful!

 

Our yes must always be a yes and our no a no! We all need help to walk in such a way because we see so much that is the opposite of truth or the stretching of truth all around us. May God help us to be those who will be identified as those who speak the truth.

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Devotion February 14th

TUESDAY 14th

 

1 Corinthians 13

 

‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’

 

Happy Valentine’s day and there is no better place to turn to on this day than to the great chapter on love! After looking at what John said about hate in our previous devotion, we will deviate from his epistle, to the chapter today, but at the same time it is a good place to turn to as it fits in well with the devotional theme.

 

Of course the greatest demonstration of love is not that which is between a man and a woman, which is what Valentine’s day is all about, although that is special, but more importantly of that which God has shown to mankind. In the epistle of John which we are going through at this moment in our devotions, John writes ‘ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins’ 1 John 4:10. In his earlier gospel he wrote ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’ John 3:16.

 

Yes the love that can and is expressed between a man and a woman is special, but God’s love is even more special, more wonderful and more precious because he loved us even when we didn’t love him, and he loved us enough to send his only Son into this world to die for us. His love is beyond comparison and yet we can know it and receive it.

 

Today with the sentimentality that will be expressed between individuals,  is a good day to just pause and to think of the wonder of the love of God, it beats all other expressions of love, it is eternal, strong and true. I will share a couple of verses of Scripture that you can think of as being the little note that God sends to you this Valentine’s day to remind you that he loves you to the heavens and back and then I will end the devotion with the words of a well-known song.

 

‘But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us’ Ephesians 2:4.

 

‘ . . . and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’ Romans 5:5.

 

‘See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God . . .’ 1 John 3:1

 

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star,

And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,

God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled,

And pardoned from his sin.

 

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure

The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

When years of time shall pass away,

And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,

When men, who here refuse to pray,

On rocks and hills and mountains call,

God’s love so sure, shall still endure,

All measureless and strong;

Redeeming grace to Adam’s race

The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

 

For those who listen to the audio devotion the song will be included.

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Devotion January 31st

TUESDAY 31st

 

1 John 1:3

 

‘. . . that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.’

 

The word ‘fellowship’ comes from the Greek ‘koinonia’, John uses it twice here in verse 3 and then again in verses 6 and 7 in this same chapter. John is using it as we discovered in the last devotion to highlight the special and particular bond that is to be found among those who make up the Church which is the body of Christ, the communion or the community of the saints, the saints being those who have been called out of the world to form the ‘ecclesia’, the Church.

 

The Church is universal, in that it consists of all who have believed in Jesus, but it is also local in that it refers to a local gathering of believers, and fellowship, the importance of it and the desire for it should be our priority. The world is becoming increasingly hostile towards those who proclaim the name of Jesus and who stand up for righteousness, and unless we keep ourselves in a place of fellowship with one another and with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ,  we will find ourselves increasingly becoming easy prey to the attacks of everything and everyone which is becoming anti-God in our society.

 

The fellowship of the saints in a local Church gathering is vital and therefore should be a priority in our weekly agenda. Yes, there are genuine reasons why we may not be able to attend every week, but there should never be a reason not to attend at all unless of course due to extreme circumstances such as illness.

 

It is in the place of regular fellowship that we can truly get to know one another to be able to support, encourage and comfort one another. We need each other,

 

The Hebrew writer expressed the importance of Christian fellowship with these words, ‘And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.’ The lack of meeting together with other believers is considered here to be a bad habit, it is being neglectful to one’s soul, it speaks to me of one’s lack of concern for their spiritual well-being. In the physical we yearn for community, we ensure that we maintain health through eating well and maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle. O how more vital is it for us to yearn for spiritual fellowship, to maintain our spiritual health and to live a well-balanced Christian lifestyle.   

 

As a pastor, I can only encourage all who read the daily devotions, to seek to make every effort to be in the House of the Lord, especially on the Lord’s day, to be in fellowship with brothers and sisters to not only worship and exalt the Lord together but to be equipped, encouraged and strengthened, renewed in the evil days in which we are living. Please don’t allow yourself to become easy prey to the devil who is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking those who he can devour.

 

Recently I was going through some of the notes that I have scribbled down over the last couple of years and came across this one, I hadn’t noted where I got it from but it is so applicable to the importance of fellowship, ‘A bundle of sticks cannot be broken, but separated they can be snapped’. Think about it, are you trying to survive as a Christian in this world like a single stick, don’t, one day you will find yourself broken, your relationship with God broken, get back into fellowship and be a part of the bundle again.

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Devotion January 30th

MONDAY 30th

 

1 John 1:3

 

‘. . . that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.’

 

As we commence this new week, I want to return in our devotion back to verse 3 of this opening section of John’s letter and to consider the word ‘fellowship’.

 

John says that as a result of what he and the disciples had witnessed, he wanted to proclaim it so that his readers may believe and as a result enter into fellowship with them (the disciples) and which would also include fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Two-thousand years later as we come to respond and believe the testimony of the disciples and place our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ we too enter into this place of fellowship, fellowship with one another as the family of God and with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 

Christian fellowship is the highest expression of fellowship that can be discovered and enjoyed in the world, for it is a fellowship that comes from out of the intimacy of a real, genuine relationship with the triune God, and involves all who have come into a real and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

We can and should enjoy the company of other people in so many different ways, there is the uniqueness of an individual family, there can be the camaraderie that can form out of a relationship with others who are likeminded in support of a cause or out of a common goal such as the following of a particular football team or other sporting activity, but however strong the bond of fellowship may seem to be in any of these other causes, they will never be, nor should never be equal to the fellowship that should spring out of true believers being united together in Christ, for this as only come about at a great cost, the shed blood of our Saviour, for, through his death he has not only reconciled us to God, but he has enjoined us together to be his body, the Church.

 

Paul who spoke much of the Church and its uniqueness says that we as believer’s need each other, we need to be connected to one another. Listen to what Paul has written in his letter to the Corinthian Church, ‘For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit . . . as it is, there are many parts, yet one body . . .  If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together . . . now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.’ (various verses from chapter 12)

 

We will consider this further in our next devotion.

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Devotion January 27th

FRIDAY 27th

 

1 John 1:1-4

 

‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.’

 

I have re-read the verses that we have been considering this week in the devotions. They speak to us of the wonder of the incarnation, the wonder of the Christmas and Easter stories put together to bring about the means of eternal redemption for fallen humanity, the events that make it possible for humanity to be reconciled to God. The everlasting Word, the eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ becoming a man and laying down his life as a sacrifice for our sin.

 

I want all who read the devotions to stop for a moment and to consider what the implication for each one of us would be if the incarnation had never taken place. We would still be sinners bound for a lost eternity, we would still be under the wrath of God and facing the punishment we deserve for our sin. But HE did come, God sent his Son, at the same time the Son willingly came and he also willingly gave his life as an atoning sacrifice, therefore we can be reconciled to God, we can be delivered from the wrath that is to come.

 

In 1 Timothy 3:16 we read, ‘Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory’.

 

I suggested stopping and considering the implication for us if the incarnation hadn’t taken place. But it did, so now, stop and consider the wonder of the incarnation and what it means for each one of us if we have come to believe. It should cause us to overflow with praise and adoration, as the one hymn writer puts it, to be lost in wonder, love, and praise.

 

We could list so many results or benefits we have received, we are saved, forgiven, reconciled, justified, sanctified, heaven bound, and we have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Give him praise and give him glory!

 

The final words of John in this section are ‘And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.’ The little three letter word ‘joy’ yet it means so much. John feels joy in writing about these things, it excites him, it enthrals him, may we too be filled with joy as we contemplate the wonder of the incarnation, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The message of the angels to the shepherds on the hillside in Bethlehem was ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people’. The incarnation was good news of great joy and as we receive the good news we receive great joy, we receive real joy, we have received lasting joy.

 

If you are looking for real joy anywhere else you will never find it, anything the world has to offer is temporal, it lasts but for a moment, real joy, lasting joy, eternal joy can only be found in having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what Jesus said, ‘These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full’. John 15:11 ‘Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full’, John 16:24.

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Devotion January 26th

THURSDAY 26th

 

1 John 1:3

 

‘that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.’

 

Our devotion today continues really from where we left off yesterday, John was proclaiming that which he and the disciples had seen. Who can blame them, they had seen the One who had been made manifest, the eternal Son of God who became flesh and lived as a man, and they had witnessed the most spectacular things during his earthly ministry and they had witnessed what I often refer to when I am speaking as the most important events in the history of the world, in particular the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In the book of Acts, we recall John along with Peter making their way up to the temple for the hour of prayer, and they meet up with a lame man who is begging. They turn towards him and said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk’. (3:6)

 

We know what happened, immediately the man stood up, leaping and walking and praising God. Because of what they had witnessed, they were shall I put it in this way, duty bound to proclaim! They could not help but speak Jesus, they could not help but speak about Jesus, they could not help but proclaim about Jesus. He had impacted them so much, they knew that he could impact the lives of those they came into contact with as well.

 

The same account continues to tell us that the local authority didn’t appreciate them talking about Jesus and so they were warned not to speak to anyone any more in this name, that is in the name of Jesus, to which Peter and John replied, ‘we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard’. (Acts 4:17-20)

 

Well, here in this epistle, John is still proclaiming Jesus, and he explains why, ‘so that you too may have fellowship with us’. I’ll put it this way, John wanted to proclaim Jesus so that others could come into the same place of relationship and fellowship with the triune God that he himself and the other disciples had been enjoying. He longed for others to come to know Jesus, to receive the eternal life that only Jesus can give and to be enjoined with Christian fellowship, which John continues to say is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 

I must end this devotion with a challenge, to those who may read it or those who may listen to the audio version, have you come into the place of fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ? There is only one way in which you can come to this place of fellowship and that is by coming through the One who is both fully man and fully God, the Lord Jesus Christ, for he alone has done all that is necessary for man to be reconciled to God, and he did it by going to Calvary and becoming the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. You need to come to believe by faith in him, to trust in him as your Saviour and Lord, only then can you enjoy the fellowship that John is proclaiming in this epistle.

 

Because I have mentioned that Peter and John were compelled to speak out in the name of Jesus I am going to end the audio version with a song. Speak Jesus.

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Devotion January 19th

THURSDAY 19th

 

We come over the next two devotions to look at the final verses in Peter’s second epistle, 2 Peter 3:14-17, for this devotion we will read verses 14-16

 

‘Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.’

 

In his closing remarks, Peter says to the readers of his letter, and to us who read it today, because you are waiting for these future promises to be fulfilled, be diligent to be found by him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes again,

 without spot or blemish, and at peace.

 

Peter started this letter off by talking about ‘his (that is Jesus’) precious and very great promises’ (2 Peter 1:4) this would have inspired the recipients of the letter to have thought much about all the great promises that Jesus had made and what is entailed in them for every believer, and I trust that as we have gone through this epistle that we too have thought about these great promises which are or should be precious to each and every one of us, and at the same time they should have spurred us and encouraged us to make sure that we are living in expectancy for the second coming of Jesus, ensuring that we are not getting entangled in anything that would cause us to be caught off guard when Jesus comes again.

 

Peter talks of being found without spot and blemish, now, we know that we cannot and do not attain sinless perfection in this life, but what he is encouraging is that we seek to live as close to what it is humanly possible to be with the help of the Holy Spirit in Christlikeness, seeking at all times to not follow the desires of the flesh, but to live and walk according to the Spirit, we live by allowing the ongoing work of sanctification to take place in our lives.

 

He reminds them again as he did in the second chapter of this letter of those who would seek to distort the truth, let us make sure that we hold onto not only the precious and very great promises found within the word of God, but also onto the truthfulness of the word of God. Live in readiness, live according to the word of God, live just as if today might be the actual day when Jesus will come again. Live in such a way that when he does come, you will not be ashamed, but will be ready.

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Daily Devotion Sept 20th

SUNDAY 20th

Exodus 18:1-12

NIV (vv8-9) – ‘Moses told his father-in-law about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them. Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians.’

ESV (vv8-9) – ‘Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.’

Whenever I recall the verses in this chapter of Exodus and the account of Moses and his father-in-law Jethro, I immediately think of the verses 17-18 which we will consider tomorrow and the sound advice that Jethro gives to Moses. As I turned to them to prepare the devotion for today, I couldn’t help noticing  two groups of three words: ‘Then Moses told’ (v8) and ‘And Jethro rejoiced’ (v9).

Moses had an amazing story to recount and retell – ‘. . . all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship . . . and how the LORD had delivered them.’ Imagine for a few moments as if you had been an Israelite at that time, the awful conditions as a slave to the cruel Egyptians (remember back in Exodus chapter one, the instruction was given to inflict them with heavy burdens, and that they had been dealt with ruthlessly and their lives made bitter with hard service 1:11-14) then suddenly a man appears claiming to be a deliver and after a period of plagues and a blood sacrifice, you are led out of the bondage on a journey to freedom. By the time we get to chapter 18 so much will have happened, you will have crossed the Red sea, seen the Egyptians drowned, okay you will have mumbled and murmured about the lack of water and food, but overall you will have seen and been through both some awful experiences in Egypt but also some amazing experiences so far on the journey. It is no wonder that Moses wants to recount it all to tell Jethro. And after hearing it Jethro rejoiced as he heard of all the good that the LORD had done.

Although I said imagine for a few moments that you had been an Israelite, instead, recall for a few moments, your own experience and all that God has done for you! We all have been in our own Egypt, oppressed by the oppressor, bound in the bondage of sin and shame, some may have been bound by addictions and as the Bible says we were all dead in trespasses and sin, we were all under the control of the evil one and on the wide road that led to destruction, but while in our misery a Saviour came our way, and he made a blood sacrifice that brought us freedom, and we have come out of the awful experience of being bound in the chains of sin and we are now enjoying the amazing experience of being set free and on a journey that is taking us along the narrow way that leads to life everlasting.  

Moses had a story to tell, but so have you and I, Jethro listened and rejoiced, may we retell so that others will also listen and rejoice with us of all that the Lord has done. Obviously we need to be telling those who are still lost of all that the Lord has done for us, but in the context of this Scripture, Moses is telling his father-in-law, a family member, and we too need to be encouraging one another within our family, our Church family at EPC of all that the Lord is doing for us so that we can be encouraged and blessed. Psalm 66:16 ‘Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.’ Has the Lord done something for you over the last few months, then tell your Church family, so we may hear what the Lord has done for you. ‘then ***** told’, . . . ‘and Emmanuel rejoiced’

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Daily Devotion August 21st

FRIDAY 21st

John 16

NIV (v13) ‘But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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.’

ESV (v13) ‘When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.’

In the opening verses of this chapter, Jesus continues to tell the disciples more of the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit, the one who would be sent as a helper, (v7) would also be the one who would convict men and women of their sin. (We see how this happened immediately on the day of Pentecost, when after Peter with the eleven had preached, it says that the hearers were ‘cut to the heart’, this was a result of the Holy Spirit bringing conviction into their lives. Acts 2:37)

He was also going to guide the disciples into all truth. (v13) The disciples had been very privileged during the three years that they followed Jesus in that they not only saw the amazing signs he did to show that he was the Son of God, but they also had heard his teaching, which we are reminded in different Scriptures was teaching that carried authority, teaching that confounded and caused the religious leaders to be envious and teaching that causes those in authority to want to be rid of him. However the disciples were only human and of them selves they could easily forget all that they had heard, but the Holy Spirit was going to bring it to their remembrance (John 14:26) and also lead into deeper revelation, deeper truth (John 16:13) which thankfully was recorded for us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so we too can learn, develop and continue in our walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank God the same help is also still available to us, and as we walk and learn and develop in our Christian lives, we can hear, read and absorb so much through the various means of Christian ministry, but if you are like me, too often you forget so much of it, but it is amazing how many times in situations that have arisen that the Holy Spirit has brought back to my mind and I have been able to recall things that I had even forgotten I had ever known and been able to speak the Word of God into lives or into situations.

How many of us have brought something that requires instructions to follow to assemble or to operate, and we think to ourselves, ‘I don’t need these, I’ll work it out . . .!’ A few hours later it is, ‘What happened to those instructions?’ And we must restart where we should have started at the beginning – with the instructions! The Holy Spirit has been given to us to help us, to instruct us, to guide us, and to remind us, but how often do we try to do with our own ability and eventually discover we can’t, we need his help! May we always be mindful, of the one who was sent alongside to help us, let us take the help available and achieve more for God. Who knows we may even be more fruitful! (Yesterday’s devotion)

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Daily Devotion August 19th

WEDNESDAY 19th

John 14:15-31

NIV (v16) – ‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—’

ESV (v16) – ‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever . . .’

This fourteenth chapter of John contains two promises that gave the disciples hope, the first as we saw yesterday was of a future home, here in this section was the promise of a present helper. The disciple having spent three years with Jesus, watching and learning are told he was about to leave them, but not without promising that he would ask the Father to send them the Holy Spirit who would come alongside them to help them, or as the KJV puts it to be a comforter.

I know this is a poor illustration, but it does in some way show a similar lesson. When I left school, I went into the motor trade to learn to be a panel beater and car sprayer. I was privileged to learn from one of the best, as the man who I was going to be working alongside and learning from had spent several years in the Rolls Royce factory. One day after I had enjoyed learning from him for a couple of years he announced he was going to be leaving, he had decided to retire, but then he added, don’t worry (or words to that effect) someone else is coming to take my place and he will continue to train you.

The disciples had spent three years learning from Jesus, but there was still so  much more they needed to know, and when Jesus announced he was leaving them he said (my paraphrase) ‘Don’t worry someone else is going to be coming to take my place and he will continue to train you’. We read it in verse 29, ‘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 have said to you.’

The present helper was to be none other than the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity, and we know that a few weeks after the ascension of Jesus he arrived to come alongside the disciples to help them, to empower them, to strengthen and enable them for the task in hand. And he is still here, as he came alongside the disciples, so he is wanting and willing to come alongside us to be with us, to be our helper, to be our comforter, to enable, equip  and empower us for the task in hand.