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)