A PROMISE, A PRESENCE, A POWER

            After the time that the Apostles had spent with Jesus, can you imagine how they must have felt when He spoke to them of His leaving them? They were no doubt a little ill at ease. In speaking words of comfort to them, He told them that they would not be left “as orphans”, but that the Holy Spirit would soon be coming to them in a new way. He spoke of a promise, a presence and a power.

            First, He promised them a special coming and anointing of the Holy Spirit. He told them, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” (JN. 14:16). He even told them that it was to their advantage that He did go away so that He could send this Advocate to them (JN. 16:7). He was promising them a new relationship with the Holy Spirit referring to this as “the promise of the Father” and as something God wanted them to have (ACTS 1:4, 5; LK. 11:13).

            But the Holy Spirit was not just promised, He has come! We can now have the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives just as Jesus promised. He has come to us to be our helper and abide with us forever (JN. 14:16). The Holy Spirit is with the Church and individual believers just as God’s presence was in the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple (1 COR. 3:16; 6:19). His presence is with us to help and encourage us on our spiritual journey. He is with us in both times of spiritual excitement and in our difficult experiences. He is with us to be our friend, our helper, our Advocate. We have His presence!

            When the Holy Spirit is with us, we have access to His power for our life and Christian witness. He gives us power to live as God desires us to live and will produce in us the fruit that makes us like Christ (GAL. 5:22, 23). He gives us the power to be effective witnesses for Christ in our world through both our words and our life (ACTS 1:8). We need to receive the power of the Holy Sprit ourselves and then allow ourselves to be instruments of that power for others.

            In the olden time, whenever a great teacher died, his students spoke of their teacher as having left them “fatherless”. But believers in Christ are not orphans! We have the Holy Spirit! If we will accept the promise, we will have His presence. With His presence comes His power, just as it did on that Day of Pentecost mentioned in Acts 1 and 2. He is still active. Be His instrument and let Him be active for, in and through you.

Have a blessed season of Pentecost!