Spirit of Jesus | HOPE & LIGHT

When the month of July rolled around, I turned the page on the Pathways calendar in my bedroom, but didn’t pay much attention to the message on this month’s page. This calendar has had encouraging quotes by Christian writers, so today I decided to check out this month’s message. Here is what I found.

“Look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else.” – C. S. Lewis

As I read these words, the cry of my heart was to look for Christ in all the difficulties we have walked through for the last few months. Where is Christ in the midst of all the uncertainties of this world-wide pandemic? Where is Christ during this time when our Christian freedoms are being threatened? Where is Christ in the financial difficulties that we face as a result of shutting down our economy? Where is Christ in the midst of the civil unrest in our nation? Where is Christ in this chaos that has become a part of our daily lives?

As I contemplated these questions, one answer came to mind. Christ is in His people. If you are a believer in Christ, the Spirit of Christ, also known as the Holy Spirit, lives within you.

You may feel alone in this situation. But if your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), the truth is you are never completely alone. Through His Spirit, we are strengthened and empowered to be His hands and feet to those around us. We are encircled by His love – yes, Paul told us in Ephesians that we KNOW the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:14-19

The Spirit of Christ is also available to direct our path, to tell us where to go and where not to go.

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” Acts 16:6-7 ESV

And if we find ourselves in a situation we can find no way out of, He is able to deliver us.

“What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,” Philippians 1:18-19

And finally, if we feel lonely during this season on “social distancing” we can be confident that Jesus Christ doesn’t practice social distancing. He is always as close as our breath. And the writer of Hebrews promises that He will never leave or forsake us.

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'”Hebrews‬ ‭13:5-6‬ ‭

So the next time you look for Christ, take a look at your brothers and sisters whom you’ve been meeting across a Zoom screen during this season when we haven’t been able to gather in person. And take a look in your mirror. We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus during this difficult time, as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, works through us to touch others. How are you doing that in the place where Jesus currently has you? And how have others been Christ for you during this difficult season?

I want to close with a short prayer that I heard this morning, from Pastor Chris Shook of Church of the Woodlands in the Houston area. I’ve been watching her encouraging morning devotions, and her prayer this morning fits perfectly with this post.

“Lord, fill me up with You, so I can pour Your presence out on others.” Amen!

I used to wish I had lived during the time when Jesus walked in Jerusalem and the surrounding area and could have actually heard Him teaching. Can you imagine what it would have been like to have been among the crowd as Jesus stood on the Galilean hillside now known as the Mount of Beatitudes, and began speaking these words most of us have read many times?

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:5-12)

But more recently, as I’ve begun an in-depth study on the Holy Spirit as a beginning step in writing a Bible study on the names and functions of the Holy Spirit for the small group I work with at our church, I’ve seen this a little differently. No, we can’t be a part of the large crowds that gathered to hear Jesus’ teaching. But because of the promise in today’s “I Am Not Alone” verses, we experience something even more amazing. If we have surrendered our lives to Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we have the Holy Spirit, also known as the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Jesus, living within us as our ever-present teacher.

The setting of today’s verses was Jesus’ last supper with His disciples, during which He warned that one of these gathered around Him as a trusted friend, Judas Iscariot, would betray Him and He also foretold of Peter’s coming denial. Jesus had just told His disciples He was leaving them, and their hearts were troubled.

Jesus was trying to reassure these who had walked so close to Him that He was leaving but He wasn’t leaving them alone.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)

These verses told the original disciples that the Father would give them another Helper, another Counselor, Comforter, Teacher and Friend to be with them. A Helper of the same kind, The Spirit of truth who would teach them and guide them into all truth. And a couple chapters later in the Gospel of John, He explains it is to their advantage He is returning to the Father, because this Helper would not just walk beside them. He would live within them, to be their Teacher, and close Friend. And this indwelling Holy Spirit would empower them as they completed the work Jesus had appointed them to do.

The good news for us today is that these promises were not limited to these original disciples. If you have accepted Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross as payment in full for your sins and received Jesus as your Savior and Lord, these verses equally apply to you. You are Never Alone because God lives within you in the form of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth.