Weekly Devotional 8-11-14 We Are Not Alone
On the night Jesus was arrested He gathered the Eleven apostles to Him and said, “15If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17the 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. 18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:15-18 NKJV). A few days later, just before he ascended into heaven, “4He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me” (Acts 1:4 NKJV). Then on the day promised this Helper came to them and indwelt them (Acts 2:4).
The Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian church informs us that this same Helper is God’s gift to all who believe, all Christians. “13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13 NKJV). And John also confirms this truth in his first letter to those he called his little children (his term for the church); “13By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1John 4:13 NKJV).
The Helper, identified by John as the Holy Spirit, is God’s gift to all believers and He is actively engaged in convicting the world of sin (John 16:8-11); illuminating and teaching God’s truth to the believer (John 16:12-15); guides and assures the believer (Romans 8:14; 16); and intercedes for the believer (Romans 8:26). He is surely the Christian’s Helper. These things are certainly wonderful in themselves, but what is equally wonderful is that He abides with (indwells) the believer forever (John 14:16). He never leaves us, for any reason. Even in times that we may be grieving Him, still He abides. There never has been a time since salvation, nor will there ever be a time that the Holy Spirit is not present within the believer.
About this Paul writes, “28And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. 31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ 37Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”(Romans 8:28-39 NKJV).
Wow! What a thought. Almighty, Holy God has dispatched His Spirit to work on our behalf externally and internally and He will not cease that work until we find ourselves in His presence. We truly are not alone.
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power, The Work of God on Behalf of Man
www.gbchurch.us