He Will Give You Another Helper
Scripture Passage: John 14:12-24 (NASB)
12 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. 20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
SUMMARY
Jesus promises the disciples that He will not abandon them as orphans, but He will come to them. He states that He will ask the Father to send us another Helper, the Holy Spirit, who will be with us forever.
Jesus explains how the Helper will be the Spirit of truth, and the world cannot receive or see Him, but we who have accepted Christ can see Him and know Him because He abides in us. This Helper will also do greater works through Jesus’ disciples after He goes to the Father.
Jesus also explains how after He goes to the Father, we will know that Jesus is in the Father, we are in Him and He is in us. Jesus also reminds His disciples to keep His commands if they love Him, because only by keeping His Word will He come and make His abode with us.
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
By meditating on the Word, I realized how generous God is. When Jesus was alive with His disciples, He was a human being with human capabilities. It means, He couldn’t be everywhere, but He could only be present where He was. It would mean that if Jesus was alive today, we would have to travel to see Him and battle with the masses of people at a conference or so to get a glimpse of Him.
The Father is so generous and so good to us, that since the resurrection, He has allowed the Holy Spirit to abide in each one of His children, so that we feel loved, protected, encouraged, and close to God. Just like He promised, He will not leave us as orphans, but He will come to us. He made it so easy for us to be able to tap into Him, feel His presence, get to know Him, and abide with Him.
Jesus only asks us to keep His commandments: “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments” (v. 15). When I was a younger Christian, I used to think that Christianity was so full of rules, commandments and orders that were just overwhelming and burdensome to keep up with it. As I matured in my relationship with God, and I started to meet God and experience Him in my life, I understood that keeping His commandments was not about obedience for the sake of submission to authority, but it was about having freedom in love. The irony of it is that it takes discipline, willingness, and obedience to get to know God, but when we pass that threshold, we enjoy being in God’s presence, we crave God’s love, we see the need for God’s fulfillment, we hunger for God’s peace, we thirst for God’s company, and we yearn for His guidance.
Just like Jesus explained, we will see Him only if we believe, because He lives, and He lives in us. The world cannot see Him or know Him, but we are so blessed to know Him and see Him when we seek Him in obedience and surrender to Him in love.
APPLICATION
I pray we will have the discipline to read the Word and meditate on it, so that we can encounter God everyday. We can feel His presence not only when we are “dedicating our time to God” doing QT, reading the Bible, or listening to a sermon, but also when our relationship with God is constant throughout the day as we meditate on Him and His word and walk with Him. So, when we experience a joyful moment in our day, we can say “Praise the Lord!” and thank Him for what happened and the blessings He has brought us. When we struggle, we can pray on the spot and ask God for assistance, wisdom and guidance. When we mess up, we can check our hearts and pray, “God, I am sorry for what I just did. Please help me to correct it and fix it, so that I know how to go about it and that I may know what Your will is in this situation.”
PRAYER
I pray that we will truly walk with the Holy Spirit like little children with their invisible friends, so we can fully experience the love of God the way God intended for us. By such knowledge, I pray we will be joyful, complete, holy and pure, and receive the full inheritance God prepared for us in His great love and mercy.
Please share your personal meditations on this Scripture passage with the HolyWave community in the comments section below. (We reserve the right to moderate comments.)