“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17 15)
Do you love Jesus? Then you obey His command. What is His command? “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) You can’t really answer “yes” and harbor anger in your heart toward someone. Jesus made that clear. To love others you must be forgiving, willing to put them first, and most of all, you must be willing to allow God’s love to flow through you.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said that if you want the Holy Spirit, you need to ask the Father to give Him to you (Luke 11:13). John reminds us that Jesus had one other condition, obedience. But it is not obedience to the 613 rules in the Old Testament. Jesus narrowed it down to one, “… obey what I command.”
If you will do that by His grace, He promises to ask the Father to send you the Counselor, the Spirit of truth. Here is the great difference in Christianity. Other religions taught blood atonement, ways to God, and even love for others, but Christianity teaches that God will come and live in and through you. That was something totally new to those who listened to Jesus. It is not a “do it yourself” religion. It is personal invitation to experience Life, Himself, on a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute basis.
If you are of God, then you love and believe in the One He sent. If you love the One, He sent, then you obey Him. If you obey Him (loving one another) then you will experience the presence of the Counselor, the Spirit of Truth, living in you forever. The world cannot love because it is self-focused. It chooses to obey its selfish whims. That is why it cannot receive the Counselor.
Prayer
Father, send me Your Spirit to strengthen and direct my life as You would have me do. Send me Your love so that I may share it to those around me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Stay encouraged!
Pastor Mike
