Experiencing God's Presence #78

Experiencing God's Presence #78

He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

John 14:17

Knowing He was about to be executed, Jesus spent His last evening with the disciples, focusing on some last vital instructions. Woven throughout the discussion was a promise to send His Spirit to be with them. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. . . . He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:16, 26). “He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future” (John 16:13). But in the middle of these promises, one statement in particular describes the nature of our relationship with this Spirit: “He lives with you now and later will be in you” (John 14:17).

We learn a lot about the Spirit from those few statements. It’s as if He takes us by the hand and leads us wherever we need to go and teaches us whatever we need to know. But it’s more than that. He isn’t only with us, He’s in us. He speaks to us, strengthens us, leads us, and changes us from within. At a very deep level, He becomes our life.

Think about what that means. The most powerful being in the universe is living inside your flesh-and-blood body. The wisest being in the universe inhabits your brain. The most loving being in the universe is inside your heart. He is there—relentlessly, passionately there. And when we know that, think about it, and trust in that truth, we begin to experience Him more and more.

Spirit, I invite You to make Your home inside me. Let me sense You there. I believe I can experience Your power, wisdom, and love as I trust in You.