Personal Relationship

“If you love Me, keep My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.” John 14:15-16

When Jesus told His disciples in John 16:7 that it was to their benefit that He leave them, they must have been shocked and terrified. How could it benefit them for Him to go away? He was the Messiah…the Promised One who would save Israel. What they didn’t understand at the time is that Jesus would leave them, but not desert them. God was going to send another advocate.

The word “another” is important. There are two different Greek words for “another.” One means, “another of a different kind;” but that is not the word Jesus used in John 14:16. He used the Greek word that means, “another of the same kind.” In other words, He said, “I am going to send someone who is exactly like Me.”

This tells us that the Holy Spirit is not an “it,” but a distinct person. John went out of his way to emphasize the personality of the Holy Spirit by all of the masculine pronouns he used to describe Him. The Holy Spirit is a real person; and a Christian is someone who has a personal relationship with both God the Son and God the Spirit.

Too often today, we think of the power of the Holy Spirit as something like electrical or solar power – something you tap into and use that is totally impersonal. But the Holy Spirit is more than protons, neutrons and electrons. He is a real person that wants to have a real relationship with us. In John 14:15-16 He is called an, “advocate,” or “helper.” That Greek word, paraclete, is only used twice in the New Testament. It always refers to a person, not to a thing or to a force or power.

A Christian is not just someone who believes in God and has accepted Christ. A Christian is someone who has a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit of God.

Dear Lord, thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to dwell within my so that I would always have access to you. I pray that you would not allow me to take the personal relationship I have with the Holy Spirit for granted, and that I would utilize the power from the Spirit for your glory. Amen.