The Power of Holy Spirit in Our Lives

“Almighty God our Heavenly father God, bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen!”

Last Sunday, my sermon was about honoring and appreciating our mothers and all mother-figures that we have in our lives. However, there are some people who find it difficult to appreciate and honor their mothers because of various reasons. For some people, their mothers were taken away from them by death. In that kind of situation, Mother’s day can sometimes turn into anger and pain and questioning God why this had to happen to them. Other times, separation and divorce can also cause a lot of pain especially to the children. Sometimes, it can be difficult to appreciate and honor mothers because we don’t understand why they had left us behind. Why would someone who is supposed to love us left us behind? It can be difficult to come to terms with those feelings. However, to know that God loves us is comforting and fills up the gaps that have been left in our lives. So, even in very strange and difficult circumstances, we can feel the warmth of God’s love surrounding us.

It seems like the disciples of Jesus were faced with a similar reality. The Gospel of John 14:15-21, Jesus had a meeting with His disciples presumably at the upper room on the night before His death. Jesus announced to them that He was going to leave them. That might have been very difficult news to the disciples. We can only imagine their emotions on hearing the sad news. Jesus had been their leader and they relied on His leadership and guidance. Now how would they face the future without His guidance?

There is however, good news! In today’s reading from the gospel of John Chapter 14, Jesus told His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans. He would came back to them through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would abide in them. But there is a requirement for this to become a reality in them. He tells them;

I was trying to use my own imaginations and reflections on what Jesus was telling His disciples. For one, I am not quite sure if the disciples understood all this Jesus was telling them. Probably, they didn’t understand why Jesus had to leave them. They didn’t understand why He had to die. But He tells them to love Him and to keep His commandments and if they did that, he would send them another advocate or helper to be with them forever. Their obedience would (probably), lead them to an understanding or a feeling or conviction in their hearts that they were not left alone. That He was with them. I think a sense of complete understanding or wholeness was given to them on the day of Pentecost.

What does all this mean to us today? According to John, there is only one test of love and that is obedience. This can clearly be seen in Jesus’ life. Jesus showed His love of God by His obedience. John 10: 17-18 Jesus said; “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. ”

Likewise, it is by our obedience that we can show our true love for Jesus. Paul in Ephesians 5:2 puts it more clearly for us he says; “… walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.

We can learn from human relationships examples. If for example we claim that we love someone, yet at the sometime bring pain and heartbreaking to those we say that we love, the truth is not in us. If children and young people say that they love their parents and at the sometime cause grief and anxiety to them, there is no truth in their words. The same thing is with husbands and wives. If they say they love each other and yet bring pain to one another, there is no truth in their words.

According to Jesus, real love is shown only in true obedience. This is not easy. But the good news is that Jesus does not leave us to struggle in our Christian life alone. He would send us a helper. Revised Standard Version as “Comforter”. The assuage of the word ‘comfort’ today could mean to sympathize with someone especially when one is sad e.g. when one has lost a love one. The Holy Spirit sympathizes with us in this sense but the way it is used here in the scripture, is more than just sympathizing with us. The Holy Spirit or ‘comforter’ comes and helps us to cope with our situations. He comes and takes our inadequacies to help us cope with our circumstances.

The disciples of Jesus are a good example. They were very fearful and without energy or even focus after Jesus had left them. They locked themselves in the upper room for fear of the Jews. But they obeyed the words of Jesus and waited for the gift of the Holy Spirit. When day of Pentecost came, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Their fear was taken away. They proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ with courage and power. The same thing will happen to us when we faithfully follow and obey Christ and His spirit. We will never be alone because we will know and experience the comfort of the Spirit's presence in our lives.