“When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father —the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me.”

John 15:26 CSB

On Friday, I left us meditating on the gift of Holy Spirit. A gift made possible by the selfless love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who died on the cross for my sin and for your sin. Like all gifts, the gift of Holy Spirit is given freely, no strings attached, to all who believe on the name of Jesus. As Peter put it, all who repent and make a public profession of faith in Jesus’ name receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

In Friday’s post, I also shared some of the other names that God gives us for Holy Spirit in His word. One of those names was “Spirit of truth”. In John 15:26, we see Holy Spirit identified by Jesus as “the Counselor” and “the Spirit of truth”. In this verse, Jesus, about to ascend back into Heaven to be with the Father, reassures His disciples that He is not leaving them alone, that in His departure, He is sending them the Counselor, who will come from God and testify to them about Jesus.

I’ll admit that last line “he will testify about me” has always confused me a little. I’ve always wondered, “Why would Jesus’ disciples need Holy Spirit to testify about Jesus?”. After all, they knew Jesus in person. I’d always assumed then that Holy Spirit was meant more as a Counselor for folks like me and like you, people born on the other side of the cross, people who’ve never met Jesus in the flesh.

Recently, I began reading a book by Phillip Yancey titled, “What’s So Amazing about Grace?” and without going into too much detail (because I’m sure there’s a place to share what I’m learning in time), the first five chapters of the book have absolutely wrecked my understanding of grace. So many of my thoughts on grace have been so wrong, and I am finding myself truly in awe of the love of God in a fresh and wonderful way and I’m begging God to help me wear His grace and spread His grace as I learn to understand what it really is and to embrace it as He intends.

As this new understanding washes over me in God’s grace and love, I am reminded anew of just what a precious gift God has given us in Holy Spirit, our Counselor, the Spirit of truth. You see, I may have never met Jesus in the flesh like His first disciples did, but I did meet Jesus in Spirit years ago, as a young girl, and I have walked with Him, though not always closely, most of my life.

And still, I recognize as write this post to you, that though I have walked with Jesus for some time and read His words in red in my Bible for thirty plus years, I need Holy Spirit, my Counselor, to speak God’s truth to me.

There have been times I have misread God’s words and those precious words in red of our Savior. There have been times I have misunderstood God’s messages to me and Jesus’ sacrifice for me. I have misinterpreted what I thought were signs. I have leaned on my own understanding to gain direction from a pastor’s sermon or a passage of Scripture.

Jesus’ first disciples walked with Him in the flesh, heard His voice with their very own ears, saw His miracles with their own two eyes, and still, Jesus asked the Father to send them the Holy Spirit.

Why?

Because Jesus knew that without His physical presence and guidance, they would be prone to lean on their own understanding, to go their own way, to think they knew what Jesus would do in a situation.

But friends, our human understanding, our own way, is so far from God’s truth.

Jesus’ first disciples needed the Counselor to come; they needed the Spirit of truth to guide them into all truth (John 16:13).

And so do we.

What a gift Jesus has asked the Father to gift us!

Even after years of study and learning and trying to walk well with the Lord, the Counselor continues to teach us something new, to testify of Jesus over and over until we come to better understand Who He is and Who God is and how unconditionally, infinitely, graciously God and Jesus love us.

No earthly Counselor can bring us to an understanding that heals so well as the Holy Spirit!

No author or sage or person deemed wise will ever lead into all truth as the Holy Spirit leads does!

Thank You, Jesus, for asking the Father to send us the Holy Spirit, our Counselor!

Thank You, God, for gifting those who believe on Christ with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth who testifies of Jesus and makes Your words known to us and understood by us!

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