Holy Spirit Come

John 14: 15-17 “15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 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.” - NLT
Jesus’ resurrection is the greatest part of Easter. The Good News of Christ dying as our once for all sacrificial lamb, is what allows us to enter into the life changing relationship with God. Yet, this is not the end of the story, as Paul Harvey might say.

Jesus makes sure to let the disciples know that this is not the end. This is only the beginning. Jesus promises to send back the Holy Spirit, in His place, and with the power of the Holy Spirit the disciples would be empowered to do even more than Jesus did. Jesus not only promises to send the Holy Spirit but to send, “another advocate to help you and be with you forever”. We are never far away from the Spirit, yet there are moments in our lives in which God seems so distant and so far.

Our relationship with God is much like any other relationship we have in our lives. The more we invest in loving, caring for, and being with another person, the likelihood of that relationship growing and flourishing is increased. This is the way that it is with God. We tend to be the ones who don’t see God working “the way we want Him to”, so we move away. We don’t see miraculous healing. We don’t see the promotion that will make it easier to pay our bills. We don’t see Him working when all we see on the news is evil, negative, and horrifying.
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God has not moved. God has not forgotten you. The way God works best is when we are obedient, even when we cannot see Him or hear Him. God desires for us to flourish, much like the early church did, in the midst of persecution and negativity. This month we will be on a mission to see the Holy Spirit at work, and the way Jesus prepares us for it. We will culminate this journey at the day of Pentecost when the disciples were empowered to be Jesus to the world. Prayerfully I hope you join us on that journey!   
- Pastor Mike