One of my favorite texts in the Scriptures comes from the lips of Jesus in chapter 14 of John’s Gospel, one of the most intimate revelations of Jesus, in my humble opinion. In it Jesus promises that “I will not leave you orphaned” John 14:18. What a promise! What a blessed assurance! What a most reassuring truth, that our God, the God of the universe, the God who created everything and who sustains everything — He promises that you and I will never be alone. Think about it for a moment, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for better and for worse, no matter how old we are, no matter whether we are male or female, whether we are gay or straight, Jew or Muslim or Christian or Hindu or Buddhist, whether we are saint or sinner, black or white or yellow or a combination of many races and creeds, GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ORPHANED! That brings a smile to my face. Heaven is the presence of God and hell is the absence of God.
And then Jesus says this to His disciples: “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled…” John 14:25-27. Here Jesus reassures us once again how He will remain present in our lives — His Father will send “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you” (v.26). The Holy Spirit of God will always be with us. The Holy Spirit of God will be present, never leaving us orphaned. And this Holy Spirit of God will advocate on our behalf to God, our Father in heaven, and this Holy Spirit of God will be present in our life in the name of Jesus Christ, and this Holy Spirit of God will teach you everything and remind you of everything that Jesus Christ has spoken (v.26). Dear friends, is this not just the best news, the best truth, the most reassuring truth, the best thing we have ever been told? This is truly the amazing grace of God. I encourage you to take some time today in your own private and personal prayer and contemplation to consider the presence of God in your life.
One of the reasons I share with you Jesus’ assurance of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in your life takes me back to my years in Tanzania, East Africa, when I worked and lived with the Sukuma. I was responsible for, among many things, about a dozen villages that surrounded the tiny village of Bugisi in Shinyanga. I visited these villages regularly, spending a couple of days and nights with the villagers each time I visited, bringing them bulgar wheat from USAID, from America, to help them during the terrible drought and famine that plagued sub-Sahara Africa in the early and mid-1980s.
I led worship with them, brought them communion, heard their confessions, taught them about Jesus Christ, played soccer with them, married them and buried their dead — especially their children, and built relationships with the Sukuma based on our mutual love for God — and based on the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. It was physically tough at times, but very much a great spiritual blessing for me and for the people with whom I lived. We did everything in Swahili, the language I learned when I first arrived in Africa.
But the most amazing experience I had day in and day out was the reaction of the Sukuma to learning about Jesus Christ. Time and time again, when they listened to my reading stories about Jesus and explaining who Jesus was and what He stood for, they quickly admitted that they knew God, but not everyone knew that God’s name was Jesus. Not everyone knew there was a good Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, alive in their lives. What I taught them was hugely confirming to them, confirming of what they experienced every day of their lives, namely, that God was alive in their lives. The Holy Spirit, from the beginning, was their Advocate in their lives, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sent in the name of Jesus, who taught them everything about who God is, and who reminded them all of who Jesus Christ is. It came as no surprise to me that the Holy Sprit of God had never left them orphaned, just as Jesus promised, and in no way was God waiting for thousands of years for me to show up and introduce them to God for the first time. I came by the grace of God to help them grow in their knowledge and love of God, and to help them deepen their understanding of what it meant to live the Christian life. I was simply building on the foundation that God, our Father in heaven, and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit of God, had laid from eternity.
What I have learned is that the Holy Sprit of God is present in everyone’s life, just as Jesus promised His disciples, present in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for better and for worse, no matter how old we are, no matter whether we are male or female, whether we are gay or straight, Jew or Muslim or Christian or Hindu or Buddhist, whether we are saint or sinner, black or white or yellow or a combination of many races and creeds. The Sukuma reaffirmed in my life this incredible truth: GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ORPHANED!
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words”
Romans 8:26.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” Galatians 5:22-23.
“And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”
Acts of the Apostles 2:38.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” 1 Corinthians 6:19.
“And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” Isaiah 11:2.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you”
John 14:15-17.
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Dear friends, read this final text below. It appears in only the 2nd verse in the Bible, a verse that reminds us of the truth that the Spirit of God has ALWAYS been present from eternity, present in all of life:
“…the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters” Genesis 1:2.
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