12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”
—The words of the Apostle John from John 16:12-15
Have you ever answered the telephone at home and the person calling started talking to you like he or she knew you, but you could not tell who that person was because you did not recognize the person’s voice? This happens to me from time to time. I will get a telephone call and the person calling will start talking to me without telling me who he or she is. The whole time that person is talking to me, instead of listening to what he or she is saying, I am trying to figure out who it is.
Sometimes, after I have listened very carefully to the sound of the person’s voice for a while, something the person says to me, or the way he or she forms words, will let me know who it is that is speaking to me.
The Bible verses at the beginning of this blog post come from a Scripture passage in the Gospel of John where Jesus tells His disciples that the Holy Spirit will come to them and speak to them of things that will guide them along the pathway of their lives. Jesus makes it very clear to His disciples that they will recognize it is the Holy Spirit speaking to them because the Holy Spirit will be speaking the same kinds of things that Jesus has been telling them.
When we put our faith and trust in Jesus, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. How this happens is a great spiritual mystery. But, believe me, it does happen. The Holy Spirit is present within us to remind us of the things Jesus wants us to know and to do.
When we hear that “voice” inside us telling us what to do, we will always be able to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit by what the Spirit says to us. If what we hear is the same kind of things Jesus would say to us—the kinds of things Jesus said that we read in the Bible—then we will know for certain it is the Holy Spirit speaking. And, that is a really important lesson we all must learn.
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank you for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Help us become people who learn to recognize the Holy Spirit’s voice and do what the Spirit tells us to do. We pray in the strong and powerful Name of Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
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