| “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” |
| —John 16:12 |
Have you ever answered the telephone at home and the person calling started talking to you like they 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 they are saying, I am trying to figure out who it is that is calling. 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 the 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 found in John 16:12-15, where Jesus says:
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.”
Please notice that Jesus tells His disciples that the Holy Spirit will come to them and speak to them of things in the future. 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.
As Christians, when we sense that “still small 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, then we will know for certain it is the Holy Spirit speaking. And, that is a really important lesson we all must learn.
