How God Promises To Help You

The King's Church International Audio Podcast

The reality of life is that we all need help, and that we need help at every age and stage of life. Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit as the one who would help us.

The Holy Spirit, is not an ‘it’ but a person: He is a He. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, but often described as the neglected person of the Trinity. Many have heard and know about the Father and the Son, but need to know a bit more about the Holy Spirit.

Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit and He made incredible promises about Him which are as life-changing for us today as when they were first given:

1. The promise of the Holy Spirit is for every believer (Joel 2:28-29; Numbers 11:25; Mark 1:8; John 16:6-7)

2. The promise of the Holy Spirit brings new life (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Romans 3:10-12; Ephesians 2:1,4-5; John 16:8; John 3:6)

3. The Holy Spirit brings the presence of God to live inside us (John 14:16-18; John 15:9-10; Ephesians 3:14-19; John 14:27; John 15:11; Acts 16)

4. The Holy Spirit will be your teacher (John 14:26; Jeremiah 31:33-34; John 16:13)

5. The Holy Spirit gives us power to share our faith (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:38-39; John 7:37-38)

Apply

1. The promise of the Holy Spirit is for every believer. Several centuries before Jesus was born, the prophet Joel recorded a great promise from God about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all people (Joel 2:28-29). This is an astonishing promise that every Christian can take hold of. This promise is available for all people: it is equally for men and for women, and no-one is too young or too old to receive it. It is especially for those who serve in low positions. It is for the servants, slaves and handmaids. It is for ex-prisoners, those in debt, distress or discontented. No one is discounted. All are precious in God’s sight. In the Old Testament, there were just over a hundred people who are recorded as receiving the Holy Spirit, and that includes the seventy elders who received a share of Moses power at the same time (Numbers 11:25). The anointing of the Holy Spirit came upon roughly one person every 120 years. But at the day of Pentecost, Joel’s prophetic promise was fulfilled and about 120 people were filled with the Holy Spirit in one go. That’s more people in one day than the previous four thousand years combined! And that was just the start. We are living in a time that has seen the largest number of spirit-filled Christians in the whole of history. John the Baptist knew Jesus would usher in the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8). Jesus Himself declared it to His disciples too (John 16:6-7). We are very fortunate that the invitation to receive the Holy Spirit is so generously offered to us, and we must never devalue it.

2. The promise of the Holy Spirit brings new life. 600 years before the Pentecost outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the prophet Ezekiel also received a great promise from God about the life-changing work of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25-27). This means we can be cleansed from bad attitudes and sin, have our hard hearts softened with compassion, be restored to life and relationship with our Father in Heaven. The Bible makes it clear that we are all dead men walking until we receive Jesus’ death for us. It’s not just that we’ve committed sins, but our human hearts have turned completely away from the God who created us, feeling we are free to do anything we want (Romans 3:10-12). Jesus told His disciples he had to be handed over to death to pay our ransom (Ephesians 2:1,4-5). Now, while it was Jesus’ death on the cross that brings the payment for salvation, it is the Holy Spirit who comes alongside us to soften our hearts, urging and appealing to us to turn back to God (John 16:8):

- He convinces the world of sin: awakening your conscience to recognise how you have rebelled and done wrong;

- He convicts the world of righteousness: to see that your self-righteousness is filthy compared to the righteousness of God;

- He convicts the world of judgement: that you’re under a death sentence unless you surrender your life at the cross. But when you surrender to Jesus, you can freely receive His Spirit (John 3:6). When the Holy Spirit gives life to your spirit you are ‘born again’ – no longer cut off from God because of sin, but restored into a spiritual relationship with Him.

3. The Holy Spirit brings the presence of God to live inside us. Jesus promises that you don’t need to go it alone, for the Holy Spirit will always be with You (John 14:16). This brings great hope for anyone struggling in the battles of life. Whenever you feel overwhelmed or afraid you can just invite Him, “Come Holy Spirit”, and experience His presence. This is more than a feeling, it’s a relationship you experience in your spirit (John 14:17). The presence of the Holy Spirit brings comfort (John 14:18). No matter who or what you might lose in this life, there’s One person who can never die and you can never be separated from. For many, the grief of losing your parents is one of the toughest of times in life. But when the Holy Spirit lives inside us we know we have been adopted by a Heavenly Father, and this is such an anchor of comfort. The presence of the Holy Spirit brings love (John 15:9-10). This is not just a nice-to-have, it’s actually an instruction! God is love and we need to experience it. If you’re a born again Christian but you’re feeling distant from the love of God, there’s an important detail in this command from Jesus: we need to keep His commands to remain in His love. Are you living in obedience to His commands? The Apostle Paul wrote extensively about love (e.g. Ephesians 3:14-19). The presence of the Holy Spirit brings peace (John 14:27). The peace that the Holy Spirit brings is not dependant on calm and tranquil circumstances but there to take hold of by faith, no matter what is going on around us. This is not a practice of mind over matter, it is about being filled with and surrendered to the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:6). The presence of the Holy Spirit brings joy (John 15:11) Paul and Silas, having just been wrongfully accused, arrested, severely flogged and locked in a dungeon, decided to sing their hearts out to God in a midnight praise party (Acts 16). Their joy was irrepressible!

4. The Holy Spirit will be your teacher (John 14:26). This is another promise that was also given through the prophets hundreds of years before Jesus was born (Jeremiah 31:33-34). As our Teacher, the Holy Spirit helps us to know God’s character, to deeply understand the words of the Bible, and for His laws to become ingrained in our hearts and minds as a natural part of who we are. He is the “Spirit of Truth” who will never lie to you (John 16:13). You can trust what He says. As we learn to stay humble and submitted to Him, we can listen to and hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, and be so helped. He is our guide but we must always remember He is God. When we sense His prompting in our spirit we must choose to quickly obey. This is the gift of intuition. When we recognise Him speaking to us, we must trust and obey, not over-analyse and assess what He says or we can miss it.

5. The Holy Spirit gives us power to share our faith (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit gives powerful, spiritual gifts to his children to make us effective in telling other people about this good news we’ve received in Jesus. But there’s a clause here: you can’t expect power if you don’t want to be His witness! If we’ve got the same spirit as Jesus, and an obedient heart to serve His purposes, we can expect Him to help us minister with many of the same gifts as He did. We just need to stick close to and treasure the presence of the Holy Spirit. Today you can receive the Holy Spirit in a personal way to make God real to you at a level you’ve never known before. It may be that you have heard about the Holy Spirit but need to know Him in a personal way or want to know Him more. If that’s your desire, the Bible promises that you will receive Him, just ask right now (Acts 2:38-39; John 7:37-38).