A Pair of Cleats? No – the Paraclete!
Have you ever had a really great friend spend some time with you? You chat about old times, discuss future plans, and one look to each other conveys some instant meaning that only the two of you understand. When you and your friend depart, there is an emptiness that ensues and loneliness can flood your soul.
Now imagine you have spent a few years walking with Jesus, learning at His feet, eating meals with Him, and watching Him perform spectacular miracles. Jesus then begins to reveal to you that He must go away and where He is going, you cannot come. A sense of great grief and disappoint assuredly washed over the disciples as Jesus revealed this to them in His “farewell discourse” in the book of John, chapters 14-17.
Christ was attempting to prepare His friends and followers for the time when His physical presence would no longer be with them. However, Christ made a glorious promise that, even though He must go away, He would send “another Comforter/Helper” to them (John 14:16). The word “paracletos” or “paraclete” is the Greek word for comforter or counsel. The silly side of me always thinks of the phrase “pair of cleats” when I see that Greek word :). Then Christ proceeds to tell His disciples over the next few chapters exactly what the Paraclete, who is the Holy Spirit, will do for them.
The very first thing Christ told them about the Holy Spirit is that he would be with them forever. One of the greatest fears of humankind is that we will left all alone. God knows this about us and sends His Spirit to us to fill that need so that we can be in constant fellowship with Him. Ever since the beginning of creation, God has desired fellowship with us, but we keep messing it up though through our rebellious nature.
Christ had been the presence of God on earth with His disciples. He knew when He departed from this earth that His followers would feel abandoned. He promised to send the Holy Spirit to abide not only with us, but IN us so that we would always have His abiding presence. The Spirit has all kinds of functions, including teaching, convicting of sin, testifying of Christ, and glorifying Him. But my favorite function is this promise from John 16:13, “but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose it to you.” I am desperate to hear what God has to say to my spirit through the Holy Spirit. We have to be listening to hear it though. I love the old quote that says “Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf.” So many times we drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit because we are too busy flapping our tongue!
The Holy Spirit will be like a faithful interpreter of what God has to say to us. Think about what an interpreter does. They listen intently to a person, and then he turns to another person and relays the message so it can be understood. When we fall into times of despair and all we can do is just “waller” in our tears and no one else can understand us, Romans 8:26 tells us “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;”.
The Holy Spirit is truly God’s indwelling presence in our soul. It makes me think about the burning Shekinah glory cloud that the Children of Israel followed around in the desert for all those years. This was the same cloud that would come down and rest on the Ark of the Covenant. It was the visible, manifest presence of God. That same Shekinah glory has come to rest in the heart of every believer. Make no mistake – we are not God – but we do have the power of God abiding in us in the form of the Holy Spirit! If we would realize this, we would be living a much more victorious life. I will leave you with Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
