I have two observation gears. Most of the time I am in the 10th percentile of being observant about what’s happening around me. On the other hand, I can be in the 95th percentile, but usually not for long.
During the last five years, I have attended the same local church. A few months ago, someone referred to the pictures on the glass walls in the rear of the sanctuary. I didn’t know they were there for five years!
Apart from the Holy Spirit’s opening our eyes, we can’t see ourselves, others, or the world as they are. With the new birth, the Spirit gives us spiritual corrective lenses to see life as it is. Nevertheless, it takes time for our understanding to transition from the world we thought it was to the world as it is.
God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit-inspired words we call the Bible. Jesus and the Pharisees both assumed the Spirit inspired David’s messianic prophecy in Psalm 110:1 NLT, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.’”
The Pharisees didn’t understand the Messiah would be David’s Lord. Still, they agreed with Jesus that the Spirit inspired David’s words (Matthew 22:43). They needed the Spirit’s corrective lenses. But they thought they had 20/20 vision without them.
Jesus promised His followers the Holy Spirit would come to live in them and enable them to separate fact and fiction. The Spirit would guide their quest for truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit empowers us to see reality.
They already knew that Spirit, but soon would far more deeply and intimately (John 14:17). His work in them would be turbocharged compared to their previous experiences of Him.
The Father would send the Holy Spirit as an Advocate to empower them to make more and better disciples (Matthew 28:18–20). The Spirit represents Jesus’ interests on earth all over the world simultaneously.
He is the master teacher of spiritual realities. He would remind the disciples of all that Jesus had said. Some of them would later record Jesus’ words in the New Testament. All of them would share them in their preaching (John 14:26).
Pastors in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia have taught the content of my thoughts in His Power for Your Weakness, written in English, to groups of people using Chichewa words. Similarly, the Spirit communicates what He receives from Jesus to people in every tribe, tongue, and nation (John 16:15) in more than six thousand living heart languages.
The Holy Spirit enabled Stephen to see what was inaccessible to those around him. He declared to them that he saw God’s glory and Jesus standing at God’s right hand, the place of honor (Acts 7:55). What Stephen could not see but we can is that his martyrdom would launch the preaching of the gospel outside Jerusalem and fulfill Acts 1:8.
The Apostle Paul was grieving and burdened with sorrow because he saw the plight of his fellow Jews who had not embraced Jesus as their Messiah. He wasn’t pretending. He wished he could bear their punishment for rejecting Christ, but only Jesus could do that.
Paul spoke with complete truthfulness. His conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it (Romans 9:1–3). He cites the Holy Spirit as an authority on truth, i.e. life as it is.
The Apostle John equates being born again and receiving the Holy Spirit with knowing the truth (1 John 2:20). Jesus said that knowing the truth sets people free (John 8:32).
John said those who possess the Spirit don’t need anyone to teach them what’s true because the Spirit has already done so. They don’t need additional teaching that doesn’t square with the original truth the Spirit delivered (1 John 2:27).
Finally, in Revelation 4:2, 17:3, and 21:10 being “in the Spirit” enables John to see a throne in heaven (Revelation 4:2), a woman sitting on a scarlet beast (Revelation 17:3), and the holy city, Jerusalem descending out of heaven (Revelation 21:10). John experienced in a deeper sense that the Holy Spirit enables God's people to see reality. #freediscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources
See free spiritual growth resources for Christians at https://www.christiangrowthresources.com
God has empowered me to write “His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength.” It’s a free devotional discipleship resource. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead more than 2,400 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 4,563 people. I invite you to check it out. https://www.christiangrowthresources.com/his-power-for-your-weakness
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