Sunday
Author: Grace May, English Ministry Pastor, Oversea Chinese Mission, New York
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. (John 16:12-15, NIV)
Not surprisingly, the Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures is the illuminator of the Scriptures. To have God’s Spirit as our guide and interpreter gives us the assurance that we can apprehend the truth. For no one less than God can fully understand and impart the mind of God (1 Cor. 2:11). If it is Jesus’ express will for the Spirit to lead us into all truth (John 16:12), then who better to have as our teacher? For the Spirit aids us in making sense of God’s Word; the Spirit not only helps us to mine the depths of God’s Word, but to create the space for God to lodge his Word deep within us.
When the Word brings conviction that is the Spirit at work; when a person heeds the Word that is also the Spirit at work; to experience the nexus of the Spirit and the Word is powerful.
The irrefutable evidence the Spirit is at work is that the credit goes to Christ. For the Spirit, no less than the Father and the Son, takes part in the self-giving nature of the Trinity, with each deferring to and loving the other. What could be more humbling than to be invited to join the circle of divine love? Yet by God’s grace many will enter during this Lenten season as we give ourselves to God and one another.
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The ISAAC 2009 Lenten Devotional, edited by Rev. Dr. Johnson Chiu. This devotional was written by Asian American English ministry leaders and pastors in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. To purchase, click here: Road of Suffering, Road to Glory: A Lenten Adventure with the Savior
