“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
“You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
- John 14:15-31
The Boilerplate
My wife took a Bible Study in 2009. She had become a Christian in 2000, and about the time that she took this class during the week at night, she developed night blindness, or at least the start of it. I would drive her to a friend’s house, and then the friend would drive her home afterwards. The focus on the Bible Study was weight loss from a biblical perspective. I don’t know if any weight was lost by anyone in the Bible Study, but a few members of that group became very good friends.
My wife passed away in March and I found her study guide as I was cleaning up. I actually found two study guides. The other study guide was from a Bible study long before committing herself to Jesus. Her answers were usually copying Scripture or turning the Scripture into her own words. This Bible Study in 2009 showed signs of how God was working in her life. It showed Christian growth.
So, instead of writing about a topic at random, I decided to write on the topics in the Study Guide, but instead of using the words of the Study Guide, I thought I would fashion the answers of her questions into a thread to discuss the topic. And I will not use any comment about other members of the group study (few, and usually prayer requests). That would be confidential. Thus, I am writing about these topics “with a little help” from my wife’s answers to study guide questions.
“[I know the Holy Spirit is at home within me by] being conscious that God owns me because I accepted Jesus Christ [whose] words came from the Father [with] the anointing of the Holy Spirit.”
- My wife’s ideas about the Scripture above
And what does God’s promise in John 14:26 tell you?
“That the Holy Spirit will always stand by Christ’s people in all our concerns, etc. and daily living. [And] by teaching us in everything so that we know the Father and Son, Jesus Christ.”
- My wife’s continued ideas about the Scripture above
My wife was digging deeply into who the Holy Spirit is here. The Holy Spirit is our protector, standing by us in good times and bad. But also the Holy Spirit instructs us. It is what I have written many times before. You read a passage of Scripture and it means something to you, but when you read it again, it means something different, but maybe not different as it means something deeper. The Holy Spirit knows us better than we know ourselves. The Holy Spirit will give us what we need at that moment, and the deeper meaning will come when we are ready to understand it. The wise teachers in school follow this pattern, laying a foundation and then building upon that foundation.
But to keep the lines of communication open between us and God, what must we do?
“To remain faithful in God’s Word and live by it. To learn to let go and let God take control and do his will through me.”
- My wife’s inner thoughts
If the answer my wife gave seems familiar, she used it before. She must have struggled because there was a spiritual battle. But how does the enemy attack?
“Satan likes to deceive us because he’s a liar. He likes for us to live a hedonistic life. He tells us that it’s okay to go ahead and sin by being deceitful. He likes to hide behind the truth. God gives us hope and endurance. He’s the Light.”
- My wife’s inner thoughts
Satan is indeed a liar. The biggest lie that he pulls off far too often is to convince people that he is not real.
And another lie that he mentions with ease is that we are not hedonistic. But we show our hedonism in the types of television that we prefer to watch, or what types of movies we prefer. Simply the word “prefer” has an element of entertainment and pleasure. Who does not want to press that button in our inner being labeled “pleasure.” But when we press that button too often, we have the opposite afterwards, a downer that might sink into depression. Thus, the vicious cycle continues with even greater pleasures to satisfy the deeper lows, and sometimes medication and illegal drugs are used to boost that pleasure.
The secular media understands that fully. The news feeds fear. Fear feeds the need for some pleasure to counteract the fear. Then the television advertisement talks about a new medicine, or portrays wanton sex, or gives scenes of a vacation spot… Or maybe you need a new car. The “old” one has been in the garage for over six months! What are you waiting for?! (Too much? But I have known people who never had a car more than a year.)
But God provides true light and in the light we can see Satan’s lies.
But Jesus tells His disciples that the prince of this world (Satan) is coming and he will not take hold of the disciples. How can Jesus make such a claim when so many are in the grip of Satan?
“Because God made Satan and Jesus knows Satan’s ways and Jesus relies on His Father’s Word. Jesus stressed the importance of His followers to be obedient because Jesus Christ is obedient to His Father. Jesus died for us so that we can have eternal life. Listen to what the Father taught His Son, Jesus Christ, and we are to do the same.”
- My wife’s inner thoughts
God created the angels, and Satan was an angel who rebelled, taking a third of the angels with him. But as a pastor said, “But the good angels outnumber the bad angels two to one. So the strength is on our side.” Of course, we have the strength of God to call upon.
And in some of my wife’s answers to the study guide questions, she ties all three persons of the Trinity together. We are to be more like Jesus because Jesus was taught, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, by His Father. There is nothing we cannot do, within God’s Will, with the strength and wisdom that God provides us. We can trust God.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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