I AM HERE 6 of 7
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““This is the SIXTH of a seven part devotional series entitled: I AM HERE. The title is an acrostic. Today the letter “R” RELATIONAL PRESENCE. In these incredibly tumultuous times in which we are living, it is good to remind ourselves of these timely and timeless words of our Lord Jesus, Matt 28:20 ..and lo, I AM with you always, [even] to the end of the age. Amen.” It is my earnest and heartfelt prayer that this little series will comfort, strengthen and encourage every reader!””
[John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- 17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Do you have a school teacher that stands out in your memory? The most outstanding of all the great teachers I had, was Mrs. Kindred! She is the woman that replaced my mother for 6 hours a day when I first started school. I was certain that I did not need to go to school. I knew no one could take my Mom’s place. I really didn’t want to go and put up a fight. My parents won and off to school I went! Within days, I could not wait to go to school to see Mrs. Kindred. When it came time, I didn’t want to be promoted to the second grade because Mrs. Kindred wasn’t being promoted with me!
I’m sure Jesus’ disciples did not like being told that Jesus was going away and someone else would replace Him! Yet, to their surprise, when the Holy Spirit came, they discovered He was just exactly like Jesus! The great advantage was this, the Holy Spirit would be with them every moment of every day for the rest of their lives!
Maybe you have thought, “I wish I could have seen Jesus face to face and walked with Him like the 12 did!” Perhaps, you think you are at a disadvantage because you did not experience what the disciples did. Actually you and I too, have a great advantage, because we can be as close to the Holy Spirit as we want to be! He is the Spirit of Christ. Just as Jesus is the exact representation of the Father, (Heb. 1:3), in the same way, the Holy Spirit is the exact representation of Jesus! In our text above, Jesus says, “I will come to you!” Jesus is saying that the Holy Spirit comes to be our personal Jesus! O the testimonies I could share with you of how the Holy Spirit has been my teacher, my comforter, my counselor, my protector, my source of wisdom, guidance and strength. He has shown me countless “great and mighty things” that I never knew before! God wants you to enjoy the wonderful relational presence that is ours in the Holy Spirit! He is the One who leads us into all truth; the truth that makes us free, indeed! O Friend, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to anyone of His children, that ask! (Luke 11:13) He has so much more for us than we have ever experienced before! Hallelujah!
Every blessing!
—Tom