The very best personal assistant!

Now that I’m home from the hospital, I feel the need of a ‘personal assistant’ to do some of the chores around here. My hubby is mailing the rest of the parcels (I sell quilt patterns) today on his way home from work. He does the lifting, cleaning up, etc. He is doing a great job, yet there is always extra to do and I know I cannot handle it.

God knew that concerning all of life. When Jesus left this planet, He promised to supply:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16–17)

My version says “Helper.” Others translate this name for the Holy Spirit as Comforter, Advocate, Counselor, even Friend. The word is used for a legal advocate, a person who acts as a spokesperson or representative of someone else's policy, purpose, or cause; especially before a judge in a court of law.

This word covers a wide area of meaning. ‘Comforter’ is misleading because it suggests only one aspect of what the Holy Spirit does. ‘Helper’ is generic but can be particularly useful in some languages. In certain instances, for example, the concept of ‘Helper’ is expressed as, ‘the one who mothers us’ or, as in one language in Central Africa, ‘the one who falls down beside us.’ That is, an individual who upon finding a person collapsed along the road, kneels down beside the victim, cares for his needs, and carries him to safety (like the Good Samaritan).

Even the concept of legal advocate can be restrictive, especially if it conotates a lawyer. In many cultures, lawyers are often people who ‘bribe the judges’ or ‘can speak two truths’ or as one language says, ‘a professional liar.’ Lawyers are seldom popular!

How then can the Holy Spirit be described? Tozer says He is ‘a Being dwelling in another mode of existence.’ The early church creeds agree that He is God, but He is not the Father nor the Son. He points us to Jesus, even though He is also God.

Maybe the best way is to describe Him by what He does, and this word from John 14, parakletos, is a beginning. The Holy Spirit is my advocate who takes my interests and even my prayers before God, representing my needs and concerns to the Almighty. He also comforts me as I need it, counsels me continually, helps me in every way possible, and puts my needs at the top of His to-do list.

But I cannot see this amazing Friend. I can hear and feel Him though. He is real, and I rejoice knowing Him, knowing God the Father through Him, and knowing Jesus Christ the Son because of Him. He does not do the dusting — but He certainly meets my spiritual needs.

^^^^^^

Jesus, thank You for giving me Your Spirit. I need a Helper because I am helpless in so many ways. You are good and You knew just what to do about it!