FOUR WAYS THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS ME GROW
As a leader of an organization, one of the things that I have so appreciated is being able to talk to a Life Coach. Someone who serves in the role of a Life Coach is trained to help you process your problems, challenges, and perspective. They know how to ask powerful questions. They help guide your thinking toward clarity. I will never forget a coaching moment that happened years ago with my friend, Jane Abatte. We were dialoging about challenges with some of my key partners when she asked me a question that was so direct it left me speechless. “Why do you think you are allowing and enabling people to treat you that way?” After a few seconds of total silence, I finally said, “I think I need a day to process that question because I can’t really answer that right now.” Her question hit me like a punch in the stomach. But it was exactly what I needed to consider.
Great coaches ask powerful questions. Let me give you a few basic ones to ponder:
What is it that you want out of your life right now?
Where are you trying to change?
What challenge are you trying to navigate?
What goal are you trying to reach?
When Jesus provided coaching and direction to His followers, He gave them more than a set of powerful and poignant questions. He knew they needed something beyond just clarity and direction. So much of our world presents strategies for change and growth but most of them are based on self-help tactics. Motivation. Discipline. Habits. Vision. All of these things are amazing keys to becoming better at whatever we are trying to be.
But isn’t it intriguing that when Jesus talked about life-change, He did not focus on any of those things. Yes, He does include teaching on disciplines and habits in His approach to life. Yes, He was incredibly visionary and motivating in what He did. But when He was getting ready to depart from this world, what He gave to His disciples was not a talk about strategy and vision. He actually introduced them to a PERSON.
Jesus spent much of His last night on earth with His twelve disciples talking about the person of the Holy Spirit.
Here are four ways being in relationship with the Holy Spirit help us grow:
#1 - He Is Your Companion
One of Jesus’ followers, who was present that night, records this initial statement about Him: "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." John 14:15-17
There are several defining words here that Jesus uses to describe the Holy Spirit. First, He is “another advocate”. This word in the Greek is “paraclete”, which Jesus prescribes as what the disciples needed most. This “paraclete” is “another”, which means someone just like Me. Jesus was telling them that just like I have walked with you over the last few years, so now the Holy Spirit will be in your life to provide you what you need.
Second, Jesus defines the Holy Spirit as the “advocate”. Other translations use the word “helper” or “counselor”. The implication is that the Holy Spirit speaks up for you (advocate); He gives you assistance (helper); and He provides insight to you (counselor). He is present in every moment of your life. What better strength way to change yourself, improve a relationship, or impact the world!?
You don’t just need more discipline or better habits or more vision. You need a powerful companion! Walking daily with the Holy Spirit is just like having Jesus walk beside you in every situation in your life.
#2 - He Is Your Mentor
A few verses later John records another facet of the Holy Spirit’s work to help you grow: "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.” (John 14:26)
When I turned fifty, one of my bucket list goals was to run a half-marathon (13.1 miles). My problem was that I was not in shape and was unprepared to run a long-distance race. There was a man in my church who was a triathlete and coached other triathletes. Matt offered to train me. Every week, he would download a running schedule for the week, tailored specifically for me. This schedule included how many miles to run and at what pace.
Matt also taught me about the mindset of a runner: what to think about, how to use vision to motivate myself. He helped me buy the right shoes and the best gear to keep warm in the winter and yet not be encumbered by too much bulk. He checked in on me. He encouraged me. He challenged me. It was such a gift!
The Holy Spirit is so much more than a manual for life. He is not only the one with the knowledge of our Father, and the teachings of Christ, but He is also available to download encouragement, challenge, conviction and hope. Jesus says, “He will teach you ALL THINGS and remind you of EVERYTHING.” This means there is no limit to what the Holy Spirit knows and can impart.
Being in relationship with the Holy Spirit doesn’t remove our need to read the Bible, pray or listen to sermons. It doesn’t take away or need for education or training. But the Holy Spirit augments everything because the He is both omniscient (knows all things) and omnipresent (is present everywhere at all times). He can download specific information and inspiration about anything whenever we need it.
One of the greatest moments that I had with my “running mentor” was on race day. He had taught me well. Now it was time for me to run. It was a grueling race, that felt like it would never end. But as I neared the finish line, I saw Matt running toward me. He had just finished a full marathon himself. (Yes, he ran a full-marathon in less time than it took me to run the half). Matt ran the last half mile with me to encourage me to finish well.
What a great picture of our advocate, the Holy Spirit! He’s coaching, instructing, mentoring, and running alongside of you throughout your journey in life.
#3 - He Is My Restorer
One of the under-appreciated ways in which the Holy Spirit works is His convicting presence. Conviction is so powerful, but it is often misunderstood because we associate it with feelings of condemnation. Conviction is nothing like condemnation! Listen to the words of Jesus:
"But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” John 16:7-10
Jesus was saying that it is for our good that the Advocate was coming to convict the world.
Condemnation is a reminder of what we have done wrong, with a the promise of punishment. It comes with heaviness, guilt, and shame. It makes us feel hopeless. It causes us to want to give in and give up. Condemnation drives us away from God.
Conviction is a reminder of what we can be. It gives us the promise of redemption. It reveals what is broken in our lives, but only to point us to the One who can save us completely - body, soul, and spirit. Conviction comes with hope because it offers the cure, not only for me, but for the damaged world around me.
When I want to change, I need the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Conviction helps me process failure. It teaches me to say no to temptation. It reminds me of the high vision that God has for my life and the tremendous price that Jesus paid because He believed in me enough to die for me. I may not always want conviction in my life. But if I really want to change my life or change the world, there is no better friend than the Holy Spirit and the conviction He brings.
#4 - He Is My Overcoming Partner
Jesus ends His talk, on His final night with His disciples by providing this overarching promise. “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
This verse gives us two seemingly opposing promises: First of all, YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE! Whatever you are trying to do, it will be opposed. Whatever your goals, you will have to deal with set backs, failures, and struggles. People may insult, attack or betray you. Trials might unexpectedly arise against you. Even the devil will work overtime to stop you.
But there is a second promise. I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD! Jesus would die but overcome death itself. And the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, is now alive and at work within your innermost being. You are empowered by the most powerful Person in the universe. That makes you unstoppable. We are not merely reliant on self-help strategies. We are not dependent on just good strategy. We have something available to us beyond establishing good habits. We have a partnership with the Person of the Holy Spirit.
When we partner with the Holy Spirit, He gives us the power to change and to become all that God has destined for us to become.