The Spirit of Truth: Our Powerful Guiding Light

John 16:13

…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come (John 16:13).

In the Beginning

John 1:1-4

In the very beginning, the Living Expression was already there. And the Living Expression was with God, yet fully God. They were together —face-to-face, in the very beginning. And through his creative inspiration this Living Expression made all things, for nothing has existence apart from him! Life came into being because of him, for his life is light for all humanity. John 1:1-4 TPT

Truth begins with the One who set all things in motion. Jesus existed before everything, and that means that Jesus is Eternal—He has always been, and he always will be. If we wanted to, we could call Him Eternal Jesus. Eternal Jesus created our beautiful world. He also created all of the humans. The humans are beautiful too, and within each created one, a special power is deposited.

 Through all the ages this special power has been used for both good and evil. It has caused unimaginable pain; it is responsible for brokenness in our homes, our lives, our hearts, and our world; and this special power enables a tragic amount of creativity, ingenuity, and calling, to go unrealized.

 On the other hand, it places within our reach the potential for greatness, and empowers us to accomplish and produce and succeed. Moreover, this special power leads us into adventure; it can be an instrument of reconciliation; a messenger of forgiveness, grace and peace.

 Consequently, it can dramatically change the trajectory of a life, for better or for worse.

 This special power is the Power to Choose.

 

Choose Truth and Life 

We choose simple things, like what to eat and what to wear; we choose how to treat other people and how to treat our planet; more substantially, we choose how to spend our time, what to believe, what to embrace, and what to reject. And we choose whom and what to love.

 Of particular significance is that we choose who and what will have access to our minds and our hearts. And whatever fills up our senses and flows into our thoughts and our hearts, is being given permission (by our choosing) to lead us toward Truth and Life, or toward Delusion and Death.

John 1:10  

Jesus… entered into the very world he created, yet the world was unaware. He came to the very people he created—to those who should have recognized him, but they did not receive him. John 1:10 TPT

 It’s remarkable to me that the Divine Person who created us also gave us the freedom to reject Him. It makes sense though. “Forced love” is not love. I can’t make someone love me. Real love can only ever be given freely and must be received freely. It cannot be demanded or taken by force.

Jesus loves the people He made. Yet He does not demand our love in return, nor does He insist that we accept His love. We are free to choose. We can accept or reject Jesus, His message and His love.

Jesus’ Message and Love

Here are some of the claims of Jesus—this was His message to us:

I Am Statements of Jesus

 John 6:35

 I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35 NKJV

John 14:6

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6 NKJV

John 10:9

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:9 NKJV

John 10:11

I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. John 10:11 NKJV

John 10:27

My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. John 10:27 NKJV

John 10:17,18 

He demonstrated His love when He allowed the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman authorities to crucify Him:

 …I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. John 10:17,18 NKJV

 Who’s Got the Truth?

Jesus—the One who created the world and then entered into that world and then died to save the people from eternal separation from God, and then rose from death to life again (this is a good article on Historical Evidence for the Resurrection) so He could carry on being Eternal Jesus and we could be eternal with Him—is the One who holds all Truth. There’s no one more In-The-Know than Eternal Jesus. The road that leads to Truth and Life begins by believing Jesus—believing His message and accepting His sacrificial act of love.

 

He Will Guide You Into All Truth

Jesus told His disciples this:

John 16:13

 When He, the Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you into all truth…John 16:13 NKJV

 The Truth is discerned by our spirit; the Holy Spirit reveals the truth to our spirit. When we freely choose to accept the message and the love of Jesus, He gives us His promised Holy Spirit:

Ephesians 1:13

And because of him, when you who are not Jews heard the revelation of truth, you believed in the wonderful news of salvation. Now we have been stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13 TPT

So when we choose to believe Jesus’ message, and we choose to receive Jesus’ love, then God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit, also called the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Truth (God’s Spirit) guides us into all Truth.

 Lovers of Truth

The only way to even come close to being able to discern what is true and what is false as we are going through this life, is to become a Lover of Truth. Are we desperate to know the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth??? We choose whether or not we will love the Truth. And this one detail is hugely important. Here is why:

2 Thessalonians 2:11,12

 …those who are perishing…rejected the love of the truth that would lead them to being saved. Because of this, God sends them a powerful delusion that leads them to believe what is false. 2 Thessalonians 2:10,11

Isaiah 11:2

If we do not cling to the One who holds the Truth, we will be led to strong delusion. When we choose to reject Jesus, Who is our only hope for reconciliation to God—we, by our own choice, are rejecting God and His protection, His favor, His blessing, and the covering He offers us through the blood of His Son, Jesus. We are also rejecting, by choice, the counsel of His Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit is not only the Spirit of Truth, but the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).

We Have an Adversary

On the other hand, to willfully reject God’s covering is to to subject ourselves to a very real Adversary (see Ephesians 6:12) who, according to 1 Peter 5:8 walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Jesus says in John 10:10, The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. As He is challenging the Pharisees in John 8:44 he says to them, You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44 ESV)

Guided by the Spirit of Truth

Lovers of Truth love Jesus, who is Truth Incarnate. When we love Jesus, God gives us the Spirit of Truth, who will guide us into all Truth. And even then, we will not always get it right, because we will not always be listening—because most of us are not *always* tuned in or paying attention to His voice. BUT when we are, we will be able to discern between what’s true and whats false, between fact and fiction, in our everyday life—in relationships, in situations, in current events, etc. We will be led to and drawn to sources—speakers and leaders, journalists, media, organizations, books, podcasts, resources, etc. that speak Truth. And when we hear things that are not true, or things that oppose the truth, we will recognize it as deception and falsehood.

In this way, our prayers remain aligned with God’s purposes and ways, we are not easily swayed, angered, or manipulated by what we are hearing and seeing, and our faith remains unshaken. We have the peace of God that passes all understanding, and we don’t need to be anxious for anything (Phil 4:6,7).

 Let’s be Lovers of Truth! Let’s keep our ears open, our hearts soft and humble, and our our spirits sensative to the leading of God’s Spirit of Truth within us.

John 3:19-21

The Light of God has now come into the world, but the people loved darkness more than Light, because they want the darkness to conceal their evil. So the wicked hate the Light and try to hide from it, for the Light fully exposes their lives. But those who love the truth will come into the Light. John 3:19-21