They had joined his revolution. Three years earlier they had first encountered him. They had never met anyone like Jesus. He spoke and lived with authority as if he “owned the place”. And then he demonstrated in countless ways that he actually was in control because God had given him authority to usher in a brand new day for all of creation.

But, now they had arrived at the climax of Jesus’s plan. The next few weeks would prove to be the ultimate test for these followers. Not all of them would make it. But, for those who did, it would be because they learned to trust in the Spirit of God with them.

Do you sometimes wonder what the Holy Spirit means to you? You aren’t alone in that. I want to give you three helpful tips on not missing the Holy Spirit in your everyday life. If you are up for that, lets go!

Can you imagine being one of Jesus’s best friends? It was costly to be his friend but you wouldn’t have traded one moment for all of the gold in the world.

You didn’t really see this coming, but Jesus had begun to talk about what was going to be next for him. “The Son of Man must suffer and even lay down his life”, he had told you. Through many conversations along the road he had explained that he would be taken from you and the other disciples. He hadn’t held back. It was going to get very rough for all of you.

Now the moment had come. Imagine being in the room at the Last Supper as Jesus walked his disciples through this:

“Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

⁵ Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

^6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

⁸ Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.”

^9-10 “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

^11-14 “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.

^15-17 “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you! John 14:1-20

God’s bold move was to launch his restart of all creation through Jesus. Once it was launched he took a risk that only God would take. He handed the mission over to human beings like you and me.

Down to this moment today…

As a child of God through your faith in Jesus Christ, you have joined the same mission he started. You spread the light of heaven as you live your ordinary day… “bringing out the God-colors in the world.” When you think about it in those terms, it can be overwhelming. But, don’t miss the importance of the Spirit being with you to help fulfill your mission.

How can you make sure you don’t miss the Holy Spirit’s help?

1. Do the works that Jesus did in your ordinary day.

Jesus called us out by saying, “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you”.  The Holy Spirit is with you to lead you back into accomplishing Jesus’s mission in the world. One of the best things you can do for yourself each day is to give your plans to God in exchange for what he wants to do. The Holy Spirit has a plan for your day. It will always lead you back to serving the people around you with the love of Jesus. Anything that doesn’t lead us back to the mission of Jesus is not the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to start your day with a simple prayer like this. “Spirit of God I surrender my plans to you. Lead me to accomplish the mission of Jesus in this day so that my world can see that you are real. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

2. Love being a student of Jesus for the rest of your life.

For many reasons we can get fooled into a very limited view of Jesus’s identity. One of my favorite scriptures is found in Hebrews 1:1-3. The Bible teaches us that Jesus actually reveals God to us. We know who God is and what He is like by studying Jesus. Jesus and his life are the most important message we will ever receive from heaven.

And according to John 14:26, Jesus wants us to know that the Holy Spirit is just waiting for us to set our hearts on knowing Jesus. He is an endless supply of support for us in showing and reminding us of what Jesus said and brought into our world.

3. Dig in to the teachings of Jesus in order to give the Holy Spirit the space to  speak to you.

Many people will say that they aren’t sure if God ever speaks to them. If that is the way you feel, I challenge you to focus your Bible reading in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John for the next few months and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you. I know you will be surprised by the results in your everyday life.

A powerful wisdom hack for the person who wants to hear from God is found in two letters written by the Apostle Paul to two different churches in his day. His comments to his friends in these churches are very much the same with one twist. The first is found in Ephesians 5. The second is found in Colossians 3. The only difference is that he coaches the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit while he calls the Colossians to let the words of Christ dwell in them.

A wise principle that has helped me many times is this:

Without the Holy Spirit the words of Christ won’t come alive in you. And without the words of Christ the Holy Spirit has nothing to work with in helping you know his voice.  You need both.

Thanks for reading and I hope it helps you live this day with Jesus. Leave me a comment if you have a minute. And if it helped you please share it with someone else.

Live THIS Day!