05.11 | Come Holy Spirit
John 15:18-16:15
“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”
John 16:8
Come Holy Spirit.
It’s a common prayer in many churches. It’s one that I’ve prayed many times. It expresses a longing for more of the life of God, the animating breath of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. When we pray this prayer, we usually expressing the feeling that we are lacking something in some way. We feel anxious, and so we pray Come Holy Spirit, in hope of being filled with peace. Or we are sick or injured, and we pray Come Holy Spirit in hope that He will come and heal our bodies. Or our churches feel tepid and dull, and so we pray Come Holy Spirit in hope that He will bring a measure of vitality to our lives and prayer meetings—a divine shot in the arm for a sleepy church.
And yet, when we look at the things Jesus describes the Spirit bringing today, often they are not the words we’d have been asking for.
Sin. Righteousness. Judgement.
That sounds less fun.
And yet, so often the way to the beautiful things of God doesn’t come simply through happier experiences of comfort, but from discomforting revelation of the nature of reality.
Take courage. The journey here leads to a greater freedom than you have known.
Let's pick these words apart.
Convict of sin.
None of us wants this. It sounds like it will lead to guilt. It sounds like it will lead to shame. It sounds like criticism and discouragement—a feedback form with only negative comments from a God who must be endlessly disappointed.
And yet, my friends, when the Spirit comes, He never brings shame. Shame closes down the heart, but the conviction of the Spirit opens it to new possibilities. Shame leaves us battered and hiding, whereas the conviction of the Spirit tells us the truth of our brokenness in confident expectation of His inbreaking renewal. Conviction diagnoses our sicknesses, and yet comes immediately with the medicine of love that brings us back to fullness. Truly there is no transformation without conviction. If you are stuck in life, and you are stuck in growth, pray, my friends—pray for the conviction of the Spirit. You cannot shake these chains from your feet until the Spirit shows you that they are there. He knows how to take them off, but will only do so with your permission.
Convict of righteousness.
Look at what Jesus says: because I go to the Father. Because Jesus is ascending, they will know longer be able to rely upon His daily teaching and instruction to know how to live well. Because Jesus will no longer be walking with them, eating with them, answering their questions, they could fear that they would lack insight now into the ways of true living. And yet, Jesus says, the Spirit of God does precisely this. He reveals the right way to live. He shows us the truer ways, the ways of wholeness, the ways of beauty, the ways of honour. He grafts conviction into the soul of the essential beauty of that which is good.
Convict of judgement.
Again, we hear these words and we fear. And yet, again, look at the words of the Master: Because the ruler of this world is judged. The judgement, my friends, that the Spirit is here bringing, is not yours: it is the judgement of the enemy of your soul. It is the judgement that was eternally declared upon Golgotha, the gavel of God falling with booming clarity, to declare an eternal No to the forces of hell and death and darkness, and pronounce endless liberty and love upon His liberated children. The chains fell off you. The accuser stands accused. And the enemy of your soul can never win.
Sin. Righteousness. Judgement.
Truly, honestly, and with earnest longing, we pray—unto the revealing and leading and confidence of our souls:
Come Holy Spirit.
Reflect:
Ask the Holy Spirit to come, and allow Him to show you what is required in your soul in this moment.
Pray:
Come, Holy Spirit,
Into my hiding and running and shame,
Soften this heart,
That I may welcome
You
To show me the truth of who I am.
Come Holy Spirit,
And convict me of sin,
Unto the healing of my ways.
Come Holy Spirit:
Into my uncertainties of the best way to live,
My compromises, my questions,
My wayward wanderings.
Come Holy Spirit,
And convict me of righteousness,
That I may walk the Ways of Jesus
In beautiful holiness.
Come Holy Spirit,
Into the shaming, critiquing, humiliating, fear-mongering
Of the enemy of my soul.
Declare unto my very heart
The affirmations of the Father
And the surety of the Cross,
That I may stand tall, and sure, and strong—
Defiant in the face of every accusation,
For my Jesus has done it.
Truly, certainly, beautifully,
Come Holy Spirit,
Unto leading me and Your Church
In the ways of endless freedom
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Ezekiel 13-15 | Proverbs 27:11-17