Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as our Helper, our Advocate, the one he sends to be with us in his apparent absence. But what does that mean in a practical sense?

At one level, people understand the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as the one who stands beside us in the moment of judgment and pleads for mercy and understanding. And that’s undoubtedly true. But there are ways the Holy Spirit is active in our daily life as we grow and transform.

The Spirit seems to me, from my experience, to be a teacher willing to give us just enough information that we can do some or much of the work ourselves. From my experience as a teacher, knowing where their line is, and being careful not to cross it, is the real work of educating students to be able to educate themselves. As I have grown in my faith journey, I have experienced having to do work to become who I am trying to be, and I expect the same is true for you. But the fact that I’m doing work doesn’t mean that the Spirit isn’t there beside me, nudging and cheering me on.

God loves us and wants us to become like Jesus. And God has given us the Spirit as a companion and coach to make that possible. That doesn’t mean it happens automatically and without effort on our part. But when we work with the Spirit beside us, we can accomplish what God desires. And that’s a pretty big deal.

The direct link to the video is here.