Charlotte Edwards
Charlotte Edwards is a Free Methodist elder in the New South Conference where she has helped launch Champion Church in the Nashville area. She also works as a human resources program manager for a multinational technology company. She initially connected with the Free Methodist Church’s Southeast Region Conference via Christ Community Church while serving as a pastor in Georgia. She has a Master of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary, Master of Science degrees from Troy State University in educational instructional technology and personnel management, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Mercer University.
By Charlotte Edwards
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper” (John 14:16 NKJV).
What does this “help” look like? Have you ever been trying to figure out something and the answer pops up out of nowhere? Have you ever been going through a very difficult situation that should have made you lose your mind “up in here, up in here,” but instead a sense of peace that surpasses all understanding came over you? If you answered, yes, then you, my beloved, have experienced the help of the Holy Spirit.
As we navigate the ebbs and flows of our Christian journey, it is important to know who He, the Holy Spirit, is and what He does in the life of a believer. We find descriptions of the “Helper” within the Gospel of John, chapters 14 and 16. Jesus lets us know in John 14:26 that He asked the Father to send us the Helper, which is the Holy Spirit. Jesus also described the Holy Spirit, our Helper, as the Spirit of Truth who will dwell with us forever and be in us (John 14:16–17).
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“We need Him to take us back to the basics.”
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I think that you will agree that we need the work of the Holy Spirit in our nation and world more now than ever! We need Him to take us back to the basics — you know, those foundational Christian principles we got in Sunday school and Bible study. Why is that so important? When we remember and embrace our foundation in Jesus Christ, then we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit’s power, energy, and grace to run our human race. When this happens, life’s ups and downs do not make us fearful or shake us to our core but awaken us to our numerous possibilities and victorious strengths that we have through Christ Jesus.
How the Spirit Helps
So what role does the Holy Spirit play? John describes the helping functions or work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer as follows:
- He teaches (John 14:26, 1 John 2:27).
- He convicts (John 16:8).
- He guides (John 16:13).
- He speaks (John 16:13).
- He will bring to our remembrance all things that the Lord said to you (John 14:26).
What did God say about you and me? When did He say it?
Our Heavenly Father spoke to us and poured into us when He created us. God knew each of us before we were formed in our mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5). What did He say to us that is so important for the Holy Spirit to bring into remembrance to us?
The simple truth is that God has basically said to our spirits that He is placing us on earth and wants us (male and female) to have dominion over all the earth and to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue (Genesis 1:26–28). As believers in Jesus Christ, it is important to remember these divine instructions and powerful authority given to us. Thank God that the Holy Spirit is here to remind us.
Heavenly Messages of Truth
How does the Holy Spirit go about bringing things into remembrance?
If you recall, God is Spirit (John 4:24), and we are created in His image and in His likeness.
“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
What has He given us? The Holy Spirit is speaking to us daily about what God has said about us and speaks that Word into our spirit.
“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 NKJV).
Think of it like a Spirit-to-spirit transaction taking place as our “Helper” downloads revelation to give His super to our natural.
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“God has spoken into our spirits things that we as citizens of heaven need to be able to recall and understand…”
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In all our getting, get understanding (Proverbs 4:7). For when we do, we rightfully discern that we are spiritual beings housed in a tent or physical body temporarily living here on earth (2 Corinthians 5:1). We understand through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that we are truly citizens from heaven, not earth (Philippians 3:20). We also through His revelations can embrace that God has spoken into our spirits things that we as citizens of heaven need to be able to recall and understand as we navigate these uncertain times on earth.
My beloved, what God whispered to us during creation is just one of the many things that the Holy Spirit will bring into remembrance. We encounter what I call noise and non-value-added information about ourselves and about others on a daily basis. Ignore it! Bind it and loose in our spirits the truth: It is always what God has said about us in heaven that matters. My brothers and sisters, what matters is never now or in the future what people say or think about you at any time or in any place.
May the Holy Spirit bring into our remembrance right now that we “are fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). May the Holy Spirit bring to recall what God said about us right after creating us, and that is we are blessed (Genesis 1:28). May the Holy Spirit remind us that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s very own (1 Peter 2:9).
My beloved, if we do not have the Holy Spirit of truth to teach us and remind us of who we are, and whose we are, and about the authority we are supposed to walk in, then we will become easily discouraged when constantly bombarded with today’s front page news of evil escalations, violent elevations, and just plain craziness of this world. We need the Holy Spirit to help focus us on the things of God not on the things of this world.
The Holy Spirit helps with understanding. “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).
Without this Spirit of truth helping us, we will struggle to reach the right level of understanding about the systemic and institutional root causes of the social and racial injustices plaguing our nation. But with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can see clearly that social and racial unrest stems from a condition of the heart. Short of the Holy Spirit, we may not discern the truth behind the rise in gun violence. With the Holy Spirit, we can connect the dots and correlate that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).
Without the Holy Spirit helping our understanding, we may not know how to take our tumultuous and separatist views and replace them with a unified perspective that Jesus wanted for humanity: “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one — as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me” (John 17:21 NLT).
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“The Spirit aligns us with the plans and will of God.”
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We are all God’s sons and daughters, and political views should not separate us from godly ways and godly thinking. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4–6).
We need the Holy Spirit not just in our personal lives. We need His help in making the world better through social actions. Without the Holy Spirit assisting us, it’s hard to see human sex trafficking for what it is, which is modern day slavery perpetuated by lovers of money and pleasure rather than lovers of God and neighbor (2 Timothy 3).
The Holy Spirit, our Helper, is always there to help propel us toward the truth and in the direction of the right moral compass. The Spirit aligns us with the plans and will of God. When we invite Him into our lives, the Holy Spirit can teach, convict, guide, speak to us, and bring into remembrance that image we were originally created to become on earth.
Pause to Pray
We pause today to say:
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for all that you have done and will do in the life of the people called by your name and their families. Fill us with your presence, power, and passion for Jesus Christ. Lead us, guide us, and transform us into His image. Speak to our hearts, and enlighten the eyes of our understanding. Help us in everything we do and everything we say so that we can bring glory and honor to God. As we walk out our Christian journey, take the lead and guide us according to your holy compass, according to God’s will and according to Jesus’ purpose for our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.+
Charlotte Edwards
Charlotte Edwards is a Free Methodist elder in the New South Conference where she has helped launch Champion Church in the Nashville area. She also works as a human resources program manager for a multinational technology company. She initially connected with the Free Methodist Church’s Southeast Region Conference via Christ Community Church while serving as a pastor in Georgia. She has a Master of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary, Master of Science degrees from Troy State University in educational instructional technology and personnel management, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Mercer University.
