Hope for the Hurting: For the Hurting: Encouragement for Suffering SeasonsSample

On the night before His death, knowing His disciples would soon feel abandoned and alone, Jesus promised this would never occur.

Though He would leave them physically, He would never truly be gone. He, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit would remain with them through everything they faced or encountered.

Understandably, this confused and disturbed them. Prior to this point, these men had relied on Jesus for everything. They’d grown dependent, as they should have—and needed to remain, although they didn’t fully grasp that until they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

That was also when they experienced an intimacy with Christ they couldn’t have understood prior. For three years, they’d lived, served, prayed, and ate with Him. They had constant access to God the Son, the One who communicated directly to God.

Everything was about to change. Soon, they would hear God’s voice and experience Him personally. They’d have all of Him, not just with them, but living within them.

This wasn’t a consolation prize. This was the best gift, outside of salvation, Christ gave them. Soon, they’d receive resurrection power within and constant and perfect guidance for their most challenging situations. The Spirit would flood their souls with strength when they felt overwhelmed and weary, and supernatural courage when their knees felt ready to give way.

God the Spirit would teach them all things, remind them of all things, and empower them for all things.

After Christ’s death and resurrection, that was precisely what they experienced, and the watching world was never the same.

God wants us to live with the same supernatural power. If we belong to Jesus, we have all of God all the time. We’re not victims to our circumstances. We’re victorious, beloved children of God.

~Warmly, Jennifer Slattery