If you'd like to watch, click on Pastor Squatch Musings!

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

John 16:7, LSB

The promise of our Lord Jesus given to the disciples before His death is the promise of something more. The Greek word used here is “Parakletos” or “Paraklete,” which can be translated as “Helper,” “Advocate,” “Counselor,” or “Mediator.” This term is a legal term, and it is the role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our intercessor as He intercedes in our lives to reveal to us our Lord, uncover our sin, and bring us into the Kingdom of God. It is through Him we are given belief, and in belief we receive the promised new life. Without His help, at Judgment, we would be representing ourselves before the Father, but it is the Holy Spirit who represents us and covers our guilt and shame as adopted sons and daughters of God. It is He who the first disciples were being prepared to receive during those forty days after the Resurrection. It is He who came down on the Disciples and sent them out into the streets, it is He who came upon the early Church, and it is He who comes to all of us as we are brought into the waters of Holy Baptism and leads us into His peace.

Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.