A Study on the Role of the Holy Spirit

Amplified John 14:15 If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands. 

Question 1: Should we be more focused on loving Christ or obeying Him? Why? How? If we focus on who Jesus is, how he loved us, and what he did for us, we will want to obey him out of love and gratitude. We should love HIM the person. We should obey HIM the person. It's personal. 

Amplified 1 John 4:19 We love Him, because He first loved us. 

Question 2: Can we really obey Christ? What are His expectations toward us in obedience? As we surrender to Jesus' ownership, He empowers us to do His will. (Philippians 2:13) 

Amplified 1 John 2:3-6 3And this is how we may discern [daily, by experience] that we are coming to know Him [to perceive, recognize, understand, and become better acquainted with Him]: if we keep (bear in mind, observe, practice) His teachings (precepts, commandments). 4Whoever says, I know Him [I perceive, recognize, understand, and am acquainted with Him] but fails to keep and obey His commandments (teachings) is a liar, and the Truth [of the Gospel] is not in him. 5But he who keeps (treasures) His Word [who bears in mind His precepts, who observes His message in its entirety], truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected (completed, reached maturity). By this we may perceive (know, recognize, and be sure) that we are in Him: 6Whoever says he abides in Him ought [as [ personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself. 

Amplified John 14:16-17 16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever-- 17The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you. 

Matthew 16:13-17, 20-23 We must learn to discern between God's voice, Satan's voice, and our own thoughts. 

Romans 8:14-16 If the Holy Spirit speaks with our born again human spirit about our belonging to God, then the Holy Spirit speaks about other things in the same way. 

Romans 9:1 The Holy Spirit speaks with and through our consciences to us. 

I Corinthians 2:10-16 The Holy Spirit speaks with our born again human spirit, and then it comes up from our human spirit to our conscience minds. His voice is so natural that we sometimes mistake it as our own thoughts, but those thoughts are actually coming from the Holy Spirit. 

Romans 2: 14-16 Our reason will sometimes argue and resist the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to our conscience minds. 

I John 4:4-6 The Holy Spirit always speaks in agreement with scripture. 

Question 3: What does Jesus mean by saying that we would receive another Helper (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby)? Are we not God's helper, and not the other way around? Jesus was the first helper, and we can better understand how the second helper, the Holy Spirit, helps us by studying how the first helper, Jesus, helped His disciples. The Holy Spirit helps us to practice Jesus' commands as we yeild to Him. It's a moment by moment decision to yeild to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to help us. 

Question 4: What does Jesus mean by saying that we would receive "another" Helper (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby)? How is Jesus like the second Helper, and how is He different? How does this statement reveal how Jesus saw Himself? Jesus and the Holy Spirit are alike in helping us, but are different in how they help us. Jesus was limited by His human body, and had only 3 plus years to help His disciples. The Holy Spirit is here is stay, and He helps us from within. 

Question 5: How does Christ's disciples see the second Helper? Why does the world not see Him? We can only see (or perceive) the Holy Spirit's activity by training ourselves to discern His voice within our hearts. We can also discern the activity of the Holy Spirit by what He does. (John 3:8) 

Question 6: How can Jesus' disciples actually know the second Helper? How is it the world can't know Christ? When we acknowledge His activity throughout the day, we can begin to know Him like anyone else that we spend the day.