Bonus: God is Enough (Part 3) - The Holy Spirit is Enough for Your Future

Barbara Rainey's Top 10 Interviews

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
God is Enough (Part 1) - The Son is Enough For Your Past
God is Enough (Part 2) - The Father is Enough For Your Present
God is Enough (Part 3) - The Holy Spirit is Enough for Your Future

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript

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The Holy Spirit is Enough for Your Future

Guest: Barbara Rainey

From the series: God is Enough (Day 3 of 3)

Air date: August 3, 2018

Bob: Whatever you’re facing today—whatever the challenges are—Barbara Rainey wants you to remember that you are not alone. God’s Holy Spirit is with you everywhere you go.

Barbara: In Romans He is our intercessor. The Holy Spirit is constantly praying for us, and I am so, so grateful, because there are many, many times in my life when I don’t know what to pray—I don’t know what to say—and He is praying for me—He is interceding for me before the Father.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Friday, August 3rd. Our host is Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine.

God’s Spirit is described in Scripture as our Comforter—and there are days when we need to know He is there providing comfort. We’ll hear more about that today from Barbara Rainey. Stay with us.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us.

1:00

We’ve been hearing from your wife this week, and I’ve been thinking—this is really about those times in life when we find ourselves in the low places—in the valleys of life, when we’re not on the mountaintop, when we’re in the slog. The psalmist talks about the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes it’s not the shadow of death we’re feeling, it’s other shadows—but it’s about times when life is dark and we’re uncertain about where God is leading us or if He even is still with us.

Dennis: We’re in need of being reminded of the truth about God and who He is—and also that He has a plan for our lives and He can be trusted. I think sometimes, Bob, it’s just as simple as that. We just need somebody reaching into our lives. I think in those times we need to avoid being isolated.

Let me tell you—your enemy, in the midst of the low places—is the enemy of isolating yourself from other people who can remind you of the truth about God—

2:00

—the truth about yourself—and the truth about your future. You need friends. Every one of us has times—and I mean, some of them are game times. I mean, they’re really, really tough—it feels like it’s all on the line. Those are times when you can’t isolate from other people and try to handle it yourself by gritting your teeth and say, “We’re just going to persevere.”

No, let some other people into your space, and share your sorrow, your worry—actually, what’s going on in your heart.

Bob: We’re going to hear part three of a message from your wife, Barbara Rainey. She spoke to a group of women—not long ago—on the sufficiency of Christ to deal with issues from the past, issues we’re facing in our present, and for the issues that are ahead for us—for the darkness that we may be walking into. One of the things she says in this message is that we need to recognize that Jesus—who has promised to be always with us and to never forsake us—

3:00

—is with us—by His Holy Spirit—as we head into the future. Here’s Barbara.

[Recorded message]

Barbara: Number three: God the Holy Spirit is enough for my future. God the Holy Spirit is enough for my future.

I’ve noticed through the years that the Bible talks a good bit about dwelling-places—about homes. In the Old Testament, God’s residence on earth was the tabernacle. You remember they built that tent and they carried it around the wilderness and they rolled it up and they carried it and reset it up all over the place.

Then, during Solomon’s reign, they built an actual, physical temple that never moved—it sat in one place. In that temple, God’s presence lived in a particular room called the Holy of Holies. So God’s presence was in one place—physically—on earth.

But in John 1:1 it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

4:00

Then in John 1:14 it says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”

So, when Jesus came and walked around the earth, He actually occupied a physical place on the planet, and His presence was way beyond that little square room inside the temple. God’s presence was all over the land of Israel. God wasn’t confined anymore to one room. In fact, Jesus’s name—Immanuel—means “God with us.”

But there was more change coming. Turn to John 14, and we’re going to read some verses from the Last Supper. The context for these verses is Jesus’s last words to His disciples. The end of His life was near—in fact—it was only 24 hours away. This was His last meal—and these were His last words to His dearest friends on earth. In those last words He introduced us to a new dwelling-place that He was going to give.

John 14:16 and 17—

5:00

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;” Forever! Jesus knew He was leaving, but He wanted to give them Someone who would be with them forever.

Verse 17—“that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you.”

If you have a Bible that you can underline in—and maybe you can do it on your phone—I don’t know how to do that yet—but in my real Bible I have underlined “with you” and “in you,”—both “with you” and “in you.”

Jesus knew that the next day He was going to be on the cross and He was going to be gone—and He knew His disciples were going to feel abandoned and forsaken. In fact, in the next verse—verse 18—He said, “I will not leave you as orphans.” He knew they were going to feel like orphans the next day—on Good Friday—so He promised them that He was going to send Someone who would be with them forever.

6:00

I love the concept of those two phrases in verse 17: He will be “with you” and “in you.” So, Jesus is here with me. He...