John 15:15. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.”

 

These were the words of Jesus. And I would like to unpack this verse so as to give us a rounded perspective or insight into the subject under discuss. But before then I would like you to read this verse of the Scripture. It says; “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (Eph 5:8) Did you see the latter part of this verse? It says walk as children of light. How then do we walk in the light as children of God who have been called out of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son? How do we know or differentiate between what is good, what is acceptable and what is the perfect will of God? How can we abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so we may approve what is excellent?

 

Having raised these issues; I would like to take you back to the basic text of this article, it provides an adequate context to begin with. It says; “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.”

 

 

There are certain words I would like us to note from this verse; the first is servant, the second is master, the third is friends, and the fourth is father. I am sure you would be wondering what has this verse got to do with the title above. I would like you to read patiently, I believe this is the pattern the Holy Spirit wants to follow to communicate some salient truths to us.

 

I would like you to see this scenario; Jesus began this statement by setting a teaching learning scenario, He said ‘servants usually do not understand what the master is doing’. But He gave an exception; He said but I call you friends. The question is why? This brings us to the fifth word I would like us to consider in this verse. That word is friend. So, for a servant to understand what his master is doing, such a servant will necessarily have to translate into being a friend. The servant in this context does not literally imply what we know it to be. Servant here refers to the mindset or the littleness in the thinking of those whom He was speaking to, or the proximity in terms of relationship. And this is the crux of my discussion in this article. Now, towards the latter part of this verse, Jesus moved from analogy into speaking directly about Himself. He said; because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. I didn’t learn them the servant- master kind of interaction. There was a relationship I had with the Father. You may want to ask; what did He learn from His Father? Jesus said ‘everything’. This puts a responsibility on you and I to reflect; with what we know and have known, is that all the Father wants us to know?

 

So far, we have been able to see that in order to learn there is the place of understanding. And without understanding, the objective or goal of being taught would not be achieved. So, the Bible says wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom. But then it says in all thy getting, get understanding. But this understanding does not come cheap. See what He said; you have to move from having a servant mentality into a position called friend. So, Jesus has made me bold to say here that there is a level of understanding a servant has, but superior to that as far as the teaching-learning procedure is concerned, a friend, a son, has more understanding. No wonder God said if there is any prophet among you, I speak to Him in vision and in dreams but not so with my servant Moses, I speak to Him face to face as a man speaks to His friend. Did we see friend coming up again? No wonder Moses knew the ways of God. The friend here talks about proximity. How close the teacher and the learner could be. In Genesis 18:17-19, “The LORD said, “Shall I keep secret from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do?” There is something the Father had made known to Jesus, but in order to fully understand what Jesus would communicate from the Father, you need not have a servant/slave mentality but that of a friend. Did we see that again? Jesus knew what He was saying in this verse. Let me quickly put a caveat to this thought line so as not to be misunderstood.

 

You could listen as a friend, but you serve as a servant. You could learn as a son, but it doesn’t mean you will not serve. As a matter of fact, in the kingdom it is the greatest that serves. Jesus said I am among you as one that serves. He didn’t come to be served; He came to serve. Although Jesus has made us kings and priest; the essence is to serve with the power and authority and gifts He has given to us not to Lord it over them. Such practice is seen among the ruler of the gentiles. The Bible says the gifts are for the profiting of all and for perfecting the saints.

 

 So, if you want to learn from the Holy Spirit, you must become His friend. Understanding comes to those who are the friend of God. See what proverbs 28:5 says; “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD comprehend fully.” Another word for comprehension is to grasp or to understand. Jesus speaking to His disciples in John 16:12, I still have many things to say to you, howbeit you can’t bear them now; the contemporary English version says I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand.

what was Jesus saying here? He was simply saying amongst the many things I have to say to you, you can’t understand them fully. But when the Spirit comes, He will guild you into all truths then He went further to say; For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.

 

Let me say this at this point; One of the primary responsibilities of the Holy Spirit to the believer is to teach the believer; not just to teach the believer, but to give understanding to the believer.  If you will know as much as the Holy Spirit wants you to know, it is because you have really yielded to the teaching dimension of the Holy Spirit. John 1:27 says; “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things.”

 

The Holy Spirit here is referred to as the anointing that teaches. And He is a teacher that is willing to teach you concerning all things. If you have a teacher that know all things, then you will know all things. Jesus from the basic text said ‘everything I have learnt from the Father’. But if you do not know all things, then you have refused to learn from the teacher that knows all things. This attribute describes Him as Omniscient.

 

I want to point out something very fundamental about the Holy Spirit in Daniel chapter 2 verse 21 and 22. It says; “He gives wisdom; -talking about the Holy Spirit- It says; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” Then verse 22 says; “He reveals deep and secret things; I would like you to note these words; ‘deep and secret’ this means there are things that are in the deep and there are things that are kept secret. Bible says deep and secret; it means they are not the same. These things the Bible says they belong to God. It says He is a revealer of deep things. That is why He is called the Spirit of revelation. He unravels mysteries. Bible says it is the glory of God to conceal a matter. What does it mean to conceal? It means not allowed to be seen. It means to hide. It also means to prevent something from being known, its a secret.

 

Then it went further to say He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.” Bible says in Genesis chapter 1, when the earth was void and dark. It says the Spirit of the Lord hovered upon the face of the deep. And so, if you want to know the deep things, the secret things, and the things hidden in darkness, you must become a friend of the Holy Spirit. This is intimacy. The reason is because, light dwells with Him. He is the principal custodian of the mysteries and oracles of God.  If you despise Him, you have despised knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Because these dimensions of light can only be accessed in Him. The prerequiste to ben taught by the Holy Spirit is to be His friend.  

 

So, how can a believer become a friend and be taught by the Holy Spirit? This requires both a posture and a consciousness. What is the posture that a believer must take in order to maximize the teaching dimension of Holy Spirit?

 

Number One: Hear Him. God testifying of Jesus in Luke 9:39, He said; This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. God in these last days speaks expressly through Him. The NLT Version says; Then a voice from the cloud saying; “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to Him.” So, another word for hear Him is listen to Him. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. If you will listen to Christ or you hear Christ, it will be through Him. John 16:12 in the Amplified Version says; “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear [to hear] them now. The only way to know the many things of Christ or hear the many things Christ has to say to you and understand them is because you hear them.

 

But hearing is not enough. This is where the consciousness comes in. You must hear Him and see His word through faith. Hearing Him could be a posture, reading His word could be a posture; but you must do it with a faith consciousness. The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So, you cannot separate faith from hearing or seeing. Reason is because, it will take faith to understand or do what the Holy Spirit is teaching you or telling you do.

How do you hear Him? Number one: Through Prayer Number Two: Through His word. And having received His word, meditate on it. But these two cannot be practiced in isolation.

 

In Mark 4:33, the Bible says; And with many such parables spake He the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. The Holy Spirit speaks expressly but it will require faith to discern what He is saying. Until you hear Him by faith His word cannot enter into you and set you upon your feet. Until you are able to hear Him by faith His word will not enter into you so as to bring light. Remember that the goal for Him teaching us is to bring light, direction or illumination to our hearts; in addition to prayer and meditation, faith is key.

 

Number Two: Grow in Him unto maturity until you come into the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready. The Holy Spirit will not teach you more than you can bear and He will teach you to the degree of your maturity in the Spirit and in relation to the burden or responsibility He wants you to accomplish.

 

 

 

So, how do you grow with the Holy Spirit?

• Sharpen your Spiritual Discernment. Growth plays an important role as to how the Holy Spirit teaches a believer. Because His knowledge or teaching method are spiritually discerned, comparing spiritual with spiritual, you must never be carnal otherwise, you will hear but it will not make sense, you will see but you will not understand. 

 

• Show the willingness to learn and demonstrate what you have learnt. Ask questions; You must be curious.  Engage Him. In Hebrews 5:14, the Bible says; But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Did you see that? Apostle Paul said who by reason of use, who by reason of demonstration have their senses excercised. They grow from one level of maturity to another.

 

Number Three: Be yielded to His process. Bible says Jesus carried the fullness of God. It wasn’t poured on Him, He grew into the fullness. Although fullness of God which is the Holy Spirit can be poured upon believers, it is those who have gone through the process by the Holy Spirit that can fully maximize Him.  The disciples of Jesus had to walk with Him for 3 and half years before the fullness or the power was poured upon them.  Hebrew 5 verse 8 says; “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.”

 

How does the process look like?

• It is step by step. He will take you precept upon precept line upon line, here a little there a little. He will not rush you. The Bible says He awakens me morning by morning. And after a while you possess the tongue of the learned so that you could speak words in season.  This is one of the process that brings you to maturity, measuring up into the fullness of Christ.
• It is corrective. He will chastise you, reprove you; He will discipline you; the reason is so that the drows will be taken away. Whatever will limit you from being a high flyer, He removes it at this phase of the process.
• It is based on your interest and willingness to go deeper in Him.  He will give you a measuring line. And the deeper you will go with Him is a function of your willingness to follow through with Him.
• It is faithfulness dependent. The Holy Spirit takes your lessons further to degree of how faithful you have been with the previous instruction. His graces, gifts and talents are inclusive. The more faithful you become, the further you go with His instructions.

 

Number Four: Be Purpose Driven. Bible says for this purpose the son of man was manifested. The purpose for which the Son of man was manifested was to destroy the works of the devil. When the Holy Spirit was teaching Jesus and was assisting Him in that regards, it is because Jesus was purpose driven.

 

In Isaiah 61 verse 1 to 3, it says; ““The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To- see the list of what the Spirit has anointed Him to do. What makes you think He will not teach Him how to go about these responsibilities. It says “To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to ^[a]heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,³ To ^[b]console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

 

See what the Bible says; In Matthew 13:1; He replied, "The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.” What is the difference between you and them? It is you being identified as His. It is you being conscious of the purpose for which you have been born. It is you that have the Holy Spirit the teacher of mysteries.  Bible says; The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever. It belongs to those who are identified with Christ, those that are His disciples who are sold out and completely given to the expansion of the kingdom.

 

So, as much as the Holy Spirit desires to be your friend, as much as He desires to unveil to you the mysteries of the kingdom, the ultimate purpose is so that you can execute His will on the earth. I pray the Lord will grant us grace in Jesus name.

 

 

 

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Apeh Francis Abah!

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