John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Yesterday I said that I don’t get to pick and choose what is truth. Here Jesus is speaking to us about the Holy Spirit and He will only speak truth to us. In the end of this verse is a line which is often misunderstood. “He will show you things to come.” Sounds prophetic, does it not? Well it is but not in the sense most people think of prophetic.

A harbor pilot comes on board to guide your boat out of the harbor because He knows all the dangers in the harbor and how to avoid them. Once out of the harbor a vessel comes along side and picks up the pilot to return to the docks to guide another ship out.

This is the essence of what the Holy Spirit does for us in showing us things to come. He never gets off the ship and is right there in the wheelhouse to guide us through life’s dangers. Do we listen or ignore His warnings? Do we ever let Him take the wheel?

If you are like me, I like to drive, I am the master of my own vessel. I don’t particularly like that voice next to me yelling “look out”. Now if the advice were “Slow down, there is a bad accident that just happened around this next turn.” That I would appreciate.

Most of the warnings I get come in the form of reminders of how things went wrong the last time I did this thing I am thinking about doing. “You know how this will turn out.”

Psalm 94:22 But the Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.

Circumstances at this time in my life seem to have the better of me. Tonight I seek the Lord during my most trying hour and this is the verse that comforts me, because I believe it. Sadly my body doesn’t care, it sings a different song. “Sleep, give me sleep.”

The spirit never sleeps, neither tires, weakens, or loses focus. My body on the other hand is irritable, irrational, weak and yes, selfish.

So who is going to win this night? Who is going to control my actions, my words, my attitudes? Sadly tonight, the flesh is very loud, but in my defense the Lord is my advocate. That doesn’t make me right, it just means I have the best defense counsel possible.

None of us know for sure how we will act until we are up against it. In my mind I said, “We are ready.” Then I discover exactly what Paul was talking about.

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

The Word is true. So this also must be true.

Romans 7:24-25 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

I might not appreciate the sin part, but if I am to believe, then I cannot pick and choose what I believe to be true. It is all true, even if I don’t like it.