Nevertheless - being inside of us!

Whenever Jesus says "nevertheless", He has my full attention. 

When He says "nevertheless" He actually says: "contrary to what you are thinking ..."

"In contrast to your line of thought and your feelings ..."

"Instead of your convictions ..."

That's why He says: NEVERTHELESS I tell you the truth; It is expedient (to your great advantage and benefit) for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

He says that I am probably not thinking the way I should and He is about to show me.

So, here goes ... [I paraphrase my wrong thinking and conversation with my inner-man in brackets]

Teaching me from John 16:7-33, Jesus says:

Verse 7: Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. [my wrong thinking: It is better for me to have the physical, bearded, sandal wearing Jesus with me. I must wait to hear His voice audibly. The Holy Spirit of Jesus was not sent for me. Instead, Jesus said that He would abide in me forever by His Spirit 24/7 - John 14:16, John 15 1 John 2:24)]

Verse 8: And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: [my wrong thinking: The Holy Spirit is the great judging Spirit who constantly convicts you of every sin in your life, every wrong move is whispered in your ear. you are told how unrighteous you are when sinning and of Jesus' judgement of sin again when He comes.]

Verse 9: Of sin, because they believe not on me; [What? So this is the only sin the Holy Spirit ever convinces me of? It surely is, because Jesus has totally taken away ALL my sins never to think about them ever again! So, how can His Spirit ...] [Wow!] 

Verse 10: Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; [my wrong thinking: The Holy Spirit convicts me of how unrighteous I am each time I sin. Instead, He convinces me of how righteous I am because of Jesus ... because His righteousness was imputed on me. I am now the very righteousness of God and therefore I am gently led by His Spirit and do not desire to sin! (Isa 41:10, Isa 61:10, Rom 3:22) HalleluYAH!]

Verse 11: Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. [my wrong thinking: I am the one who is going to be judged for my sins when Jesus comes again. Instead, Jesus was judged for my sins once and for all, forever on the cross (Hebr 7:27). Instead, it is the prince of this world that is finally judged and convicted!]

Verse 12: I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. [my wrong thinking: Jesus does not speak to me right now. He can only speak to me through the Bible. And the things that Jesus says is to much for me to understand. I will never know God's plan for my life and I will never know what to do in any given situation. Instead ... read the next verse ...]

Verse 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. [Contrary to what I thought and was taught, the Holy Spirit leads me in the full Truth (Jesus) if only I would let Him. And it gets even better than what I thought, because He shows me even unknown things and what is to come through prophecy and visions and more especially, by telling me directly ... by His still, small voice! He is my Guiding System. And He lives inside of me!]

Verse 14: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. [my wrong thinking: The Holy Spirit speaks His own language and His own things that He sees and deems fit and He glorifies Himself therein. Instead, the verse is quite clear. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus and speaks into my heart only the things of Jesus. He is Jesus. They are One. That is why the manifested Jesus is glorified (even in me) ... His finished work!]

Verse 15: All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. [my wrong thinking: Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit are totally separate entities. The Father thinks and acts differently from what Jesus does and Jesus thinks and acts differently from what the Father and the Holy Spirit does and when it comes to the Holy Spirit ... well, you'd never know. Instead, it is clear that our God is One God. What the Father has, is what Jesus has and what Jesus has, the Holy Spirit is full of. That goes for ... EVERYTHING - thoughts, convictions, mercy, kindness, love, affection, patience, truth, healing, provision, saving grace ...]

Verse 16: A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. [my wrong thinking: If Jesus goes to the Father ... that's it. We won't see Him again until the second coming!]

Verse 17: Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? [my wrong thinking: You see? That's my point!]

Verse 18: They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. [my wrong thinking: There must be a huge time delay before we see Him again. After all that is what my pastor preached: Jesus is far - distant and when you pray there is a delay based on how righteous you are ...]

Verse 19: Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? [So, Jesus knows the desires of our hearts, but He also knows how that we try to follow our own heads instead of asking him straight away ...]

Verse 20: Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. [Jesus gives the whole picture of His death and how that people will be sorrowful and lament His departure while His enemies rejoice. He also gives a profound promise that changes everything - our sorrows will be turned to joy!]

Verse 21 & 22: A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. [my wrong thinking: Jesus, when He sees us again will have joy, but that will take time as we look forward to His second coming. We must first become more like Him. Instead, Jesus says, just like a woman who gave birth forgets her pain because she now has new life in her hands, just so our joy will be complete because now (after He "left") we have a new Life-Giving-Spirit (New Life, His Life) abiding inside of us ... and no-one will be able to take that Joy away from us. Do you get that? Wow! Truely, the Joy (Holy Spirit) of the Lord is our strength! Neh 8:10]

Verse 23: And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.[my wrong thinking: Asking is asking. It is all the same, even though Jesus is using the word ask here twice. And "that day", who knows? Instead, He taught me what it means to ask and receive - remember this precious post on how to pray?]

Verse 25: These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. [my wrong thinking: One day we will know. That is why Jesus spoke in proverbs. Instead, Jesus was referring to that specific day on the cross. The Father is shown plainly by Jesus. If you see Him, you see the Father. If you see Him, you see the Holy Spirit! There is no deferred hope that makes the heart sick (Pro 13:12)!]

Verse 26: At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: [my wrong thinking: Again, the whole thing about us praying and begging Jesus and then He has to still beg from the Father? It is to much! Instead, Jesus is talking about that specific day again and He is saying that in that day we will demand and He would beg His Father - see that precious post on how to pray? again. Think about it ... He did. He really did! And it is a done deal.]

Verse 27: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. [my wrong thinking: The Father is full of anger and judgement and now needs to find a reason to love us even though Jesus died on the cross. Instead, God is love and kindness and grace and Jesus is the reason why He loves us. The reason is given here for the whole way of demanding and prayer issue (precious post on how to pray? explains again). Simple. The Father loves you just because you love Me and believe that I AM GOD.]

Verse 28: I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. [Jesus is saying in so many words that He and the Father is One. "I came forth" - exerchomai: to be out of the same person.]

Verse 29 & 30: His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. [Once Jesus declared the Father's love for them, it was easy for the disciples to acknowledge the very simple truth that Jesus and the Father is One. This would have been problematic for any Jew, growing up in the traditions of the law, as is the case today with Christians growing up with the traditions of the doctrines of the institutional church. That is why the Gospel (the Good News of God's Love) is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16). Likewise, the Gospel should always be our starting point.]

Verse 31 & 32: Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. [my wrong thinking: Once I receive Jesus in my life everything will be smooth-sailing. I also believed that in evangelism, one needed to go somewhere else, like a far country or rural area, to be able to do this and in doing so we needed to just hope and pray that we will get the necessary guidance from the Holy Spirit. Instead, Jesus says that we will not necessarily all stay in one place, like the Jerusalem Jews ... or the modern institutional church, but rather that we should start everyone to his own (family or friends or work place; where he or she finds him or herself). He says that even though we see not Faith, we have Faith (Jesus) because Father is Him and He is with us. Come on! Just check out the whole chapter leading up to here!]

Last verse: These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. [my wrong thinking: I should just accept and take whatever the world and the prince of this world throws at me. Instead, the WORD Himself has spoken His Word, His Truth over us. He has overcome. And He is in us. And the Father in Him. Truely, as He is, so are we in this world! (1 John 4:17)]

When I look around me ...

When my emotions run wild ...

When I see no outcome ...

... NEVERTHELESS!