Spirit of Truth – 'The Comforter' 

The Spirit of Truth is the actual presence of the Son of God, Jesus, living within each person on earth. United with the Universal Father's spirit, Jesus, the Master, lives in the hearts of men. He has become a living presence in their souls. He is able to connect powerfully with those who are receptive to his ministry. We are told that he is actually present with us, and through each one of us, he experiences our triumphs and tragedies. After experiencing the mortal life himself, he is a tender, compassionate friend and loving mentor for anyone who needs him. Jesus said he would return to the Father and say: "Having left my children alone on earth, it is in accordance with my promise to send them another teacher. And when the Father shall approve, I will pour out the Spirit of Truth upon all flesh." The spirit is just like Jesus, except for the material body. He will guide us into all truth as we pass through this world to the universe.

There are other spirit influences assisting us, but the Spirit of Truth is the very essence of Jesus drawing near to assist and comfort us. Because of Jesus' great love, he didn't want us to feel alone in the world. We can feel his personality presence through the Spirit of Truth. The generations that have followed Jesus' life on earth have been blessed to have his actual spirit working with each one of us. We also have the spirit of the Universal Father living within and guiding us, as well as the ministries of the angels, and of the Holy Spirit, which is the essence of the Divine Mother Spirit who is the eternal companion of Jesus on high. There is a unified effort to help us as we navigate through this intense and difficult earthly life.

The Spirit of Truth comes to each one of us when we are endowed with personality and as we grow in spirit understanding and engage with moral decisions, we make it much easier for the Spirit of Truth to work with us. Sooner or later we experience a "birth day" when we are born again – born of the Spirit. The Spirit will not speak of himself, but of Jesus; he will declare truth, and he will even show things to come. This spirit of Jesus gives us the power to overcome all doubt, and the victory over uncertainty – our faith.

The divine spirit makes contact with mortals, not by feelings or emotions, but in the realm of the highest and most spiritualized thinking. The Spirit of Truth is the divine helper as we become really God-knowing, and teaches us that we are the sons of God; leading us into new realms of spiritual reality and divine service that glorifies God. The first mission of the Spirit is to foster and personalize truth, and it is also the purpose of the Spirit to destroy the believer's feeling of orphanhood. All people would experience a sense of loneliness without the Spirit of Truth coming to dwell among us.

Jesus mentioned that once he ascended to heaven and poured out the Spirit of Truth, we would embrace the fruits of the spirit; and our sincere and loving service would become the mighty social lever and power-multiplying fulcrum to uplift the human races of darkness. The Spirit connects with us most powerfully to proclaim the message of hope and fellowship with God. Jesus said when we minister to "let the Spirit of Truth do his work." He reminded his followers to rely on the indwelling spirit for the words of eternal truth to spring forth like a fountain when they are most needed. It is Jesus' desire for us to help finish his work, to share his message, and whatever the Son desires and the Father wills IS.

We are also told not to limit or underestimate the power of the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit also came to help men recall and understand the words of the Master as well as to illuminate and reinterpret his life on earth. The Spirit of Truth also came to help the believer witness the realities of Jesus' teachings as they become new in the spirit-filled sons of God.

We are not given truth to crystalize into settled, safe, and honored forms. The individual who embraces the new way is transformed by the Spirit of Truth and strengthened in his inner soul by the constant spiritual renewing of the mind, and endowed with the power of the certain and joyous performance of the gracious, acceptable, and perfect will of God. All things are sacred in the lives of those who are spirit led; who are subordinated to truth, ennobled by love, dominated by mercy, and restrained by fairness – justice.

The Spirit of Truth is also the spirit of idealistic beauty, revealed destiny; which if wholeheartedly faith-accepted is made personal to us by the revelation of the spirit. Those who received the Spirit of Truth on Pentecost as they were engaged in prayer, all became aware of a strange presence in the room, and at the same time, they became conscious of a new and profound sense of spiritual joy, security, and confidence. Do not make the mistake of expecting to become strongly intellectually conscious of the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit never creates a consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Jesus, and an enhanced fellowship with him.

Jesus said that those who receive the Spirit will never know spiritual thirst, and the new children of light will be drawn toward one another. Jesus warned that all will not choose to receive the new teacher as the guide and counselor of their souls; but those who do receive him will be enlightened, cleansed, and comforted like a well of living water springing up into eternal life. Being taught by the Spirit never creates conflict between the requirements of citizenship on earth and sonship in heaven. You may enter the kingdom as a child, but the Father requires that you grow up by grace to the full stature of spiritual adulthood.

A love of truth is essential, and misinformation is always possible. The Spirit of Truth gives us the conviction of truth. We recognize the difference between truth and falsehood when we are engaged with the Spirit of Truth, even if nobody else recognizes it; even if we have no other authority to prove something is true, we know it is true by the spirit that lives within us.

The Spirit of Truth is the litmus test that helps us see and define what is right and true. We can enjoy the liberty of enlightenment in the mind; the Spirit of Truth gives us the consciousness and assurance of true meanings on real spirit levels. The Spirit of Truth always speaks, saying, "This is the way."

The pouring out of the Spirit of Truth provides the spiritual foundation for the realization of great achievements in the interests of the human race.

Love and unselfishness must undergo a constant and living re-adaptative interpretation of relationships in accordance with the leading of the Spirit of Truth. Love must grasp the ever-changing and enlarging concepts of the highest cosmic good of the individual who is loved. And then love goes on to strike this same attitude concerning all other individuals who could possibly be influenced by the growing and living relationship of one spirit-led mortal’s love for other citizens of the universe. The Spirit shall lead us to labor for the extension of the kingdom of heaven.

On the day of Pentecost, the religion of Jesus broke all national restrictions and racial fetters. It is forever true, "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." True religion was delivered from the custody of priests and all sacred classes to find its real manifestation in each of our individual souls. This day, the Spirit of Truth became the personal gift from the Master to every mortal.

The fact of Jesus' earthly life provides a fixed point for the anchor of time, while the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth provides for the everlasting expansion and endless growth of the religion which he lived and the gospel that he proclaimed. Jesus referred to the new spirit helper that he was going to send to us after he ascended as "the Comforter," and he said that only by leaving us could he be with each person, by bestowing his Spirit of Truth, whereas before he could only be in one place at a time when he lived on earth in the flesh.

During the Last Supper, when blessing the cup and establishing the Remembrance Ceremony, he asked to be remembered and for the cup to be a reminder to us of the Spirit of Truth being poured out upon all people. Jesus becomes a spiritual incarnation in the souls of all true believers.

This same Spirit of Jesus elevates human dignity to that of a faith-son of God and, for each generation, the Spirit of Truth restates Jesus' message so that every new group of humans to appear upon the face of the earth have a new and up-to-date version of the gospel, personal enlightenment, and group guidance that will prove an effective solvent for our new and varied spiritual difficulties.