John 14:17 "the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you."
The Spirit of truth. Constantly reminding, always revealing. Light piercing the darkness, exposing. Quenching lies, showing Christ. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Why? Jesus says in John 8:31-32, "'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.'" Freedom it says. But how many times do I cling to the darkness of lies, afraid of the truth that brings freedom. I am afraid of its penetrating light, what it will reveal. For some reason I think in my heart that obedience is bondage, that death to self only brings misery. But I am forgetting what the freedom of rising with Christ is like. In the words of Jim Cymbala, "To reject God's requirements does not set us free to enjoy our independence. It instead plunges us into ever more complicated bondages." So the Holy Spirit is not only a Spirit of Truth but also a Spirit of freedom, because embracing the truth sets me free.

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if they Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:34-36)He also said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my hand upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)We see the contrast between the bondage of thr "independance" of rejecting God's requirements, and the freedom that comes giving up our heavy yoke of sin for God's yoke in which we will find "rest for our souls."

"But you know him," I know the Spirit of Truth, he lives with me and in me. The world cannot accept the Spirit, cannot embrace the freedom of living in truth. But I can accept him because he has opened my eyes to know him, i have seen him work around me and I've seen him work in and through me.

This verse shows me a connection between loving God by keeping his commands and receiving the Spirit of Truth. Obedience to the revealing light of the the Holy Spirit will fill me with his presence, setting me free from the power of sin. Today, will go before the Holy Spirit, bringing before him places that have been hardened towards his filling which have been placing me in chains and preventing me from living a life of freedom.