Which Is Better – Jesus Next To Us Or the Holy Spirit Within Us?

DaughterofJairus&Jesus-325-webby Rex Rouis

Which is better, Jesus standing next to us or having the Holy Spirit within us? If we were honest, we would all say, “Jesus standing next to us.” Except, that is not what Jesus said:

However, I am telling you the truth: It’s good for you that I’m going away. If I don’t go away, the Helper won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. John 16:7

This had to shock them – Jesus is going away? And He’s going to send someone else back to help? Someone better than Him?! What is He talking about?

First, where is He going? Second, who could ever replace HIM? Who is this Helper? It is difficult for us to fully relate to their situation because, as Christians, we all now have this Helper, the Holy Spirit.

Imagine walking with the Son of God for three years, seeing all He did and hearing all He said. Imagine being there when He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mark 5:22-43). Wouldn’t you want to be around a Man like that forever? Sure, but wouldn’t it be better to have that Man inside of you forever? Of course, and that was His point. Once Jesus paid for our sins on the Cross and then ascended to the Father, He could send to each of us the Person of the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to have Jesus in the boat during a storm but quite another to have Jesus inside you during one of life’s storms.

When Jesus walked on this earth, He was limited to His physical body. He could not be with everyone all the time, but through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, He can. Instead of just one Christ, there were 120 “little christs” (that is literally what the word “Christian” means) that came out of the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost. Today, millions of these “little christs” are running around the world. And you are one of them if you believe it.

Jesus taught His disciples as no teacher ever had. But they had no understanding. They had not yet been born again and, as such, had not yet received the Holy Spirit of truth (I Corinthians 2:14). He tried to show them what they were capable of, but they could never fully grasp it. However, after His resurrection, He could send the Holy Spirit. He could then speak to them individually and lead them into all truth (John 14:26). He could also show them things to come (John 16:13).

The advantages of having the Holy Spirit within us go on and on. The advantages can be summed up in that Jesus’ power is now complete and open to all believers (Matthew 28:18  and John 14:12) and is no longer confined to one physical body.

Now, it is up to us to discover what it means to be ‘in Him’ and walk filled with God’s Holy Spirit. To find out how we can allow Jesus to walk, talk, and work through us – through the work and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus did not mean for this indwelling of the Holy Spirit to last only a few years. No, the Holy Spirit’s overt work is still fully available for each and all of us today.

Study the Bible, receive Jesus, receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and learn to walk in Him. Having the Holy Spirit inside of you is better than having Jesus walking beside you. What an honor! What an opportunity! What an adventure!

Comments

  1. thanks to all the contributions, we are in the age of high religious docmatism and principalities and powers. but not withstanding with the dackness that is eating the world today, the work of God most keep on going for the world to see the light of GOD. THE TEXT ASKED A VERY SIMPLE QUESTION: which is preferable, should we choose to have Jesus by our side or the Holy Spirit be with us?
    let’s look back in the book of {Genesis 2:7} what can we figure out? the day man was formed from the dust, the holy spirit was breaded into him meaning the life of God tranfered in to that which God created. so i want to say the HOLY SPIRIT or JESUS CHRIST, are not tools for mankind to fulfill his or her desires. we also take a look at Galatians 5:22, talking about the fruits of the holy spirit, what can these be if we look back at the genesis 2;7, THEN we can understand why we need the Holy Spirit to live in every believer so that the fruits of the holy spirit can be seen in the world we now live in.

  2. There is an intimacy with Him that is available as a result of Him dwelling on the inside of us. This intimacy, if found, is better than His walking along side of us.
    We are oriented to our physical senses and therefore we can more easily/naturally sense Him walking next to us than we can sense Him inside us. “Inside us” does not register with our five physical senses.
    But, the more I dwell in the Word and deliberately practice “being still”, the more I am able to hear Him in my spirit. Oddly, when I hear Him, it is extraordinarily faith building.
    The challenge for me is quieting my mind, but there’s never a time that He doesn’t speak and it’s always simple, direct, and consistent with scripture. But, He speaks like a regular guy.

  3. Thank you for this resourceful information. I thought I should add that Christ is in us through His indwelling (Holy Spirit) which we received of God by faith in Christ Jesus. The Lord is that Spirit! Glory!

  4. Is there really any evidence the Holy Spirit is actually here since the apostles died? Our church is fragmented, our miracles are fake, our prophets don’t exist, our faith is inferior to other religions, our fruits are rotten, and God stopped talking to us. Nothing supernatural has happened in 1900 years and we’ve been rolling on momentum alone. God has never been silent for this long.
    I have an easier time believing the Holy Spirit has left us than believing that he has failed us miserably after just 60 years on earth.

    1. Author

      Gordon – Wow, where do I begin? If all you see is the natural you will come to the same natural conclusions. God is talking to a lot of people today, maybe not you. There has been plenty of supernatural things happening since the time of Christ till now. Our faith is inferior to other religions? Are you kidding me? Have you been around the world to see what is happening?! In Iran, and parts of Asia and Africa are exploding for Jesus. Just because you do not see it on CNN does not mean it is not happening. Look up “Sheep Among Wolves, (part 2 is best).”

      Are you that hurt? Are you that disappointed in something not happening around you, or in you? God is working, but not as you may suppose. We love you. God is real today. Jesus is real today. And, the Holy Spirit is alive and real and working today!!! Rex

    2. Beloved Gideon, perhaps I’m late on this comment, I feel I should highlight that the scriptures has given a lot of informations on the current happenings in our days. That makes it interesting that nothing of these kinds (falsehoods) should actually be a surprise.

      That said, God’s Spirit is still effective in the Believers because we are the ones who have come to the knowledge of God in Christ.

      He is actively working in us to will and to do His good pleasure! Glory!

    3. Gordon, God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Read Bible or find Bible believing church and plant your self there. God is still speaking to us today through Holy Spirit. Be in company of the saints where you can be strengthen. Be thirsty and hungry for Him and He will reveal him self to you. He said if you seek me with all your heart, you will find Me.

    4. Our Church is united. The Church that Christ founded just under 2,000 years ago (Matthew 16:17-19) is still alive and well. To say otherwise is to call Christ a liar. Christ Himself said that the powers of death would not prevail against it!

      Our miracles are not fake. If you are referring to ancient miracles, see the Bible. If you are referring to modern miracles, look up Eucharistic miracles or the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima.

      The last prophet is Jesus. He is King, Priest and Prophet. There is historical record of him existing, both in the Bible and in extra-biblical sources.

      How can you believe that “our faith is inferior to other religions”? Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).

      See the above examples, but additionally see the Translation of the Holy House of Loreto.

      God said that he would never abandon us (Hebrews 13:5). No offense meant to you, but I would advise that you read more of your Bible.

      1. I do read the Bible. But I also read the news. Christianity is behaving like an ideology about the spiritual, not an actual spiritual thing. You are not receiving supernaturally sourced guidance, but second-hand accounts and third-hand doctrines. There is no unseen organizer, but an opulent palace. The fact that priests who touch children are able to take the eucharist and not die on the spot like happened in Paul’s day is just the icing on the cake. The fact that the RCC is founded on replacing Caesar instead of the world order of consensus the eastern Med worked out is what the gates of hell are, not the ones that have overcome you, but the one that your forebears chose to build on.

    5. The Holy Spirit.

      If we live without water, our bodies will slowly die. If we live without the Holy Spirit our spiritual life will die. We are not called to build buildings, it’s we who His temple. In the Moment the Holy Spirit overflooded our Soul. A building made out of stones can’t be filled, but the body made out of the hands of Jesus is made to be part of His making and His life, which is given to us when we receive the Holy Spirit.

      Gal.2:20 I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

      The Holy Spirit will then provide us with the needed fruit that make us able to serve our Lord and become a real instrument in His hands, where it’s not our flesh who is demanding but the submission to the Holy Spirit that is guiding and Honoring our Lord and Savior making its possible to a dying world to be acquainted with the Living, forgiving Love God

      Gal,5:22 But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness,
      23 Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things, there is no law [that can bring a charge].
      24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.
      25 If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit, we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]

  5. Bless you Fannie for those prayers and I will pray for you also..

  6. My prayer is I pray that God will proctect, heal and bless everyone on this online event . You pray for me and I pray for you that what my Co-Pastor Bishop Paul S Morton words of his song say. God bless everyone! Amen

    1. Bless you Fannie for those prayers and I will pray for you also..

  7. I was looking at particular questions and i came acrossed your post. I know it was in August but I have prayed for you asking for your strength in Gods wisdom. I pray for your son. I ask that you never forget that there is nothing that can ever come before you that hasn’t first come before Jesus regarding you. God bless you sister you are in the everlasting arms of your Father.

  8. Communication is extremely difficult today! The context of the question whether we would rather have Jesus walking next to us or have the Holy Spirit living in Us? I realize what the word of God says but that is because Jesus can’t be walking next to us (everybody at once) at the same time. If we walk by true faith we can have that same Jesus living within us which is ultimately the same if we have the spiritual fortitude to really walk by the true faith (God’s definition) what we call the church today didn’t get all messed up because were all walking with Jesus in truth, we got messed up because we all don’t listen to the same Holy Spirit or what ever reason! We have numerous denominations and everyone walks in a different angle, so discerning truth and walking by the real Holy Spirit and bears his fruit isn’t as easy as we make it sound. (Are we willing to lose our life to live through him?) Do we love mother father or brother sister’s etc. more than we love Jesus and his truth (word)? We all say we do these things but do we??? The fruit we see today coming from the churches ( I don’t think so)So if Jesus was walking (Literally)with each individual in every decision we makeThere would be no mistakes made, there would be no discerning to be had estimation point every answer would be perfect! But when the human element of discernment and interpretation is involved We Get imperfection! (According to our faith it shall be done to us! How many different churches see faith in a different light (I wouldn’t call that the Holy Spirits presence! Flesh reaps destruction and I believe there’s plenty of flesh involved! That’s why we see what we see, not because that’s God’s will to be this way. Jesus bless you! May our hearts be right! (According to the truth)

    1. Please pray for me to overcome pre-diabetis symptoms , many troubles in my life and a son walking in darkness.I know God is able, can you help me by praying for me. If you have any advice, do write me. Bless you.BH

  9. Thank u for the scripture and the many conments.please pray for me and that the good lord delivers me from the troubling times im facing now..also please pray for my mom and son..my mom is 90 and has health problems please pray for her good health and a pain free life. And pray that my son overcomes the terrible situation his in.i know that god is in control and with him we can do anything thank u and god bless

  10. Hypothetical questions don’t have legs but I’ve asked this question to myself and my wife previously so I will comment: I personally without any doubt would rather have Jesus walking with me in the flesh and I with him! If I’m walking down the street with Jesus in the flesh in a very risqué neighborhood of which has much violence fear would not enter the picture but with the Holy Spirit living in me I have to work out my salvation in fear would enter the picture whether I would succumb to it is not known hypothetically. We have (numerous) Viewpoints on the word of God so many that it’s disgusting even within the Pentecostal teaching well brothers and sisters there’s only one right and if we all got the Holy Spirit with all these different views I don’t think I would have all these different views if I walk with Jesus in the flesh, I would ask him what the truth is problem solved! People have mindsets developed from their childhood etc. hearing the Holy Spirit is a very consecrated, intimate, Delicate, journey. I can hear 20 people on the same subject all claiming to hear the Holy Spirit with different views, I walking with Jesus say hey master what does this mean and I know the truth without a battle. I realize it is the way it is in praise Jesus it is but each one of us has to work out our own salvation and we all know how difficult that is in this goofy world We are in. We have such division in what we call the body of Jesus and we all know that is not his will but it is still reality, many false teachers, much deception, not happening if I’m sitting in a room across the way talking to Jesus personally! That’s my take brothers and sisters, Jesus bless y’all! Keep walking with your head up, greater is Jesus in you than he That is in the world! We need to exhort each other daily in the spirit of love and tenacity to become over comers through the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony! (Great need today, encouragement to press forward in the truth, laying hold of the word of God, trusting Jesus to be the friend that he is to his people!

    1. Thank you for this refreshing topic. This the dispensation of the Holy Spirit working with Man fulfilling the purpose of God here on earth.
      The dispensation of Jesus walking with man on earth has come and gone. Jesus said that it is expedient that He might go away ,so that He might send the comforter the Holy Spirit.
      Please, I appreciate your ministry. May The Lord strengthen you the more.

    2. Author

      I too would rather walk physically with Jesus also but that is not what He said. Jesus said this is better, and it is the will of God. There are many different views on God today, but there were many different views about Jesus during His walk. People will believe and do what they want no matter what the situation.

      The whole point of the article is that walking physically with Jesus is our obvious choice but it is not God’s choice. I choose to agree with Him. Thanks for the comment. God bless. Rex

    3. If Jesus is walking next to you, how will he walk with me ? If I understand you very well, he should be your guard for 24/7. When will he be able to be my advocate(lawyer) with God the Father, if I need to confess a sin 1John 1.9 – 1 John 2.2 when he is already with you 24/7? Maybe when he is off duty with you!!!

      Faith is the Word of God and when you act on it, you believe. Believe on what Jesus Christ said. Peter, John and the other disciples we with Jesus 24/7 for more than 3 years and not until they were hit with power by the Holy Spirit (Act 1.8, Acts 2), in the absence of Jesus, were they able to do something on their own. Now, look at Paul, met Jesus only once on the way to Damascus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, ‘picked up’ where Jesus left. What a persecution he faced yet relied he more on the Holy Spirit 24/7. Do the same and you shall experience the truth of the Word of Jesus as in John 16. Jesus is with the father until the day He shall appear in His second coming, the Holy Spirit is inside everyone that not only believes but accepted Jesus Christ a the Lord and Saviour. Enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit.

      1. How do you distinguish proselytism and psychological convincement from supernatural faith?
        Both perform the same acts, bear the same fruits, work the same works, hide the same sins, and acknowledge the same Jesus.
        If they cannot be distinguished by skeptical means, why should we assume that the HS is still involved in producing the same results that men and a book can produce alone?
        Is the only real difference between good and evil– that God has decided that a loving non-Christian following his conscience is “filthy rags”, while an unloving convert’s religious ceremonial righteousness is worthy of heaven?

        Church dogma’s response is a “no true Scotsman” argument, saying that unloving Christians aren’t true Christians, and don’t obey the Spirit, while at the sane time saying that loving pagans who follow the law that is written in their hearts are equally damned. That kind of definition of God’s love is incoherent.

        If the HS doesn’t show himself to the world through signs and wonders, what sign is there, besides telling ourselves that being both virtuous and a convert is some kind of miracle?

  11. It is true indeed to have the holy spirit within us than to have Jesus next to us. For when we have the Holy Spirit within us He will:
    1. Convict us of our sins- when Jesus was on earth the bible does not record of the disciples being convicted of their sins, rather it was when the Holy Spirit came.
    2. Lead us into all truth.
    3. Bring us closer to GOD.
    4. Comfort us and be our advocate, helper, mediator, and intescessor.

  12. Am so blessed and enlightened ..whenever I visit this site to study the articles thanks and God bless..

  13. Hallelujah!
    This is powerful to have Christ in me the hope of glory.
    Thank for sharing this powerful script.

  14. Thank you so much for this refreshing exaltation . This is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, that represent Christ in everyone who believe in Him.
    Based on this Jesus said to His deciples , that the works that He has done we shall do and greater works we shall do because He goes to His father ( Jn. 14: 12).Promising to send a comforter in His place, the Holy Spirit.
    Thank you for the insight. We be well prepared to receive the Holy Spirit to the measure we can be able to do exploit. The more we make ourselves available by cleaning ourselves the more of the Spirit of God fills us up.

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