Advocate or Accuser?

Which voice will you listen to most?

Let’s begin this with a silly question. Would you rather have an advocate or an accuser?

Advocate, right? Yes, me too.

(Rose Window, Church of St. Mary & St. John, Oxford, England)

Advocate. That’s the name by which Jesus identified the Holy Spirit.

In John chapter 14, Jesus is encouraging his disciples that when he returns to heaven after he is resurrected, that they will not be alone. He has spent every day for nearly three years with them. This was what a Rabbi in the First Century would do. He wanted to see if they could do what he did and become formed as a student so they could teach others. If you add up the three years time together, minus lets say 8 hours a day for sleeping, the disciples spent nearly 17,500 hours together. Let that number sink in, 17,500 hours shoulder to shoulder with Jesus doing life with him and letting him shape your life. This was what spiritual formation looked like for Jesus. Life on life through the good, bad and ugly parts of life.

Today, people that follow Jesus are with the gathered church for an hour a week, or less than that, and we wonder why our formation suffers? Often times we allow a lot of other things in our life to take priority over our spiritual formation.

“We are all being formed into someone. For us, as apprentices of Jesus, how do we become more like Him? Our apprenticeship to Jesus needs to be stronger than the stories we believe, our habits, our relationships, and our environment.”

-John Mark Comer

Who are you being formed into?

Or perhaps a better question would be - what stories, habits, relationships or environment are you allowing to form you into?

Jesus knows that this formation will be hard for these first followers as hard as it is for us today. He knows that life is full of struggle and we will need an advocate and helper to persevere in the “right now” Kingdom of God until we are ushered into the “not yet” forever Kingdom of God.

Reminding myself that the Spirit of God is an advocate for me every moment of every day is one spiritual practice that I am doing more and more these days. Especially since 2020 when I started to experience intense anxiety episodes. When it comes on, I just pray a series of breath prayers that help me stay grounded. I take a long deep inhale of breath (4 seconds) and pray the phrase, “Jesus, light of the world” and then hold my breath for 4 seconds and listen the Spirit. I close by exhaling my breath slowly (4 seconds) and pray the phrase, “Be my peace and comfort.”

When Jesus is seeking to bring his disciples comfort, he opens a window into the life to come and then reminds them that their life, right now, is not to be thrown away just for the future life to come. He tells them to live in a way that shows people Jesus right where they are everyday. He refers to the Holy Spirit as both an “advocate” and “Spirit of truth” and that shows us that we will have both the source of comfort and truth.

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He says, “‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)

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Jesus is with the disciples and other people for 40 days after Easter and the 40 days is a significant number. It represents the restoration of 40 years of God’s people wandering in the wilderness and 40 days of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. On the 40th day Jesus returned to heaven. Ten days after this, the Holy Spirit comes and fills the group of followers of The Way (what they called themselves back in the day).

This day became known as Pentecost (means “fiftieth” in Greek). On this day, the promise Jesus makes in John 14 comes to being and the Holy Spirit comes and fills them. Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, they begin to speak in languages that all of the people understand their words about Jesus in their own language. There is a festival going on in the city so there are people from other countries who would not understand Aramaic or Hebrew and the disciples are unschooled. It is one of the first miracles in the book of Acts and a sign that they are full of the Holy Spirit.

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“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues ^{(“known languages”)} as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4)

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I wish the world only had advocates for people. Unfortunately, advocates are not the only voices we have to deal with. We also have accusers. Those can come from three main places - ourselves, others and an ancient enemy as old as the Garden of Eden. First lets begin with ourselves. Sometimes I get into my own head and get in my own way. I can be an accuser against myself with messages that add shame to my story. I tell myself, “don’t forget last time you failed at this” or “you don’t really belong here with these accomplished leaders.”

Sometimes other people in our lives, or on social media, can be accusers to us to attempt and derail us from experiencing a thriving and flourishing in life. We cannot give others free mental rental space in our mind and heart if they are acting as an accuser. We have to be able to have guardrails of what we allow into our lives and if needed, establish healthy boundaries.

Bréne Brown in my opinion is the world’s leading expert on shame, vulnerability, empathy and bravery. Based on the worldwide research she has done for over 20+ years, to me and so many others, she is like the Yoda of Social Research She has taught me so much about the power of authenticity and leaning into our true story of being formed by the one who made all things in this world. She says, “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.”

One of the hardest parts about living in the world today is the constant comments we look at from other people. We crave the clicks and the likes and the follows that we lose ourselves in the process and the accuser voices are louder than any advocate we have around us. The dopamine gets released when our phone makes that “DING” noise and letting go of the pressure we put on ourselves (our own accuser voice) or the demands and pressure to be perfect that we feel from others so we avoid being accused of anything ever.

So far we have looked at two of the three accusers. This third one is more nefarious.

This accuser is even more of a destructive voice than ourselves and others, and is our spiritual enemy. In John 10, Jesus refers to him as the one who comes to “steal, kill and destroy” what the Great Shepherd is trying to care for and protect. I refer to this one as the “Big A” Accuser. The word in Scripture for Accuser is the literal meaning of the Hebrew word hasatan , which is where we get our English word Satan. This Accuser constantly harassing me with loud lies that, like the original lie that infected the whole world, seek to chip away at my trust in God.

The voice of the Spirit is not usually a loud cry in the streets, it is a whisper that we must hear. The problem comes if we are too distracted or our lives are full of hurry and striving, we will miss the gentle whisper of the Spirit.

Jesus promises to send an Advocate whose presence will unwind the deception within me and the whole world around me. Advocate. That’s the Spirit’s title from the lips of Jesus: the antithesis of accusation. The Accuser seeks to isolate me, driving me away from God. The Spirit nudges and prods me back in God’s direction, assuring me that, everywhere I turn, I am in His loving gaze. God does not argue against the Accuser’s lies. He simply shines the light of His perfect love into my soul – a love that, as I turn to face it, drives out all fear.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him... There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.   1 John 4:16b, 18 

We need to lose the false narratives that we carry around in our pockets. We need to exchange them for a better story, a story that is true about us. The voice of the accuser says things like, “what you want to do is impossible.” The voice of the advocate would say no to that.

“You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.” - C.S. Lewis

With the voice of the Advocate speaking into your life and resetting the tapes you listen to, we gain a new perspective. All of a sudden, we have a buffet table set with new words for a new life.

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Possible

Achieveable

Able

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What do you think is possible in your life if you release control of the outcomes and allow the Advocate (Holy Spirit) to make happen?

How could your dreams and goals be achievable when you silence the accuser and open yourself up to authenticity, empathy, vulnerability and courage in your daily habits?

What are you able to do that is realistic and within your healthy limits?

Part of this journey is asking -

what is mine to carry, what is others to carry and what is God’s to carry?

Sometimes the lifestyle that we most desire is not the one that is best for us and we have to hold onto gratitude and contentment.

(Photo by Matthew Nash, London, England)

The apostle Paul in the book of Philippians says this…

“ I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13)

This is not about our strength (earning or our effort) - it is all a gift of grace. This also does not mean that every open door will happen for me or for you. I could talk at length about all of the tragedies, failures and hardships my wife and I, and our family have experienced in our lifetime. I have shared about some of them here publicly and will probably share others (but not all of them) at some point. Most, if not all of you could also share your stories and pain.

Let me say this next statement clearly, I completely DO NOT believe one ounce of the prosperity gospel that just says, “name it and claim it” or “manifest that into action."

I believe that God closes doors that no one can open. It does not matter how much “show” you give God or how much good work you can do for him.

Jesus wants you to simply BE with him and not feel the need to do anything FOR him.

(Photo by Matthew Nash, Rome, Italy)

In 2017, I got to spend several days in Rome on my way home from being in Africa for two crazy weeks doing church planting training and preaching. It was three glorious days of solitude even though I was in a city of millions of people, I felt like it was just me seeing everything. One of these days I will do a whole article just on the lessons I learned on that trip and some of my favorite pictures, food stories and experiences in Rome (I had a ton). For now, I offer the above photo that I took on the quiet ancient road known as the Appian Way. It is on the outskirts of town and very secluded. Some of the stones on the path are from the First Century and well worn. This is the main road in and out of Rome. It is the road that the Apostle Paul would have come into the city. As I slowly walked this path that afternoon, after spending that morning at the Vatican Museum, St. Peters Basilica, seeing the Sistine Chapel and then a couple hours in the ancient Catacombs underneath the city - I needed total quiet and solitude.

That is when I came across this ancient sign - Beata Solitudo

It means “Blessed Solitude”

Perhaps when it all comes down to it, the best way to hear the clear still voice of the Advocate is to get away from the noise and have some Blessed Solitude.

When was the last time you had significant time alone where you could have some stillness and physical, emotional and spiritual renewal? What would it look like for you to schedule some time in the next 60 days?

Maybe you are a mom of three kids that works from home and barely has time for herself

Maybe you are a busy college student, juggling classes, papers and a part time job

Perhaps your’e working two jobs and any down time you are just keeping it together at work so you can escape when you get home to binge watch that new series on that streaming service?

You could be pastoring a church, leading an organization or a working at a job that is a struggle and its draining your passion for ministry or joy.

No judgement on any of these or other scenarios I did not mention, I have been there some days (at least 3 of these 4 have applied to me at one time or another, you can probably guess which one does not apply to me) also and I completely get it, no shame here I promise.

I am more concerned with what voice you are letting in your head most.

Advocate or Accuser.

My hope is you choose the gentle whisper of the Advocate.

You are so deeply loved more than you know. Until next time.

Grace and Peace

Matthew Nash