Need Any Comfort?
If we ask God to examine our heart everything we try to hide will be brought to the surface; it is there life begins. – John Paul Jackson
THE COMFORTER HAS COME
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Comforter.” It is one thing to know the
Holy Spirit as our comforter, but we must also know how he comforts us, so we can distinguish what comfort is of flesh and what is from the Spirit.
Consider the brother who is overcome with loneliness.(Loneliness is God’s way of telling you that you have a relationship problem. In a sense, loneliness is like a toothache: It’s a warning signal that something is wrong. And like a toothache, if left unattended, it usually gets worse.
He prays for the comfort of the Holy Spirit and expects that comfort to come as a feeling.
In fact, he imagines it as a kind of sudden breath from heaven, like a spiritual sedative to his soul.
This feeling of peace may actually come to him but the next morning it is gone.
As a result, he starts to believe the Holy Spirit has refused his request or Feels God does not care about him anymore.
No,never!
***The Holy Spirit doesn’t comfort us by manipulating our feelings!!!!!
His way of comforting is vastly different and is outlined clearly in Scripture.
No matter what the problem, trial or need, his ministry of comfort is accomplished by bringing TRUTH:
“When he [the Holy Spirit] is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
**The fact is, our comfort springs from what we KNOW, not what we FEEL.
** Only TRUTH overrules feelings!
And the comforting ministry of the Holy Spirit begins with this foundational TRUTH:
* God is NOT mad at you. He loves you!
“Hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given (gush forth)unto us” (Romans 5:5).
*An unbearable BURDEN may be caused by fear, shame, sorrow, afflictions,
temptations, relationships gone bad or discouragement.
Yet, NO matter what the cause, COMFORT is needed.
Suddenly a voice is heard, echoing through every corridor of the soul—the
voice of the Holy Spirit—declaring to the soul, “Nothing can separate you
from the LOVE of God.”
This truth—once you believe it—quickly becomes a gusher of living water,
sweeping away EVERY stumbling block. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).
A triumphant church is rising up even now, coming out of great trials of faith.
This last-days church is emerging from long days of affliction and fiery
furnaces.
*The Holy Spirit is at work bringing his people into a place of utter
brokenness.
*He’s leading them to a revelation of weakness in their own flesh in order to show Himself strong.
*His people are coming to the end of
themselves, their “Stubborn Wills” crushed, until their mindset becomes only, “Thy will be done.”
And through it all, they are becoming wholly dependent on the Lord!!!
Does this describe your situation? Perhaps you’ve been walking with Jesus for years, and you’ve never faced a test like the one in front of you right now.
Things coming at you seem to be overwhelming, things that only God can do something about. And you realize that ONLY HE can bring you through.
Our God is a God of love, and he won’t use bombs, guns, or suicide squads, but an overcoming people who are fearless in the strength of the Lord of tender mercies.
All over the world, God’s people are experiencing suffering, afflictions and
torture. I am certain there is a divine eternal purpose in the intensity of
these spiritual and physical battles now being endured in the true body of
Christ. “His tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:9).
Our Lord has had a plan all along. God himself came down and took on the form and condition of man, living among sinful men. He endured their hatred,
experienced their rejection, faced unthinkable reproach, and through it all he never fought back.
Jesus pulled down strongholds by his mighty loving-kindness!!! How do we?
Our Lord had but ONE Battle Plan: ***”Tender, Merciful Love”.
Our overcoming is by the blood of the Lamb!
WE Cannot overcome by the strength of our flesh, being mad at God or claming up and holding everything inside—- IT is only by LIFE in the Spirit when we have died with Christ and been resurrected with Him to live a godly life.
OUR SELF trying to have VICTORY according to the law will only bring frustration. Rather than trying to kill the flesh by the flesh, “Walk by Faith” that it IS “CHRIST IN YOU” who empowers you to overcome. Yield to the work of the Lord’s Spirit .
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
By choosing to obey God’s Will no matter how we feel or how hard the circumstances, we are literally saying to Him, “I love You more than myself”.
BY THE SPIRIT WE ABIDE IN THE LOVE OF JESUS. – 1 John 4:16 “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
John 4:24 “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
*The Spirit of God never conflicts with the Word of God.
*The Spirit of God leads us into the mission of God.
*The Spirit of God always brings glory to Jesus.
*The Spirit-filled life is the life in which Jesus is Central.
*And the one who matures is the one who grows deeper in an understanding of Jesus.
Jesus is the love God has for us. 1 John 4:9-10 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
We FIGHT FROM VICTORY—NOT FOR VICTORY!!!
1 John 4: 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Eph. 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
2 Tim. 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Come Holy Spirit and fill my house, shore up my home and protect me from the evil ones. Give me strength to battle my flesh so that I have NO footholds for temptation.
Heavenly Father, You have heard my cry for You today! “Deliver me from the Evil One!” “Don’t let me be tempted beyond that which I can handle without providing me a way of escape!” I desire You to help me clean my house, and I invite YOU, Spirit, to occupy my spirit and to shore up the doors by the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ which proves that Satan and his workers are defeated foes! Help me see and understand and TRUST in Your Truth, Your Love for me, Your Holy Spirit, Your Promises Found in Your Word. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, the Victorious One-the COMFORTER!!!!! Amen!”