"The Comforter"

By Jay Pearson

Jesus Christ was a continual comfort to his disciples. He feed them both physically and spiritually. He demonstrated his love physically by washing the disciples’ feet and instructing them to do likewise. He taught them continually through examples. His words were soothing, true and, comforting.

John 14:1-3
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

What a promise and comfort for his disciples to know that where he was, they may be also. He would not leave them without comfort. They just didn’t know how immediate that would be. Jesus knew that as their comforter he would leave, but he knew the Father would give them another comforter in his absence.

John 14:16-17
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

The Comforter that the Father would send was and is so much more than just a comforter.

John 14:26
But 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.

The Comforter is the Holy Ghost, a teacher, reminder, and the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Ghost is a companion to have comfort with, but not a tool to be used. We serve the Holy Ghost, and not the other way around. The Comforter’s mission is not to make you comfortable by keeping you form tribulation or trying circumstances. It is to comfort you through your tribulation that the Lord said you would experience.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

This gift is not to be taken lightly but in the fear of the Lord.

Proverbs 19:23
The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

Seek the Lord with a pure heart. Have communion with the Holy Ghost. Pray to the Father of all glory.

2 Timothy 2:22
Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

When you seek the Lord with a pure heart you are dialing up a 4-way conference call. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and you are in attendance. Listen for their direction and enjoy their fellowship in the doing of that instruction. You don’t do it alone.

John 15:5
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

1 John 5:7
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

The Holy Ghost abides not only in heaven, but in the born-again Christian. That means you and I. May we have fellowship with, have communion with, and have obedience toward the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

The Comforter could not be any closer or personal than residing within us. Thank you Jesus. I think there is nothing more comforting than to know that God Almighty “Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is” (Ps 146:6) resides within his children by the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Ghost.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Glory be to God, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
Amen.

 

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Presented March 15, 2020 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana