He Is Our Comforter

The Holy Spirit | The God I Never Knew

May 28, 2023

Holy Spirit 2023 Series:

brown wooden blocks on white surface — Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Who Ya Gonna Call?

What do you do when you go through challenging, difficult, grief-filled, heart-wrenching times?

Who can you or I call?

What comes to my mind, in a weird and silly way, when I think of that phrase is the movie “Ghost Busters” and the film’s theme song:

Who ya gonna call?

Ghost Busters!

In the church of my youth, we called the third person of the Trinity the Holy Ghost. Our creeds, the Nicene and the Apostle’s creeds, plus the many hymns we sang that were written or translated in the 15th through the late 19th centuries, also used the phrase “the Holy Ghost”.

As kids, all we could think of when we heard or sang “Holy Ghost” was a white bed-sheet draped entity, like the home-made costumes we wore on Halloween night to go get as much candy as we could from our neighbors.

I rejoiced when our church switched to using the biblical phrase, “the Holy Spirit”.

And, that’s “who ya gonna call” when you face challenging times.

The words you may use when you cry out, when you weep and pray, may be “Oh, heavenly Father!” or “Dear Lord Jesus!” But, who comforts you? The third person of the Trinity Himself, the Holy Spirit who lives in you, the Spirit that God the Father gave you when God the Son redeemed you, and you repented of your sins and you believed.

John 14:16-17 (Amplified Bible Classic)
16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever–
17 The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.

For many years, when I sought Father God’s comfort, I imagined my prayers going way way up to heaven, to Almighty God’s throne room. He seemed too far away from me to be a personal, intimate comfort during my times of distress.

Even my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who says He’s my brother, my friend, in my mind He had ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of Father God in the unseen realm, again, so very far away from me.

The church of my youth didn’t spend much time teaching us about the Holy Spirit and His role in our lives, even though He lives in us believers. As I grew older, I explored God’s word more deeply. You’ll probably think this is weird, and it is, but I fell in love with Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. In my bookshelf, it was right next to my Bible. (Now, I use online Bible study tools.)

Over time, God taught me and transformed my thinking about the Holy Spirit as I prayed and studied His word. The one God I worship, in three persons (blessed Trinity!), invited me to have an intimate, personal relationship with His indwelling Spirit.

God’s invitation led me to study the key words used to describe the Holy Spirit, and this is how my series will progress topically and arrive at the final post. The Holy Spirit in us believers is our:

• Comforter (today’s post)

• Counselor

• Helper

• Intercessor

• Advocate

Our Comforter, Our Best Friend

Because He lives in us, the Holy Spirit is right there, in the midst of the heart-wrenching troubles we experience. He’s a person with a will and emotions, and He empathizes with us, with our pain. He is always with us to comfort us, and we can pour out our hearts to Him in prayer.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Let’s turn up the volume a little and really think about our holy comforter. Before you read this paraphrase of these verses above, ask God to speak new, fresh wisdom to your heart:

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (Amplified Version Classic)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement),
4 Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.

Friends, this is our holy faith. This is part and parcel of the salvation we hold so dear in Jesus, the Anointed one, the Messiah. God’s Holy Spirit is God’s presence in us, ever with us, ever available to comfort us.

Even during the times when life is so very hard, and the world seems to grow very dark. Trust God, and let the light of His comfort shine in you.

2 Corinthians 13:14 (The Voice)
14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Anointed, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit remain with you all.

Your Turn

How are you doing with your thoughts about God’s Holy Spirit in you? Life is busy, and it seems to be getting more complicated by the day. When you wake up in the morning, I know you pray to the Lord, but do you take a moment to press the Pause button and reflect on the truth that the Lord is in you, and is always available to comfort you?

Additional reading from GotQuestions.com:

https://www.gotquestions.org/God-of-all-comfort.html

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for the gift of your Spirit in me! Holy Spirit, thank You for comforting me.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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