THE COMFORTER
Scripture Reading - John 16:5-7 KJV
5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
In today’s Holy Bible lesson the Lord Jesus was speaking to His disciples about the road that was laid out before Him, His destiny so to speak. Jesus knew that He must die for the sins of the world to redeem mankind from the condemnation of Hell. Many people did not have an option they only knew that God was in Heaven and guilty men went to Hell. Thanks be to God that through Jesus Christ we (all mankind) have the option of choosing salvation through the Blood of Jesus or rejecting His sacrifice to leave their own eternal destiny in the hands (control) of the evil one (Satan). As Jesus openly spoke about His pending death many disciples became sorrowful because no one likes bad news about a friend, family or loved one. Notice verse 6 states, “sorrow has filled your heart” and also notice that Jesus already had a remedy to the problem. The solution the Lord came up with should be our same solution today. The answer for sorrow is generally twofold. The first fold is comfort of heart which gives revelation to our heart to divert our attention away from the problem and unto the solution. We need to know that God’s Healing Agent for sorrow of spirit and/or soul is “The Comforter”. “The Comforter” also goes by the more popular name of Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. Since He is God He does multiple things unto complete perfection. Only God can heal the broken hearted in complete pure tenderness and that is exactly why the Lord gave us “The Comforter”. The second fold solution to sorrow is “Joy” because sorrow has a draining effect on our feelings, emotions and mentality. Yes, as the scriptures declares in Nehemiah 8:10b, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” so this makes the Holy Spirit of Joy the perfect Healer for tired hearts. We (ihlcc) believe God to be all wise and all efficient so it is no great surprise that He can (and does) get multiple things done with the same resource. Of course when the resource for our edification is God Himself in the person of “The Comforter” we know all is well with our spirit, soul and body. “The Comforter” works with the knowledge of God’s Word so it is important to get God’s Word on whatever is making you sad so that “The Comforter” has something to work with. Yes, sorrow and sadness is real but so much more real is “The Comforter” of our life. Being a Christian means you have 24/7 access to God’s Spirit and we (ihlcc) found the Holy Spirit will comfort us in good times, normal times, and bad times because such as His Name such is His Nature. Yes, He comforts all people when they listen to Him because comfort is one of His many specialties. As a person living on this earth we all need comfort at one time or another just be sure your comfort is pure and holy coming from “The Comforter”. Let the healing balm of “The Comforter” permeate your very being spirit, soul and body. Just as God’s Word comforts us we can be sure the tangible healing spiritual power of comfort is always available to us through the Person of “The Comforter” in Jesus Name. Amen!