THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

After your salvation, the greatest experience you could ever have in your life is the experience with the unseen Person of the Holy Spirit. “Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” refer to the same Person.

THE COMFORTER

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 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.” (John 14:16-17). Jesus, talking to His disciples in one of the last meetings He had with them before He was crucified, told them He was going away to be with the Father. As He told them these things, His disciples were sad because they wondered how they would cope without Him. But what kind of Comforter was Jesus talking about? Was He talking about a passive helper, one who just says, “Oh, don’t worry about the problem, every thing is going to be alright”? Was He talking about One who’ll suffer with you when you suffer or tell you, “Don’t worry, move forward, I’ll be with you?” Was that the kind of Comforter Jesus was talking about? Absolutely not! The Amplified Bible translation lets us know that the Comforter Who has been sent to go along with us is pro-active by giving us six synonyms of the word “Comforter” (Parakletos). They are Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener and Standby.

THE COUNSELOR

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengt-hener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever…” (John 14:16 Amp). When you receive the Holy Spirit, He becomes your Counselor. He is the One who gives you advice, but the kind of advice He gives is not passive. The word “counselor” is a legal term which means “legal adviser.” This simply implies that as your Counselor, the Holy Spirit gives you legal advice, He becomes your lawyer. There are issues of life not expressly dealt with in the Scriptures for which you require guidance. For example, things that concern daily living such as decision-making, traveling or even making purchases. Perhaps you want to see a friend and you want to know whether he’s in or not. There’s no way you can tell that if you search the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. But you can hear the Holy Spirit speak to you. You can walk in His counsel and make the right choices and decisions in your life.  One day, while Peter was praying in the house of Simon the tanner, the Spirit of God said to him, “Three men seek you, I sent them. Go with them.” “And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And the spirit bade me go with them..." (Acts 11:11-12). Peter said, “The Spirit bade me go…” The Holy Spirit can tell you to do something and He can tell you not to. He can direct you. Has He ever told you to do anything? Has He instructed you about anything before? Are you acquainted with the Counselor or do you find yourself always getting advice from people? Let the Holy Spirit function in you. He’ll talk to you and instruct you.

THE HELPER

The Holy Spirit is also your Helper. When you receive Him into your life, you should never say again, “I don’t have anybody to help me,” because He’s your Helper. While meditating many years ago, the Holy Spirit inspired this thought in me and I penned it down. I wrote, “God has the right people in the right place to help me at the right time.” Why? It’s because the Holy Ghost is my Helper and when He needs to use somebody to help me, He’ll get anybody to do it. He’s my Helper and He can assign anybody to it. There are people who will help me even when they don’t want to, because the Holy Ghost compels them to. The psalmist calls the Holy Spirit a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). When he says “a very present help,” it doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit is one out of the many “present helps.” By attaching the “very” to the “present help” the psalmist lets us know he’s referring to a definite personality, in spite of the generic tone that the “a” suggests. He could simply have said, “He is a present help in trouble,” instead he strengthens it by saying, “He’s ‘a very present’ help.” In other words, His presence with you is something you don’t need to doubt at all. You don’t have to look for Him. If you ever get into trouble, you might as well laugh and say, “Thank You Holy Spirit, I’m not alone!”

If you made a new friend, you’d have to spend some time with him to know him and understand his language. In the same way, you need to spend time with the Holy Spirit. You need to take time to understand His language so that you can recognize His voice when He speaks to you. Start today to follow His leading in your decisions and actions as you consistently meditate on the Word and fellowship with Him.

..:: FOR FURTHER STUDY ::..
ACTS 10:38, ROMANS 8:26, ACTS 11:11-12, 1CORINTHIANS 14:14, ACTS 10:4, ACTS 9:4-5,

2 CORINTHIANS 5:18.