Encouraging Thoughts about the Holy Spirit

Recently I have been listening to sermons and reading a book about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God - one person of the Trinity. The Trinity is such a difficult concept for us to understand that sometimes we can be tempted to simplify things by not giving attention to one of the persons of the trinity. For me, understanding the work of the Holy Spirit was most difficult and so was the area I tended to 'not think about'. So here are a few encouraging thoughts about the Holy Spirit.

In The Gospel of John, the Holy Spirit is often called "the Comforter"
(Joh 14:16)  And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever,

(Joh 14:26)  But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.
(Joh 15:26)  And when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me.
(Joh 16:7)  But I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you.

Generally we understand 'comfort'.

• We know what it is to comfort a crying baby. We see a mother tightly holding her baby and rocking him and softly singing to him. She is enveloping him in her love and assuring him of her presence, her support, her care and her love.
• We know what it is to comfort a hurt child. The mother binds up the wound or gives the medicine and then gives a big cuddle and peacefully and gently reminds the child that the pain will soon be gone and then encourages the child to think on happier days and to have a laugh about something
• We all know what it is to comfort someone when they have suffered a loss. It is always so hard to know what to say at a funeral. It takes a lot of thought and care. I have at times heard someone offer a word of comfort to a grieving friend and been amazed that they knew just the right words to say; those words that showed compassion as well as hope and also expressed a joy and delight in the one who had died. These are words of comfort that settle the grieving heart and focus the grieving heart on joy in the midst of sorrow - that help to wipe away the tears.
• We know what it is to have our own 'comfort zone'. Anything outside of our comfort zone makes us feel 'uncomfortable'. This 'uncomfortableness' could be stress, anxiety, uncertainty, or maybe just rebellion. But when we are outside of our comfort zone we have an overwhelming desire to be back in our comfort zone and to again experience the familiar and the certain - to have that sense of peace and relaxation

The Holy Spirit is our Comforter - God the Father and God the Son send the Holy Spirit to us and one aspect of His work is to comfort us:-

• To envelope us in God's love. Isn't it a wonderful experience to have that fullness of joy that comes when the Holy Spirits shouts into your heart "God loves you- God has taken away your sins - You are a child of God"
• To assure us of God's presence, care, support and love. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would give us the words to speak when we were facing difficult times. He also reminds us of God's word when we are facing inward 'difficult times'. Assuring us of God's love and care and presence.
• To heal our hurts and sadness and to remind us of God's blessings. The Holy Spirit seems extremely quick in this work. No matter what hurts you experience, if you start to number the blessings you have received from God, they seem to tumble into your mind quicker than you can write them down. The Holy Spirit loves to remind us of the blessings that God has given us.
• To settle our grieving heart and to wipe away our tears. We have been assured by Jesus that when we get to heaven He will wipe away all our tears and we will never sorrow again. But while we are still on this earth we will suffer sorrows and tears but have the assurance that the Holy Spirit will "turn our mourning into dancing".
• To give us peace. So often we can experience peace, contentment, 'familiarity' in the middle of some quite distressing circumstance. Isn't it a joy to our hearts when we see a christian brother going through a 'trial' with a calm, peaceful, contented attitude when we know it is not their 'natural inclination'

These are only a few of the ways in which we experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit. There are probably hundreds of other expressions of the Holy Spirit's comfort

But sadly, we often don't acknowledge these works as the work of the Holy Spirit. Often we consider it our 'right' to be 'comforted' and to be 'comfortable'  in this life. Often we race around seeking comfort in anything else but the Holy Spirit (we even have the term 'comfort foods')

Oh How I pray that I may be able to recognise the Holy Spirit's work of comfort in my life this week and to praise God for his wonderful provision of His Holy Spirit

For Further Consideration

When you have your quiet times with God this week add a special note to consider how the Holy Spirit has comforted you throughout the day and thank and praise Him for this work. 

Try keeping a list of God's blessings and see how quickly you fill the page.. or make a note of every time you laugh this week.

Imagine what our life would be like without the Holy Spirit's comfort.

Consider also, how our society  (in general) is extremely thankless to the Holy Spirit and yet He continues to apply comfort in a measure to all men. Thank the Holy Spirit for the comfort he gives to our family members, friends or work colleagues who do not thank Him. 

From where do you seek comfort first? Is it food? chocolate? friends? music? shopping? movies?

How can you change your responses so that you seek comfort from the Holy Spirit? 

PS
For all my friends who are now thinking "Heather you have totally missed the real meaning of the work of the Holy Spirit" stay calm. Feel free to email me or to comment but be assured that there is more to come - in time