COMFORT

COMFORT

"And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter, that He may remain with you forever" John 14:16

I would like to share part of a message Sigi delivered in Russia that really cut to my heart.  It is not word by word how she said it but it is rather the revelation that her message awakened in me.

According to John 14:17 Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit, the Comforter in His place to be with us forever!  It is one of the Names of the Holy Spirit and therefore one of His functions.  If it is one of His functions, it means that we will be in situations where we will need His comfort.  When we receive the comforting of the Holy Spirit it brings healing and with it, spiritual and emotional maturity.  

To receive the comfort of the Holy Spirit, however, we must allow ourselves to grieve.  If we do not allow ourselves to grieve, we might become emotionally and spiritually calloused.  When we become hard, it will be very hard for us to comfort others.

Many of us suppress our grief because it feels like a lack of faith or maybe a lack of trust in the Lord or you might be afraid that others will think you are spiritually weak.  By not allowing ourselves to grieve, we  rob the Holy Spirit of the opportunity to comfort us and to bring healing and spiritual maturity.  In the process we lose the ability to comfort others because of the hardness that crawled into our hearts.

So many people in ministry are faithful in ministry but at the same time they feel the lack of love and compassion and walk with a condemnation in their hearts because of it.  Very often it is because they were not comforted in the hard times and now it became hard for them to comfort others.

It was very hard for me to accept that I will not live in another nation and that South Africa is to be my base for a season.  When Sigi brought this word I suddenly realized that I couldn't accept SA as my new destination because I didn't allow myself to grieve after I moved from Russia.  Russia was my home for 15 and a half years and there are people that are like family to me and it was very hard to say goodbye to them and know that I will not be so close to them anymore.  Because I didn't grieve, the Holy Spirit couldn't comfort me and my heart wasn't ready for the next assignment.

The Holy Spirit is our Comforter.  Go back to those incidents where you didn't allow yourself to grieve and open it up to the Holy Spirit to comfort you and to heal and mature you for your next season.

Holy Spirit, I pray that You will shine Your light into those areas that became so hard because we refused to grieve.  Help us to receive Your comfort in those areas.  Please bring healing and spiritual maturity so that we can be ready to be positioned for those things that You have prepared for us.