Wonderful Counselor
God HAS GIVEN US THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COMFORT US, TO TEACH US AND MAKE US VICTORIOUS OVER ALL THE STORMS OF LIFE. John 16: 7 However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you].
The Holy Spirit has been given so we will have the wisdom to overcome in life
Bible tells us, MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE--Hos 4:6. Jesus has sent us the Holy Spirit and given us the written word of God so we will not be destroyed. Our part is to seek Him by prayer and by reading the Bible. The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth and keep us in the life cycle.
The Work of the Holy Spirit -- John 16:13-15 - When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
He communicates to us all the blessings of redemption.
GOD MUST TO BE FIRST IN YOUR LIFE
REGAIN SPIRITUAL LIFE THAT HAD BEEN LOST IN EDEN
'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). The Holy Spirit changes us from within. He indwells our spirit at the time of the new birth so that we are united with God and can be led continuously by Him.
The Hebrew word for breath 'ruach' is also used for spirit (Gen. 7:22). Originally, Adam and Eve had the breath or Spirit of God in them. God had warned them, "but of the tree of the knowledge of 'good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die " (Gen. 2:17). True to God's words, they both died spiritually on the day that they disobeyed Him. Although they continued to live physically, but the Spirit of God had left them. Today all people share this same fate as Adam and Eve. They are all spiritually dead because they do not have the Spirit of God in them. The heavenly Father has promised to put His Spirit back in His people.
The apostle Paul wrote: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption." (1 Cor 15:50). It means that every human being in the natural or corrupt state cannot go to heaven. Through the natural birth every person inherits the Adamic sinful nature (1 Cor. 15:49; Rom. 5:12-19; Psm. 51:5; 58:3). For this reason our Lord Jesus Christ insisted, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:5). When “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" our Lord indicated birth of the Spirit refers to Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3-5).
There is a clear distinction between the natural birth and the spiritual birth. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again." (Jn. 3:6-7).
The apostles in the Early Church consistently preached the birth of water and the Spirit (Acts 2:38-39; Tit. 3:5). After the Samaritan Christians were baptized in water, the apostles sent Peter and John to pray for them "that they might receive the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:12-17). When Paul encountered the disciples in Ephesus this is the first question that he asked. "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" (Acts 19:1-2). Why were the apostles so concerned about the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The answer is very obvious. It is one of the conditions of entrance to the kingdom of God
"But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He save us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Tit. 3:4-7).
Salvation comes through a twofold channel called “washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" that corresponds to water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit. Renewing of the Holy Spirit signifies the role of the Holy Spirit in effecting a new birth in the believer and in imparting eternal life to him. Our Lord spoke to the woman of Samaria, "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John. 4:14) Living water signifies the Holy Spirit. (John. 7:37-39)
GOD BECOMES THE SOURCE OF OUR TOTAL SUPPLY FOR EVERYTHING
This means your career, job, husband, wife, boss, school, country, whatever else is only an instrument God uses to meet your needs and not your source and you are not theirs. Philippians 4:19 My God shall meet all your needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.
God is your Source of salvation, hope and whole life, protection and guidance, total supply, your all in all. God is for me, in me and with me. Psalms 56:9 GOD IS FOR ME. He is over and around me. Deut. 33:27. He is very personal and very near, caring for me in my humanness.
GOD SAYS: Carry out My Commands and leave the result to Me. Do this as obediently and faithfully as you would expect a child to follow out a given rule in the working of a sum, with no question but that, if the working out is done according to command, the result will be right.
Remember that the commands Ihave given you have been already worked out by Me in the Spirit World to produce in your case, and in your circumstances, the required result. So follow My rules faithfully.
Realize that herein lies the perfection of Divine Guidance. To follow a rule, laid down even by earth's wisest, might lead to disaster.
The knowledge of your individual life and character, capability, circumstances and tempations must be, to some extent, lacking, but to instructions given with a full knowledge of you and the required result.
A miracle is not something for nothing-- you must seed for your miracle.
You must give first... before you can expect to receive.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said:
Cast your bread upon the waters: for you shall find it after many days. (Ecclesiastes 11:1)
Jesus told his disciples that He had fulfilled His mission in coming to earth as a man and must return to His Father. He said He would pray the Father to send "another Comforter," which is the Holy Spirit. He said, "I will come to you." So the Father had first sent Jesus in the flesh to be with man. He sent Him back in the invisible, unlimited form of the Holy Spirit to be in us -- both with and in us.. It is through the invisible, unlimited Christ (the form in which God sends the OTHER COMFORTER) that the Holy Spirit fills
WE MUST BE FULL OF GOD'S SPIRIT
Whenever we reach out to God, He is there. He will help us through any storms, problems, difficulties - struggles -we encounter. We need only to look to Him and be led by His Spirit. In our humanness we cannot live in a vacuum. Our lives must be filled with something greater. Jesus revealed this to the scribes and pharisees about a man who got an unclean spirit out of himself but he didn't get anything positive back in. He left his inner self swept out but empty.
There is no place quite as attractive to the devil as an empty life. The unclean was delighted when he came back to this man and discovered his former residence clean and empty. He looked around and found seven devils more evil than himself and together they entered the man again.
After His resurrection the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to all His disciples. “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father. (Acts 1:4) Notice the word "all" in these verses. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication." (Acts 1:14) “Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. . . . And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1,4). After the Lord's ascension into heaven "all" His disciples prayed together in one accord and everyone of them, without exception, were baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. There can be no doubt that the Baptism of the Holy is for all Christians. Peter testified; 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off as many as the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:38).
GOD'S UNFAILING PROMISE OF GIVING
THE HOLY SPIRIT
In the Old Testament our heavenly Father had promised to give the Holy Spirit to His people (Pro. 1:23; Isa. 44:3; Ezk. 36:27; 37:14; 39:29; Joel. 2:28-29; Zec. 12:10) The Holy Spirit is promised to those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:13). John the Baptist testified the Lord Jesus would baptize Christians with the Holy Spirit (Mt. 3:11). The Lord Jesus Himself had promised His disciples the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 11:13; 24:49; Jn. 7:37-39; 14:16-17; Acts 1:4-5;11:16).
If there is only one verse in the Holy Bible that shows God's promise of giving the Holy Spirit we would have believed Him without question. Now that the Bible is replete with verses concerning God's promise of giving the Holy Spirit to us, we can do nothing else except put all our faith and trust in the fulfillment of His promise in our lives.
We can learn from Abraham how to bring God's promises to its fulfillment. "He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness." (Rom. 4:20-22). Just believe with all your heart, soul and mind that God will fulfill His promise in your life because the Lord Jesus Christ made this promise, "You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
