Comfort of God!
God is a God of comfort and strength. We were on a ministry trip to Quito, Ecuador, from Oct. 18-25, 2023. On the morning of Saturday, October 21 around 3 AM, I grew worse in the ICU of a private hospital in Quito, Ecuador. My heart was beating so fast, and my lungs were filled with fluids, and I had no breath left in me. I was gasping for breath to no avail. I asked the attending physician, “How am I doing?” He replied, “Poorly, very, very poorly!” I urged the doctors to let Hema and Rachel know who was in the rented apartment. The doctors came back and told me that they would arrive in 40 minutes. The doctors were concerned, and they were running up and down the ICU ward. The thought that I was going home to be with the Lord hit me. I had no indication of that episode happening nor did I hear or see anything from the Lord. I am a firm believer that God will give either me or my close loved ones indications of what is about to come before He calls me home. There was nothing, absolutely nothing from the Lord.
I was wondering if the doctors were following the correct procedure in checking everything was right and offering the most appropriate treatment. Immediately, I heard the whisper of the Holy Spirit within: “Do not be afraid. Whether the professionals are doing the right things or preventing the wrong things from happening to you, I AM HERE WITH YOU TO BRING YOU OUT OF THIS ORDEAL.” I closed my eyes and immediately experienced a “cool breeze” from within. My heartbeat was coming down, and my lungs started clearing for me to breathe. When I opened my eyes, I saw Hema and Rachel in front of me. Feebly, I said to them, “I almost died before God intervened!” They also confirmed that they had been sleepless and very restless since 2 AM, knowing fully well that something bad was happening to me. Together, we rejoiced together and thanked the Lord.
I experienced my God of comfort comforting me in my affliction: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble (tribulation), with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation (comfort) also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation” (II Corinthians 1:3-7 – Consolation or Comfort used 10 times in this passage).
God is The Comforter of Zion!
“For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody” (Isaiah 51:3).
In the process of God comforting His people, God changes all our waste places. Our wilderness changes into a fruitful forest reminiscent of the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness return to our lives where sadness, sorrow, and gloominess occupied before. We will begin to sing with our voices of melody giving thanks to the Lord. I pray all God’s people reading this message receive such abundant comfort from God by His mercies and grace.
Those who have received comfort are asked by God to pray for and offer comfort to God’s people, especially the Jews who are suffering from persecution everywhere: “’ Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’ says your God. ‘Speak comfort to (the heart of) Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins’” (Isaiah 40:1-2). Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem.
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit is To Offer Comfort!
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal (bind up) the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified” (Isaiah 61:1-3).
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is to offer comfort. Mourning is not uncommon to Zion, and God’s people. The world looks for comfort in the world, but a believer can only be comforted by the Holy Spirit in such a way that they are filled with the compensating beauty of the Lord, the joy that replaces their sorrow, and praises and thanksgiving for God who has restored them.
God Never Withholds Consolation from His Beloved Servants!
“And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (Luke 2:25).
Jesus the Messiah was the Consolation of Israel and Prophet Simon waited in the Temple for Him, and God honored his request. Simon was able to see and take Baby Jesus into his hands and blessed Him before his end!
The Holy Spirit Bears Truth in Our Moments of Weaknesses!
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Parakletos), that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).
In my moment of excruciating suffering, I needed not only comfort but also truth. The comforting voice of God reassured me that it was not time to go home yet, and the truthful voice of the Holy Spirit assured me that no matter what treatment I received or lacked, He was with me in all my ordeal. Ironically, Satan comes to tell the suffering believer: “This is it! You are dead. You will never recover. Even if you do, there is nothing good that comes out of you.” In those crucial moments, God offers truth by His Holy Spirit to set you and keep you free.
The Holy Spirit Reminds Us of God’s Promises in Our Moments of Weakness!
“But the Helper (Comforter, Parakletos), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).
God reminded me of my previous near-death experience on the eve of my healing from bleeding ulcers. After vomiting blood four times, I was so weak that my spirit came out of my body around 12:00 AM, and I saw myself hovering over my body and eventually traveling beyond the globe of the earth to enter the most illuminated space in the heavens. I saw a vast number of people in somewhat of a silhouette shade and I perceived that they were from various nations and nationalities. Though I had never met them, I felt like I had known them for ages, and started conversing with them. While my heart was filled with love that I could never explain in words, a holy hush fell all over me as a Brilliant Light approached me from behind. I did not dare to turn around but heard the voice, and it was the voice of my Lord: “My servant, I have not called you here yet. Go back, and be My witness, until I call you home.” Immediately, I started coming down to the globe of the earth, my house, and my body. I looked at the clock and it was 12:20 AM. The next day, I received my healing from the bleeding ulcers, and God mercifully spared my life from death. It was Friday, August 8, 1969!
I was reminded of the voice I heard, “My servant, I have not called you here yet. Go back, and be My witness, until I call you home.” In all my moments of agony and confusion, the Spirit of God reminded me that my time was not yet!
The Holy Spirit Prays for Us in Our Moments of Weakness!
“Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).
There is enormous emphasis on what we must confess and what we should not. There is also a lot of preaching of others around those who are weak and sick. I remember my good friend, Rev. Ron Loy, who was suffering from cancer crying on my shoulders that people had told him of his “hidden sins” he should confess for his healing, and get his confessions straight, or else, he was heading to “hell!” I met with Ron every Friday to spend an hour in prayer with him. One Friday morning, I asked Ron: “Brother Ron, do you have a Job (Chapter) 29 experience in your life?” Ron asked me: “What do you mean?” I said to him: “A righteous Job presents his case to the Almighty in Job 29 – How God’s light was shining upon his life from youth, how God granted honor him with nobles, young and the old with his stature in God, how he delivered the poor and needy, and how he was clothed in the righteousness of God!” A brilliant light came upon Ron’s face, and he said to me: “I have a powerful resume of knowing and walking with God!” That was it. From that moment until God called Ron home, Ron was filled with peace. Condemnation left him. Ron used to tell me: “Peace is not absence from trouble but the Presence of God!”
Please know firmly that the Holy Spirit is interceding for you and me in our moments of weaknesses and perils.
“We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered!” Please disregard (or do not get hung up on) people with limited or no knowledge who seem to know all the answers to your problems you are going through but lean FIRMLY on the Holy Spirit who alone is your Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, and Standby, who will speak the truth and set you free.
Do Not Be Anxious!
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
It is difficult to give thanks to the Lord in our moments of excruciating pain and weakness but calmly wait for this – the PEACE of God to fill you. No matter the struggle, and no matter the pain, I have experienced the peace of God filling me as an indication that God was with me in my ordeal. Peace of God precedes our thanksgiving and praises to God. I kept experiencing the peace of God in my moment in a critical condition in Quito, Ecuador when my pain was lifted, and my anxiety disappeared. Peace of God acts as the preventative and protective barrier from Satan messing with you in your thoughts. God’s peace fills and surrounds you as God’s fortress that Satan does not have permission to enter. In God’s peaceful environment, the clear and concise voice of the Holy Spirit comes in to teach you and guide you into all His truth that delivers you from your pain and anxiety.
God is a God of Comfort!
God Comforts His People!
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit is Not Only to Empower and Fill Us with Wisdom but Also to Comfort Us in All Our Tribulations!
God Never Withholds Consolation from His Beloved Servants!
In Our Moments of Weakness, We Hear the Truth from the Holy Spirit!
The Holy Spirit Reminds Us of God’s Personal Promises!
The Holy Spirit Prays for Us in Our Trials!
Let Us Not Be Anxious but Lean on God!
The Peace of God Will Surround Us in Our Moments of Peril!
God Will Set Us Free from Anxieties!
With New Life, we will Continue to Thank God and Praise Him Forever and Ever!
Prayer “Heavenly Father, I love You and adore You and bow down before You. Thank You, Father, for sparing my life from danger to live a life pleasing to You and to represent You all the days of my life. In the Most Wonderful and Precious Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen! Amen!!”
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John Jeyaseelan
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