The Helper Has Come

The divine Helper, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the One who “comes alongside”, was sent and given at Pentecost. The old Pentecostal hymn says, “the Comforter has come” which is true in history, but that is past tense, we add that He “is come” because God the Spirit is here present in our generation. The angel announced that Jesus “is risen”, not that He “has risen”. Jesus “is” risen in our hearts and continues this very hour through the present-day ministry of His Spirit. 

First, the Helper wasprefaced in the Person of Jesus, for He would be “another Helper” (John 14:16), that is, a Helper not unlike Jesus Himself. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the image of the Father, and if you have seen Jesus, you have seen the character and work of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus made both Intangibles understandable to His people. When the Holy Spirit comes alongside it is no different than had Jesus come alongside. 

Second, the Helper was promised in the ascension of Jesus because He said, “If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you” (John 16:7). We know that Jesus did go away and that the Helper has come as witnessed in Acts chapter two. The sounds of Pentecost ring today as did the bells on the high priest’s robe when he exited the Holy Place.

Third, the Helper has proceeded in the power of Jesus. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, eventhe Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me” (John 15:26). The Amplified Bible gives the Spirit a variety of titles, “Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby)”. This obviously goes beyond help just to pray or to preach more effectively – the Divine Helper, sent from heaven, brings the power of Heaven into every area of our lives. He did not make His advent in the Upper Room with a gentle, warm breeze but in a rushing mighty wind accompanied by tongues of fire. The baptism of the Holy Spirit doesn’t simply charge our spiritual batteries, rather it erects the power plant in our very beings.

Have you ever looked toward heaven with a one-word prayer, “Help!”?Peter cried for help when he felt the waves pulling him under. Thecryfor help is a recognition of weakness, but in a truer sense it is an exhibit of meekness. The self-sufficient refuse to acknowledge faults and inadequacies. But humble people understand that “without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Even Jesus confessed, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do” (John 15:19). If Jesus needed the assistance of the Holy Spirit, how much more we? The Holy Spirit “helps our infirmities” (Romans 8:26). He bears us up when we haven’t the power to take another step.

1. He helps us to communicate the message of God

Jesus was the Word made flesh. The Holy Spirit uses humble men and women of flesh also to manifest the Word to the world. The world sees Jesus in our walk and our talk. We have the message for this Mess Age. Most people by nature are shy, fearful, and feel unqualified for such an important task. Without the presence of the Helper, Peter denied Jesus in the face of a powerless maiden. But after Pentecost, He stood before all Jerusalem and preached Jesus with such boldness that men’s hearts were pricked with conviction of sin. Peter who was fear-filled became fire-filled. 

A “helper” comes alongside to offer assistance. He does not come to “take over”. I have heard people say that they yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him “take over”. We understand the intention, but the Spirit does not superimpose His will on anyone or make them become something they are not. When the Spirit came upon Old Testament Saul, the verse says he was “turned into another man” (1 Samuel 10:6), but not really “another man”, rather a better version of himself. The anointing accents and accentuates natural personality and turns boring bushes into burning bushes, once the fire of God burns within.

2. He helps us to comprehend the mind of God

The Helper is come as Teacher, Revelator, Instructor and Guide. He will “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). He will “show you things to come”. We know He is the Third Person of the Godhead because He sees all and knows all. And by His help John taught that we “know all things” through His unction (1 John 2:20). Not that we know all things in an academic sense, for some of God’s best servants have been robbed of earthly education by their circumstances, yet they comprehend things about God through the Spirit of which the most gifted in earthly intelligence are ignorant. He brings to our attention everything that is needed at the particular time to deal with a particular problem. He reveals His dearest and deepest truths to babes, not to “brains”.

Paul prayed that the Ephesians would “be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of the love of Christ which passes human understanding (Ephesians 3:18,19). Such depths and breadths and mysteries cannot be learned from a textbook. Only God’s Spirit can communicate God’s heart. The Spirit knows the mind of God and reveals that Mind to those who recognize their own ignorance and are willing to ask God for help.

3. He helps us to comfort the people of God

The Comforter has come on a mission to comfort. He comforts us in all our trouble that we, by His comfort, may be able to comfort anyone in any struggle (2 Corinthians 1:4). He gives beauty for ashes and a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. He is typified as a river of living water flowing from within. Considering “rivers”, whether Mississippi, Amazon, Mekong or the Rhine, we know they can bear up heavy ships and barges. They overflow their banks when the flood rages. The Divine Helper has come to bear our heavy load and to turn floods of sorrow into overflowing peace.

Are you a conduit of consolation? Are you a river channel of comfort? The basic purpose in the vocal charismatic gifts is “exhortation and edification and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3). Barnabas’ name means “son of encouragement” or “son of comfort” (Acts 4:36). We need the boldness of Paul but also the approachableness of Barnabas. We cross paths with so many individuals each day who are broken, discouraged, oppressed and in need of an in-season word of comfort. Jesus was the Master of such ministry and commands us to take the oil of His anointing and the wine of His sacramental blood and “go and do thou likewise”.

4. He helps us to combat the enemies of God

Ultimately, the Helper has come to empower every believer for the fight. We are at war! In these Last Days of pandemics, nations rising against nations, hearts waxing cold and advancing technology bringing us closer and closer to a global totalitarian state, believers better know how to access the wisdom, communion, and power of the Holy Spirit. He knows every word spoken behind enemy lines. He is as much against the works of evil as are you, even more so. He has never lost a battle and is quite capable of defeating every strategy of Satan for us and through us. Is the sword of the Spirit firmly in your grip? Are you suited in the whole armor of God? Not Saul’s armor. Not the weapons of the world. Do you pray in the Spirit? Do you pursue the Spirit’s gifts? 

David knocked Goliath to the ground with just five smooth stones in his shepherd’s bag. He had the Five, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. We have sixty-six rocks in our bag, Genesis to Revelation. As the lion represents David conquering the flesh, and the bear, conquering the world, so the giant symbolizes our combat against the devil and his cohorts. No weapon formed against today’s church shall prosper. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The outpouring of the Spirit should result in the outgoing of the church and the ingathering of the harvest before the uptaking of those who are ready.

These four points are the four legs on which the Pentecostal faith has stood since First-Century Pentecost. The once timid communicate the gospel without fear, the unlearned comprehend and know things from a supernatural God that are puzzling to the brightest and most sophisticated earthly minds, those needing comfort themselves become river channels of good news that comfort everyone in need, and young Davids go to combat with giants only to return to camp with victory in hand. 

A closing tidbit of truth – Goliath’s sword weighed 600 shekels, his height was 6 cubits, and he wore 6 different articles of armor, a clear allusion to the 666 of Bible prophecy. God is recruiting a Davidic army that is more than a match for the antichrist system of our day. I don’t know what the reader is going to face tomorrow but I do know that if you will cry, “Help!” and then open your heart to God, the Divine Helper, the Paraclete, will not only scoot up alongside; He will move His world evangelism headquartersinto your very heart. 

“Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me” (Psalm 86:17).