“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” John 14:16-18 KJV

Sometime back, I decided to fix my hair with a style called Crochet Braids (please read on and perhaps, Google if this makes absolutely no sense to you 😆#LearnEveryday). It’s pretty stuff that saves me lots of time; I have often thanked God for whoever came up with the idea 🙏😁. This won’t be a hair tutorial I promise, just stay on, you’ll get the point, eventually 😆. If you’re familiar with this hairstyling method, feel free to skip the next paragraph 😀.

At least three things are needed for this hairstyle – the Crochet needle, the hair ‘stuff’ to be fixed and a pair of hands. Some cornrows are done, whose pattern is determined by the style in mind. The Crochet needle (with latch closed) is slid underneath the cornrows, the latch opened and hair to be fitted in is put into and closed. The needle is pulled back towards the direction it was initially inserted and the latch re-opened. A knot is made between the portion of the hair pulled by the latch and the remainder of the strands on the opposite side of the cornrow. This goes on until the style in mind is achieved. Voila – nice, straightforward and pretty (I would’ve posted a photo, but that would distract from the main point of this 😀).

Several stylists on different occasions have done a variety of Crochet braids styles for me without much pain, but this incident differed. My stylist this time based on my inference from her talk had only done this style once, so any blunders should be forgiven (I took the risk so 🤷‍♀️). Anyhoo, she diligently made the cornrows more tight than should have been, which caused me some pain when the needle got entangled by some hair strands and we fiddled to get it out. She apologised several times and I had to bear the pain as she struggled to get the needle out. Suddenly, it occurred to me to put some oil around the region and when I did, the needle came out without causing me much pain. The same approach was employed every time we encountered the issue until we were done and my hair was 👌😎. This incident reminded me of the Word of God.

Before Jesus’ emergence, the disciples had to go through whatever life dealt them but the coming of Jesus made the difference. After making some hard statements that led to the withdrawal of some that followed Him, Jesus asked the disciples if they would leave too. The reply:

“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”  John 6:68

See, the now presence of Jesus in their lives and consequently that of God’s Word provided much comfort their way like they never previously experienced. This didn’t mean that they didn’t have issues like the rest of us, but the “words of eternal life” provided soothing and brought much comfort their way, that they were willing to stick with the giver of the words even when what He said seemed quite hard. They had enjoyed the benefit of the soothing, so they didn’t back down on the responsibility of it. The “words of eternal life” was some sort of ‘shock absorber‘ that changed their perspective on some issues, so they weren’t to willing to let it go. Putting some oil on my hair did not stop the entanglement from happening; it just made it easier to handle and reduced pain on my scalp:

Oil on my scalp ==> Comfort;

Jesus’ presence with God’s Word to the disciples ==> Comfort;

The Holy Spirit with the Word of God in the life of the believer ==> Comfort!

A major ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is to provide comfort, as stated by Jesus in our focus Bible text above and He chiefly does that via the Word of God:

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”  John 17:17 KJV

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth...”  John 16:7; 13a KJV

The comfort of the Holy Spirit is vital if we would live the kind of life God wants us to live on earth:

“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)” Romans 8:9 NLT

See, there are consequences of living in a fallen world and many unpleasant things would happen to and around us as we go along with life. However, just as the oil soothed my scalp in the midst of entanglement and pain, the Holy Spirit would soothe us as believers during the many unpleasant things that happen to and around us, till Jesus returns or till our time is up on this side and we move over into the City where Jesus is the Light – home 🏡😍 (Rev 21:23).

So if you need some comfort , pick up your Bible, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to comforting Scriptures that speak to your situation and be comforted 🤗 .

God bless you 😀

© Lydia Ndagilaya for PneumaWord

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