The work of the Spirit is to comfort the believer

The Greek word parakletos is rendered "Comforter" in the King James Version, "Helper" and "Counsellor" in modern English versions. The term denotes the Helper or Counsellor who is always there to give special care in times of need. 

Someone has said that many of us think that the Holy Spirit is like our pituitary gland. You know it's there, you're glad you've got it, and you don't want to lose it, but you're not exactly sure what it does. Well, the Holy Spirit does a lot. For our purposes here, the Holy Spirit is our teacher, reminder, and enabler.

The Karre language of equatorial Africa proved to be difficult for the translators of the New Testament, especially when it came to the word paraclete. How could they describe the Holy Spirit?

One day the translators came across a group of porters going off into the bush carrying bundles on their heads. They noticed that in the line of porters there was always one who didn't carry anything, and they assumed he was the boss, there to make sure that the others did their work. However, they discovered he wasn't the boss; he had a special job. He was there should anyone fall over with exhaustion; he would come and pick up the man's load and carry it for him. This porter was known in the Karre language as "the one who falls down beside us.”

Reuben Archer Torrey, Congregational Minister (1856 – 1928) writes, “If we think of the Holy Spirit only as an impersonal power or influence, then our thought will constantly be, how can I get hold of and use the Holy Spirit; but if we think of Him in the biblical way as a divine Person, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely tender, then our thought will constantly be, 'How can the Holy Spirit get hold of and use me?’”

Prayer

Holy Spirit, as You are the Advocate, so make us advocates. As You hear our cries for mercy, so let us hear the cries of others for mercy. Save us from the misfortune of seeking mercy only for ourselves, while being deaf to others. As you loosened the tongues of the apostles at Pentecost, so grant us today a Pentecost for the unborn, that we may speak for them before the great and the small, before governments and institutions, and before all Your people. Amen.