The Holy Spirit Part V Kay Keith Peebles 03/30/2018 18.11
I was overwhelmed with joy and comfort at what I saw the day my father died! I became saved or truly “born again” in 1980, although I had grown up in church faithfully attending weekly my whole life. I was 31 years old at the time Jesus became real to me. It was during a family crisis. I knelt beside my bed and gave my life and my family to the Lord. Immediately the Lord gave me direction, comfort and peace. It was 1985 when I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Once I had become born again, I hungered for every spiritual gift of God that was recorded in the Bible. I wanted any and everything the Holy Spirit supplied because I wanted more of Him.
In 1988 I felt the Lord had shown me that my family: my husband, son, parents and brother were not born again. I grew up in a typical American home back in the 1950’s and 60’s. We attended church every Sunday but I don’t recall gathering together at home for devotions or prayer, and I do not remember seeing a deep faith in God. People in our church, for the most part, were just like us. We participated in church activities but we never changed. In other words, the Holy Spirit was not active in our church lives. We were just religious because we believed God existed but we did not know Him. God was the “Big Guy up there”, somewhere in the distance and we hoped He heard our prayers as we hobbled along through life. After becoming born again, the revelation of the Lord quickened me to pray and fast for my family. I fasted for five days and then He said, “I have heard your prayers and seen your fast, your family shall be saved”. I want to make it very clear that I could not have fasted at all had the Lord not enabled me to. I had never done a spiritual fast before. God is the one who sets us up for success. The Holy Spirit gives the instruction, empowers us by His grace to accomplish it, and then rewards us with the fulfillment of the promise. He does miracles through weak ordinary people who are incapable without His empowerment and direction. What He did for me He will also do for you!
My daughter had become saved a year before me when I was attending Bible Study Fellowship. She spent one year in the children’s class before she started school. Those faithful women who cared for the children led her to the Lord. My husband became born again in 1992 in a dramatic experience with the Lord and my son was saved around the same time.
After becoming born again, I had challenges with my mother because she had certain beliefs which conflicted with the Word of God. I never preached to my family, especially my parents, but my changed life was evident and rubbed others the wrong way. It wasn’t until my father became ill that I saw the Lord working in my parent’s lives. Dad had been sick for a year and was misdiagnosed during that time. In 1994 the doctors finally began checking his heart and scheduled him for an angiogram. I was praying for him that morning some 1,200 miles away and the Lord spoke to me strongly, “He will live and not die”! Within the hour I had a frantic phone call from my mother asking for my advice. Dad had signed a living will but he had a major heart attack during the angiogram and the doctors were recommending open heart surgery. I knew I had my promise from the Lord for both of them to be saved, so I quickly told her to have them do the surgery. The doctors were adamant he would not have lived without it. He was 81 at the time.
Dad survived the surgery and lived two more years. During that time period both mom and dad began to weaken and become more susceptible to illnesses. I flew home many times to help them during my dad’s last year. One day the phone rang and my mother asked me to come help her and dad. They had been diagnosed with pneumonia and she was very tired and depressed trying to nurse them both. As I began to pack my bags the Lord spoke to me, “This is the time for their salvation.” I asked Him what I should do and He replied, “Be a donkey by serving them”. When I arrived, I found the atmosphere in the house was dark, filled with sickness, fear and depression. I cleaned house and opened the blinds so that the light outside could come in. I cooked for them, doctored them, took them to doctor’s appointments and weeded and planted flowers in the garden. I ran errands, bought groceries and made their coffee every day. The morning of day five my mother came into the family room at seven a.m. and sat down beside me on the couch. She said, “I don’t know what you have in your church, but I want it!” I replied to her, “Mom, it’s not my church; I have Jesus in my heart. Would you like for me to pray for Jesus to come into your heart?” She replied, “Yes”. For the first time in her life she felt the peace that passes all understanding! At seven thirty dad came in. My mom quickly said, “Roy, Kay Karen prayed for me and I feel better. Will you let her pray for you?” He said “Yes”, so I prayed the same prayer for dad. The Lord had kept his promise to me. “As for me and my household, we shall serve the LORD. See Joshua 24:15
Four months later we came back home for a visit. The Lord had prepared me that this was the time for daddy to meet Him face to face. I sat on the bed with him and talked about heaven. He knew he was dying and he wanted to finish well. He asked me to do several things for mom he was unable to do. I was to buy a purse mom had needed that he had planned to give to her for her birthday which would be in two months. Otherwise, he was in perfect peace. That last morning we were there I prayed with him and we left to go see friends in the Dallas area before we flew home the next day. Daddy died peacefully in his sleep in at 4 a.m. We rushed back to be with mom and my brother to plan his funeral.
The afternoon of his death we went to the funeral home to see his body. On the way back to the house the devil told me he wasn’t saved and he had him. I felt uneasy and needed the comfort only the Lord could give me. I asked the Lord to confirm to me that daddy had been saved. The Lord had given me faith all those years for this moment but at the reality of his death, I needed the comfort of knowing for sure, the Lord had saved my father. It had been only four months since I had prayed for him and because of his age and illness, there wasn’t the opportunity to see spiritual fruit. It was a cloudy day and it had begun to sprinkle. As I prayed, I looked up into the sky to see a double rainbow! My heart leapt as the revelation went right through me. I felt such joy and comfort. The Lord spoke so clearly to me, “I have put My bow in the sky to confirm My promise!” He had confirmed it doubly sure! What a comfort it was to know my daddy was in heaven with the Lord. There was a time to grieve but at his funeral all I could do was rejoice! We sang his favorite songs, He Touched Me and How Great Thou Art, and I shouted them out in gratitude to the Lord.
The Holy Spirit Part V The Comforter:
When Jesus rose into heaven, He did not leave us comfortless. “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, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-5.
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
“For this is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life.” Psalm 119:50.
Jesus died for our sins. He took the judgment of God upon Himself for our iniquity and the chastisement of our peace He bore so that we might be healed. See Isaiah 53. When He rose from the dead, He sent His Holy Spirit to be not only with us, but in us. His faithfulness us sure. His promises will come to pass. What He says, He will do!
If you have never come to Jesus because you felt your sins were too great for Him to forgive or you can’t forgive yourself, I have good news for you. “Blessed [Forgiven, refreshed by God’s grace] are those who mourn [over their sins and repent], For they shall be comforted [when the burden of sin is lifted].” Matthew 5:4.
If you are born again but you have never experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and missed all the benefits He gives us including peace and comfort, you can begin right now. You can experience His presence just by asking Him to come and fill your innermost being.
If the weariness of life and the challenges that come have overwhelmed you, no matter what stage you are in, your comforter is as close as the words on this page. He desires to comfort you. “How often I wanted to gather your children together [around Me], as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” Matthew 23”37b. May you ask Him to come today and allow Him to hold you and give you true peace and comfort that only comes from Him.
There is no food that can comfort the hurting soul. There are no drugs or alcohol that can soothe our pain or wash our guilt and shame away forever. There is nothing on earth that can take the place of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to us and all we have to do is ask Him to come. There is no love without God. There is no comfort or consolation without Him. Those who are religious have only a head knowledge of the Lord. True faith is tangible. Those who cry out for His Presence and infilling will experience the comfort, peace, love, joy and sweetness of His continual fellowship.
There was a time when I wished I had been alive to see Jesus walking and ministering on the earth. Now, I realize that I can experience His close presence through His Holy Spirit. Jesus left us with everything and more. We haven’t begun to know the fullness of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you], And He, when He comes, will convict the world about [the guilt of] sin [and the need for a Savior], and about righteousness and about judgement: about sin [and the true nature of it], because they do not believe in Me [and My message]; about righteousness [personal integrity and godly character], because I am going to My Father and you will no longer see Me; about judgment [the certainty of it], because the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged and condemned.” John 16:11.
May the Holy Spirit show the world the true nature of sin and draw all men, women and children to repentance. May the Glory of God’s presence be seen and experienced in the earth and may the Lord return for a Bride worthy of His amazing love and sacrifice. Great comfort is available to all who call upon the name of the LORD!
