We are living in the final hour of the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and He is working on Earth like never before. He came to live in Spirit-filled children of God and to perform all the duties Jesus ordained Him to perform. He yearns to work in and through every vessel who will yield to Him.

Shortly before Jesus finished fulfilling the plan of redemption and ascended back to Heaven, He gave His followers special instructions in John, chapters 14-16, about the person of the Holy Ghost and the duties He is to perform for them and through them. What those duties are is the topic of this message.

The Comforter

One of the Spirit’s greatest duties is being a comforter. Jesus said, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever (John 14:16). You will face many disappointments, sorrows, tribulations and persecutions on this difficult journey through life. Calamity can strike without warning, and you could even lose a loved one in death. That is why you must have the great Comforter to help you in those times of distress, and He will abide with you forever.

The Apostle Paul received a great revelation of the comfort the Holy Spirit gives us. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26).

There are times when the burdens of this life are so great and the trials so fiery that your human mind becomes clouded, tired and disoriented; and it can’t think straight. You don’t know what to pray for or even how to pray, but the Holy Ghost is there to raise up a standard and make intercession for you. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him (Isaiah 59:19).

The Holy Ghost produces the nine spiritual fruits in your mind to comfort and bless you and others. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22,23). But these fruits cannot be produced with any regularity unless you take on the mind of Christ, which the Bible says you can have. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5).

The Divine Guide

Life is filled with twists and turns, so the Holy Ghost is to be your guide. The devil sets traps and creates pitfalls along the way to try to ensnare your soul, but the person of the Holy Ghost will lead you through every valley and over every mountaintop. He will give you the divine wisdom you need to make important decisions as long as you look to Him.

When you don’t know what to do or say in certain situations, stop and consider what Jesus would do. If you are sincere, the Holy Ghost will let you know. Jesus said, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come (John 16:13).

The Spirit of truth guides you through the Word of truth, so He will never lead you astray; but He will lead you away from the many false prophets and false doctrines of this last hour. Jesus warned about this more than once. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matthew 7:15). For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24).

There will be times when the Spirit will guide you on a path that you may not understand, but you must trust His guidance and yield to His leadership. The Bible says, Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths [through the person of the Holy Ghost] (Proverbs 3:5,6).

At other times, the Holy Ghost will show you things to come in order to encourage you or prepare you for what lies ahead on your divine mission. That is what happened to the Apostle Paul as he made his way to Jerusalem for the last time. And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me (Acts 20:22,23).

A Teacher from On High

The Holy Ghost is to be your teacher, and He will teach those He dwells in. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John 14:26).

It is so important for a child of God to be a student of God’s Word because the more you study and know God’s Word, the more material the Holy Ghost will be able to use to instruct you in the ways of divinity. The Holy Ghost is the teacher; you are the student, and the Word of God is your textbook.

Paul said, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (I Corinthians 2:12-14). The Word is spiritual, so it can only be spiritually discerned.

As you study the Word with your teacher, the Holy Ghost, He will open your understanding of scriptures that you may have struggled with in the past. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15). The more you study and memorize scriptures, the greater opportunity the Holy Ghost has to bring those scriptures to your remembrance that will bless you, strengthen you and comfort you in your time of need.

You Can Know Jesus

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me (John 15:26). The Holy Ghost was sent to testify of Jesus, and that means to bear witness or to make a statement based on personal knowledge.

We are to be like Jesus, but it is impossible to know or be like someone you have never met; and that is why you need the Holy Ghost. Jesus lived on Earth 2000 years ago, but the same Holy Ghost who lives in us lived in Him. The Spirit has also lived with Jesus in Heaven for many ages, so He knows all about Jesus.

Now, if you do not have reality in the divine Teacher, how can you have reality in Jesus? He said, Learn of me (Matthew 11:29). You can only learn Jesus by taking your place at the feet of your teacher, the Holy Ghost, and letting Him guide you into the living reality of Jesus.

Be a Student of the Holy Ghost

Child of God, there is a price to pay to be a student of the Holy Ghost that goes far beyond letting Him take over your tongue and speak through you. You must yield your mind to Him and take on the mind of Christ. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind (I Peter 4:1).

You must yield your time to Him in prayers, meditations and the study of God’s Word. You will have to sacrifice time you spend with entertainments, family, friends and doing what you want to do. Only then will you be able to yield your will to the Spirit and take on the divine will of God for your life.

On occasion, you must sacrifice your food to the Holy Ghost in Bible fasting. Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). Job knew about fasting before Jesus ever arrived on Earth. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:12).

Many churches and those who claim to be Christians have failed because they have not been willing to pay the price in prayer, fasting and living in the Word. They have quenched the person of the Holy Ghost, and they have no reality in Jesus or in His power working in their midst. They have no signs, wonders, miracles or healings in their churches; and they are satisfied with that.

Many who call themselves Christians don’t even have the real born-again experience let alone the true baptism of the Holy Ghost; therefore, they worship a Jesus made up of their own ideas, theories and opinions. They do not worship the Christ of truth but a Christ who compliments and conforms to their natural, carnal minds. As a result, all they have is a form of godliness without any power. Paul told of such people when he said, Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (II Timothy 3:5).

The Holy Ghost Taught Paul

Only the Holy Ghost can give you the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus you need. That is why Jesus told the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith (Revelation 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22). Jesus also said, He [the Holy Spirit] shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (John 16:14).

The Bible states that children of God are joint-heirs with Jesus. That means all the heavenly Father has willed to Jesus is also willed to the children of God, and the Holy Ghost is the one who reveals that divine heritage to them. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16,17). We are made joint-heirs through Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary.

To illustrate the wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Ghost and His effectiveness as a teacher, you need to study the Apostle Paul, a man who wrote approximately two-thirds of the New Testament under the leadership of the Holy Ghost. The twelve disciples who were with Jesus day after day during His earthly ministry learned much from Him; but none of them knew Jesus and the ways of divinity like the Apostle Paul did, a man who never saw Jesus in the flesh.

When Jesus was here, the disciples knew Him as the Son of man; but Paul learned Jesus as the Son of God through the Holy Ghost because he had separated himself into the desert to be taught by the Holy Ghost. But when it pleased God, who separated me [Paul] from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days (Galatians 1:15-18).

Let the Holy Ghost Teach You

To attend a university today, a person must pay a high price for tuition and then make many sacrifices to study and learn. If sinners can make such sacrifices for an earthly education, how much more should children of God be willing to sacrifice for a special spiritual education?

In this final hour, the Lord is giving every bridal company member an invitation to enroll in the school of the Holy Ghost and be taught the greatness of Jesus by the greatest of all teachers. Do you qualify for enrollment? Are you born again and living free from sin? Are you baptized in the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance according to Acts 2:4? Have you taken on the mind of Christ so the Holy Ghost will have a proper mind to work with? Are you willing to make the necessary sacrifices to attend this school?

Paul said, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded (Philippians 3:14,15). You must be willing to lay aside anyone or anything that would keep you from answering the high calling of God for your life.

It is the responsibility of the student to respond when the teacher calls class to order; and as a student of the Holy Ghost, you must come to order in His presence when He calls so you can be taught, blessed, edified and endowed with more power from On High. You must come into the reality of the person of the Holy Ghost and yield yourself completely to Him. You must be willing to sacrifice whatever is needed to become a greater blessing to the Kingdom of God.

Jesus said, He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it (Matthew 10:39). Paul said, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1).

Receive the Holy Ghost

There are so many benefits to having the person of the Holy Ghost living within you, and there is so much He wants to do for you; so you must receive Him. First, you must give your heart to the Lord, and you can do that by saying the sinner’s prayer found on page 5 of this magazine.

Now, I am going to call down the anointing to receive the Holy Ghost upon you. Then get off to yourself and start praising the Lord with your whole heart in your language until the Holy Ghost takes over. If you yield, the Holy Ghost will come in and use your tongue to speak through you in another language. That will be the beginning of His great work in your life.

Lord, in the name of Jesus, I call down the Holy Ghost upon the people. Receive ye the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus! Receive ye the Holy Ghost in the holy, blood name of Jesus! Friend, keep praising the Lord and don’t stop until the Holy Ghost comes in.