Life 101: The holy spirit

In the Bible the word Christ uses to describe the Holy Spirit in the older English translations is ‘Comforter’, though in modern translations it is more often rendered ‘Counsellor’. It is the English translation of the Greek word Paraklete. The English word ‘comfort’ has changed its meaning through the centuries, and so many generations of English people have grown up falsely to see the Holy Spirit as the One who comforts us when we are experiencing trouble rather than the One who strengthens us in conflict with ‘the world, the flesh and the devil’. The principal role of the Holy Spirit is to strengthen us for action not so much to support us when things are not going well, although He does that also.