Helper

Sunday morning retuning: So I bet it will be a while before anyone who heard Pastor Paul’s message Sunday will call shotgun?  We are called to serve others, in part by preferring them and giving them the places of honor.  We are called to value people over position.  If we claim to live in Christ, we must walk as Jesus walked.  To dig deeper click here.

The last few weeks we have been singing/praying Holy Spirit, a powerful,modern hymn that allows our souls to voice the desire to be filled and under the control or influence of the person of the Holy Spirit.  As is often the case in my walk, God is bringing several different streams together to teach me a larger principle.  I am slow, so I appreciate the force of the convergence of these multiple influences into one lesson.

Last week I challenged you to consider the words of Jesus in John 14:12 where He told us we would do even greater things than He was doing.  I have wrestled with this for some time, but I am beginning to come to terms with it.  I am empowered to do so by the next thing that Jesus taught.

After promising that He will do whatever we ask in His name, He actually says it twice in slightly different ways in 14:13-14, He reminds that if we love Him we will obey His commands.  We are only able to do that, and the greater things He has in store for us because of the next promise He makes in 14:16-17, our Helper [or Advocate or Counselor] the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit.

Now that is some good news!  I mean come on, first Jesus tells us that going to do greater things than he was doing, and if that wasn't enough he lay down the gauntlet of saying if we obey him we will obey his commands.  I have walked with Jesus for several years now, and of all the things I am confident of this is certainly one of them. I cannot follow his commands in my own strength. I just cannot do it.

Living that reality helps me to sing that line from All I Have Is Christ we sang on Sunday with even greater conviction and confidence.  "Now Lord I would be yours alone and live so all might see the strength to follow your commands could never come from me."  That strength comes from the Holy Spirit, and Him alone.  He is a good Helper, for without Him we would have no hope of living in a way that testifies constantly of the grace of our God.

So what does this mean for us today? 

It means that before our feet hit the floor in the morning, we need to remind ourselves how great our need for this Helper truly is, how desperate we are for Him to fill us that we might be useful to our Father.  Then we need to keep asking Him to continue to fill us throughout the rest of our days.  Only then are we able to sing the next line, our prayer.

O Father use this ransomed life in any way You choose, and let my song forever be my only boast is You.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy