You Need Help
by Dr. Robert E. Nix, President
Estimated Time to Read: 5 Minutes
If I were to ask you to name three people in your life whom you could call if you needed help or were facing a difficult situation, I believe you could probably come up with a list fairly easily. Most of us have people in our lives that we can turn to when we are in times of need. Those who would make our call list are no doubt people that we trust, have our best interests in mind, and have made themselves available in the past. While it goes without saying, we don’t like to be put in difficult situations; life can be tough, and it is crucial to have those in our lives who will come alongside us in our time of need.
A Helper Sent by Jesus
As the Lord Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, He told His disciples that after He had gone He would send a Helper to guide them in carrying out His commission. The Helper would abide with and in them, He would teach them and bring to remembrance what the Lord had taught them in His earthly ministry, and He would guide them in all truth (John 14:17,26; 15:26; 16:13). After the Lord’s resurrection, He told the disciples that this Helper (the Holy Spirit) would also empower them to be His witnesses, beginning at Jerusalem and, ultimately, to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
After the arrival of the Helper, the disciples were then empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim that Israel had crucified the One whom the prophets had proclaimed to be the long-awaited Messiah and that God had raised the Lord Jesus from the dead (Acts 2:32-33;36). Israel’s call was to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins as a demonstration of their belief and acceptance of their Messiah (Acts 2:37-40). Knowing the rest of the story, we understand that national Israel would ultimately reject the Lord Jesus, and God would set them aside for a time, raising a new apostle with a new message from the resurrected Lord (Rom. 11:11-15).
Help in an Unprophesied Time
Unlike the nation of Israel in early Acts, we are not called to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, looking for the Lord Jesus to come back and establish His Kingdom (Acts 3:18-21). As a result of Israel’s rejection, we are living in an unprophesied time where God has established the Church, the Body of Christ. That being said, like Israel, we still need help, and now the Holy Spirit indwells each believer upon their accepting the Lord Jesus Christ and His payment for our sins upon the cross. Today our help comes from the Holy Spirit in several different ways.
At the moment of our salvation, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit into the family of God (Eph. 1:13;2:18,19). The Holy Spirit seals and indwells us and is God’s guarantee that we are members of His Body. In Romans 8:16 we are told that “the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Help to Please God
We are told that the Spirit also enables the believer to live a life pleasing to God. While we are living in a body that is perishing, God, Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, will give life to our mortal bodies through the Holy Spirit who dwells in each believer (Rom. 8:12,13). God has given us His Spirit to not only seal us into His family but also to enable us to live a life pleasing to the Lord. Each day we face challenges and difficulties, and God has not left us alone in the battle. Through the Holy Spirit, we have One Who not only comes alongside us but lives in us to empower and help us navigate life’s challenges.
Paul declared to the Galatians to “walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). To “walk” is referring to how we conduct ourselves each day. Are we allowing the Spirit to lead our lives or are we allowing the world and flesh to lead our lives? As we consider what it means to “walk in the Spirit,” I believe the operative word that describes the process of allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and through our lives is surrender.
Surrender is an act of our will whereby we submit to God’s revealed Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we are surrendering to the Lord’s work in our lives through the Spirit, then we will bear the fruit of the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Paul makes it extremely clear what we can expect from surrendering to the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives. Paul declares in Galatians 5:23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Help Provided and Assured
What a joy and comfort it is to know that God has not left us alone to fend for ourselves! He, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, has provided help and strength to live a life pleasing to the Lord, bearing fruit for God’s glory. We will continue to face trials and tribulations in this life, but we can rest assured that we are not alone. God knows that we need help and He has provided that help to us as we choose to surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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