I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you. John 14:16-18
Where do you turn when you’re overwhelmed by inadequacy, exhaustion or fear?
It would be great if we could do what a woman in the New Testament did when she was overwhelmed. Her daughter was severely oppressed by a demon. The Bible book of Matthew tells, “The woman came and knelt before [Jesus] …. ‘Lord, help me!’ she [cried],” (Matthew 15:25). Today, Jesus isn’t physically on earth, but He did send a Helper called the Holy Spirit to work on His behalf.
“I will ask the Father,” Jesus said, “and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you (John 14:15-17 NASB 2020). This was a brand-new way of God interacting with man. Before Jesus, the Holy Spirit would only come upon certain people who had big jobs to do—read the Bible stories of Moses, Aaron, Joshua or Samson. Jesus knew that you and I would need His power to live our lives. Every person who surrenders ownership of their life to Jesus Christ receives that power through the Spirit of God—whose name means the Helper, to come alongside us.
The way we access the power, encouragement, and wisdom that we need has been described like this: “When we pray for the Spirit’s help … we … simply fall down at the Lord’s feet in our weakness. There we will find the victory and power that comes from His love.”[1]
The next time you’re overwhelmed by all that is in this life, ask the Holy Spirit, who lives inside every Jesus-follower, for help.
[1] Murray, Andrew. “The Prayer Life,” Chapter 6. Google Play e-book, Simon & Schuster, Apr. 2013.
