The Holy Spirit helps us. Is it crazy to think of God’s Spirit helping us? In case the word “helper” seems a little disrespectful to you, let me put you at ease. When Jesus comforted his disciples in preparation for his death, he told them, “ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate (parakletos) to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17 addition mine).
Jesus promised a parakletos, a helper. Isn’t that just like Jesus? He promised his disciples they would not be alone ever again. He knew how hard it would be. But this is the heart of our God. He knows how fragile we are and how much we need him to help us live on this side of heaven. The Helper assists us in many ways, and those ways are what our reading plan is about this month. He helps us in prayer, discernment, comfort, and encouragement. The Holy Spirit also empowers us when we need strength or wisdom, and He makes us Holy–He helps transform us from the inside out. Many people live their whole life without the Spirit. They never incorporate Him into their faith, but my friends, we desperately need His help. The Holy Spirit is a part of the Trinity many of us ignore. But if we want to grow in our faith walk, if we want to change, if we don’t want to miss one iota the Lord has for us, we’ve got to awake to the Helper God’s given us.
Holy Spirit Helps Us Pray
Many times I have found myself listening to a worried friend who needs advice, but I don’t have answers. I ask, “Can I pray for you, right now?” I’ve never had someone refuse prayer, but almost every time this happens, I find myself asking for Holy Spirit to show me how to pray into that situation–usually under my breath. We grab hands, I take a deep breath, and I wait a few seconds for the words. The Holy Spirit helps me pray.
One Sunday at the end of the service a friend came forward for prayer. She to pray for her daughter who had come home from college completely changed and physically sick. I prayed for Holy Spirit to lead me, and I prayed for her daughter to come back to her faith. When I finished praying, the mother said, “Oh no, she is still a believer!”
I felt I’d failed. I felt silly. Did I not hear God? Was I projecting my experience with my children when they were in college? You know how you question yourself when it seems you missed it? But. I hadn’t. Only a few weeks later it became clear this daughter’s faith was not the same. She no longer attended church and wanted nothing of Christianity. The Holy Spirit had led me. He did help me pray. I love Romans 8:26:
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Romans 8:26-27 NIV
The Spirit intercedes for you and me 24/7. Somebody say, “Hallelujah!”
The Spirit Helps us with discernment
Just as the Spirit helps us pray–and pray the will of the Father, He gives us great discernment. This means He gives us the ability to understand and judge things clearly. A discerning person may notice nuances others miss. They have great wisdom. I don’t know about you, but I could grow in this department. If the Holy Spirit will help me discern the best plan of action when nothing is going as planned, I want to be open to His help. If I face a difficult choice, I want His wisdom.
We desperately need great discernment living in the age of social media. Amen? How many reels or YouTube videos do you watch a week with someone giving their “expert” opinion. It’s crazy. We must live very discerning lives.
Empowering strength and ability
I am so thankful the Spirit helps me pray and discern situations, but one of my favorite things the Spirit does is strengthen my heart when it needs it. When I feel like I can’t go one more day in a difficult season, all I have to do is ask for His strength. When I do, I often experience energy to go for a walk or the desire turn on worship music. He whispers, “I am faithful.” This has been a mantra of His in my heart for years now. Whenever I’ve been discouraged, I hear these comforting words.
I know the difficult situations I walk through are nothing like what the apostles experienced after Jesus’s death and resurrection. They needed the Spirit to empower them through persecution. The Blue Letter Bible included this in the definition for parakletos: “. . . of the Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles (after his ascension to the Father), to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the gospel truth, and give them divine strength needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the divine kingdom.”
The Spirit gives divine strength. No matter what we face: persecution, devastating disease, or grief, His Spirit will always be with us and help us through. The situation may not change, but we will.
The spirit encourages and comforts
When going through extremely difficult situations, the Holy Spirit encourages and comforts. Have you experienced His comfort? If you haven’t, I pray you will! It is the most amazing thing. One dark night I had tucked my kids into bed, the house still and quiet. As I climbed into bed, an ache filled my soul. I missed my deployed soldier. A tear rolled down my cheek, and I prayed, “Lord, you are my everything. You are my source, but I can’t feel your arms like I can Mike’s. I just miss him.” I rolled over toward the empty side of my bed, and that’s when I felt tangible comfort. In the darkness invisible arms wrapped around me. That night, I believe I fell asleep in the arms of God.
His comfort and encouragement rarely comes to me that way, but it always comes when I need it. Sometimes He comforts me through a phone call from a friend or a text. Other times scripture brings comfort. Have you opened up the Word and let Him lead you to the verse you need that day? That’s the Spirit, my friends. He knows what we need and exactly when we need it!
He makes us holy
Most of all, we need the Holy Spirit to make us holy. We can get so focused on the other ways He helps us, we forget the most important role of all–His sanctifying work. Jesus loves us too much to let us stay the way He found us.
And we all, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Thess. 2:13 NIV
Ever. Increasing. Glory! We are being transformed by His Spirit. When we said yes to Jesus, repented of our pride and selfish ways, He moved into our hearts. But He doesn’t move in and just rearrange the furniture or give the walls a new color, He changes our hearts a little bit each day–if you want Him to. Oh my friends, I pray you want Him to sanctify you too. The fruit of the Spirit is so, so good. His fruit is lifegiving to all around us as well as our hearts. Love, joy, peace, kindness, and goodness overflow from a Holy Spirit enabled life. He is our enabler in every good way. It just takes faith and prayer for Him to have His way.
Join us this month
Grab the Bible reading plan on Holy Spirit as Helper and read each day with us. I’ll be unpacking one of the scriptures on Instagram on Fridays at 9:00 AM ET. Hope you can join us! Let’s be Instagram family! I’m @wordsbyandylee. Can I pray? Hold my hands.
“Holy Spirit, we’re so thankful for you. Thank you for helping us! We desperately need you to help us pray. We need your discernment and empowerment. Lord, we need your encouragement during those hard days. You are so faithful. Please forgive us when we forget to submit to you and let you change us from the inside out. Divine Helper, make us holy! That’s really what’s most important. We love you. Amen. “
For More Info on the Holy Spirit (My article on Christianity.com)
