Recently I was doing a devotion with my children using the book of Romans chapter 8. We had a good time discussing the things that come into our lives that we do not understand. Sometimes these very things cause people to lose their faith in God. Oftentimes when faced with difficult circumstances, we Christians find it hard to pray. While studying in Romans chapter 8, we found that the Lord has sent us some help for just these times in our lives. You see ladies, God is concerned about the trials of His people. Come with me and I will share with you the truths that the Word of God has encouraged our hearts with.... We'll begin with verses 26-27 which say:
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."
I think you'd agree with me that the most difficult part of our trials is that we do not know what is going on! We find that as human beings we are unable to know exactly what the Lord is doing in our lives. Quite often man is ignorant of God's will. But should our ignorance of God's plan cause us to faint? Should it bring an end to our prayer life? Of course not, for we have found in the verses above that God has sent us some help. He has lovingly sent us His Holy Spirit to help us with our weaknesses and sufferings. Isn't it a blessing and a great comfort when you have someone who is both on your side and by your side to accompany you through a difficult time? That's the Holy Spirit - He is FOR US the Bible says, not against us! The Holy Spirit groans with us and feels the burdens we feel. He has come to share them and guide us through them. He has come to teach us how to pray, and at times to even take over praying for us during the very darkest hour. Are you willing to let your personality be taken over by another, even if that other be the Spirit of God Himself?? Scripture tells us He is FOR THE SAINTS... Therefore, as believers we need not faint, we need not stop praying - we only need to accept the help that the Lord has given us! Are you good at accepting help dear lady? How about God's help? Or are you of the opinion that you need no helper and usually prefer to go through your hard times alone? If the Spirit takes charge of your life, He will expect unquestioning obedience in everything...
Hebrews 13:6, "So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper...."
Do not be too proud or ashamed to accept God's help! We should be able to boldly say that God is our helper! Oh, it's one thing to mouth those words, but quite another to emphatically mean it, amen? Certainly we should want others to know that the Lord can be their helper too... You see ladies, if the Holy Spirit is indwelling a man or woman, no matter how sweet, how beautiful, how Christlike they are, the lasting thought you go away with is - what a wonderful being the Lord Jesus Christ is, amen? Are you leaving others with that impression of the Lord through accepting His help in your life? Do you ever remember offering your help to another person only to have it rejected? How did it make you feel when you had their good in mind and were turned away? Unwanted, perhaps? I wonder how unwanted the Holy Spirit feels when He is rejected by us for the very purpose God has sent Him here to fulfill.... How it must grieve Him to be pushed aside over and over again when He is FOR US... This is the work the Holy Spirit has been assigned to, this is the work that He is willing to carry out in our lives. May we all strive to humbly accept the help that God has graciously given His people to succeed in this life, amen?
Ephes. 4:30, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
Ladies, with such Divine help close by, we CAN go through our trials with confidence rather than with anxiety, even though we may not understand our circumstances or know the outcome. Why do I say that? Because the Spirit searches our hearts. He knows precisely where we are at. He knows where we think right and where we think wrong. He knows why we pray what we pray - our very motives in calling upon the Lord! He knows if we are praying sincerely or selfishly. He also knows the will of God... Though He is aware of the huge gap between our thinking and the will of God, yet He remains FOR US! As a matter of fact, in our ignorance, many times we are tempted to interpret all our difficulties as if they were a signal of God's displeasure or lack of love for us. Such thinking is just not true and hinders our prayer lives greatly, amen? We end up in a spiritual rut, not knowing how or what to pray for as we ought. It is because we do not know the will of God that this is so.... Yet the Holy Spirit bridges the gap between our thinking and God's thinking and makes sweet intercession FOR US. This is exactly the kind of helper we need, amen? You see, it is the will of God that needs to be accomplished in our lives, not our will! The Holy Spirit will take the direction of your life away from you and guide you straight into God's will, and straight into the understanding that verse 28 of Romans 8 affords us:
"And we know that all things work together FOR GOOD to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose."
Understand that there are two purposes in every trial we go through... One purpose is for our good, and the other purpose is for God's glory. The Spirit knows and understands both of these purposes. He brings the two purposes together and helps us to realize that the things that we go through are good - not evil! What a true Helper He is to both God and us! This is where our confidence should begin. This is when we should come to realize that God is with us in our trials and still loves us. How can we be discouraged when we realize that God is using us to bring glory to His name?! God does not have some secret, harmful plan He has been keeping from us - that's just a lie from the pits of hell. Instead of fretting and worrying about "what God is up to", why not accept the beloved Helper He has given you in the person of the Holy Spirit, and find out once and for all exactly who He is:
1) He is FOR US as individuals
2) He is FOR THE SAINTS collectively
3) He is FOR OUR GOOD continually
Ladies, we can find rest in knowing this truth in all our trials! All things WILL work together for good. To whom? To those who love God... Do you love God today? I know it's a question we would all hastily answer 'yes' to, but think long and hard about it before you respond. If you and I truly loved God, we would not be against His working in our lives. Instead, we would lovingly accept His calling to bring glory to His name through our difficulties. Every time we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit," we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it - but have you let Him?? Remember, God is not out to hurt us, He is at work to lovingly conform us to the image and likeness of His Son as verse 29 points out:
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son...."
Is there a strong family likeness to Christ in your life dear lady? Our trials are the very processes by which God seeks to change His people! With the Holy Spirit's help, when you and I come to understand that God has not stopped loving us in our sufferings, we will then begin to accept the molding and shaping He desires to bring about in our lives. Then it is we'll start praying wisely during our trials! We will pray as we ought to - "Lord, help me to be like Jesus, help me to react in a Christlike manner to this situation and bring glory to your name. Thank you for bringing this trial into my life. Teach me how to accept your help and do right."
Guess what happens next ladies? We will have become conquerors! You see, the Holy Spirit does not obliterate a man's personality; he lifts it to its highest use! That is the good that comes from all things working together in our lives... Trials take on a new meaning, there's more that takes place than meets the eye... It's what meets our hearts that is the best, for then we'll view those hard to understand circumstances as God's goodness TO us, and then others will be able to view them as God's goodness THROUGH us! Glory!!
Romans 8:37, "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
Before we close, in what situations do you need God's conquering power today? In what ways have you been pushing away the Holy Spirit's help? It's not that you haven't had any help dear lady - it's that you've had as much as you wanted! Only you know how much that is - or how little... Whatever your situation is, you're going to need to accept the Holy Spirit's help! Only He can cause the saint to sing through every night of sorrow... Next you're going to need to commit your difficult circumstances to the Lord. Trust God to work them out as HE sees fit, there is no need to fear... Let's gain courage from this chapter. Let's remind ourselves that each new day God is FOR US, FOR THE SAINTS, and FOR OUR GOOD! The only thing left to say is AMEN...
Verse 31 says, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
