Years ago, I was scrambling to get the girls out the door on a typical school morning and realized that my youngest, Stephanie, was missing. I began calling her name. I heard a faint cry upstairs, so I ran to her bedroom. But no Stephanie. The cry grew louder. To my surprise, she was all dressed for school—in her bed—with the covers pulled over her head. “Whatever is wrong?” I asked. Through tears, she told me that she needed a pilgrim costume for school that day. Imagine my dilemma of trying to whip together a pilgrim costume moments from walking out the door for school! Instead of recognizing the help she had available by simply asking, she wallowed alone in her room, with the covers pulled tightly over her head.
Isn’t that a picture of what we so often do with our in-house Helper, the Holy Spirit? How many times have we pulled the covers over our heads, shutting out the help that is always within our reach? How many times have we acted like spiritual orphans, like we have no heavenly Father who loves and cares for us? John 14:18 says, “I will not leave you as orphans—comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless—I will come back to you” (Amplified).
With Jesus’ impending departure, the disciples were naturally worrying about being left alone. Who could blame them? But in Jesus’ great love and care for them, He promises to show up in a new way. This ushered in the new era of the Holy Spirit—our in-house Helper.
Personally, this is one of the most encouraging verses in Scripture. Let it sink in: God did not leave us alone to fend for ourselves. He provided an amazing Helper in the person of the Holy Spirit who will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves—if we let Him. In her book, The Helper, Catherine Marshall said, “Once the truth of this amazing comradeship gets firmly imbedded in our mind and heart, we need never be afraid again, or lonely, or hopeless, or sorrowful, or helplessly inadequate. For the Helper is always with us, and altogether adequate.” Thankfully, we never have to pull the covers over our heads in helplessness and aloneness. There is always Someone standing by to assist us no matter what circumstances we are facing. And without fail. In fact, all the resources of heaven are at our disposal.
Major Ian Thomas of The Torchbearers says this: “There are some people who are trying to live a life they don’t have. They have a car, but no engine, so they go around pushing their car up the hills of their lives trying to make it go, and they get worn out and exhausted in the process. They don’t have an engine under the hood. They don’t have the power; they’re not connected with God, so they can’t go beyond their human limitations to do and be what God wants them to be. But there’s another group of people. These people have a life they haven’t lived. They have an engine in the car and they’re still pushing it.” I continually have to remind myself, especially in those moment of panic, that I have all I need to live an empowered life. God has provided every resource I need through His Spirit. The engine is there. When we let our in-house Helper work in our lives, we no longer have to do the pushing.
When we can’t, He can. When we’re tired, He isn’t, When we’re weak, He’s strong. When we think, “I don’t have the wisdom for this situation, or I don’t know how to love my prodigal, or I can’t take one more round of hard medical news,” He says that’s why you have the in-house Helper. You were never meant to carry it all alone. You were never meant to live as an orphan. I can do it all and give you all you need! In no way is His supply or resources lacking. We house His Spirit in us, and if we allow His Spirit to operate in our lives, we’re going to be more than okay, no matter what comes our way. And He has a supply for us that will never run dry!
Have you been ignoring your in-house Helper? Are living like an orphan? Living like the Holy Spirit never came or could never help you live in impossible places and do impossible things? We are all beggars needing all God has to give us. It is the Holy Spirit who will give it to us. And....we never have to pull the covers over our heads because we are comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, or helpless. Our in-house Helper is here!
