You Need Help!

Happy Sunday!

"You Need Help!"  Yes, that's what Bishop Alexis Thomas preached about this morning. You need help!  I admit I do too.  We've been trying to do it on our own since preschool. Don't you remember learning to tie your shoes and really messing up.  But you ran to your mother or father and exclaimed, "I did it all by myself!"  We really want to believe that we don't need any help.  But God says you can't even pray without help from the Holy Spirit!  Read it for yourself. 

 Romans 8:5-8, 8:26 - Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.

 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before our God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Message Translation)

God never intended for us to try to live right on our own.  He provided assistance.  He sent the Spirit to strengthen, encourage, and teach us.  Even the Apostle Paul credited with writing two thirds of the New Testament admitted in Romans 7:7-20,  But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?


Whatever you need help with today, there's good news.  God sent his Spirit to help you. Maybe you need help loving your enemies, forgiving a family member, changing for the better.  Maybe you need motivation to move forward, help overcoming fear, maybe you just need help praying.  All you have to do is ask.  James 1:5-8, If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

Have a wonderful week!

Love Cynthia