Thursday, March 7, 2013

03-07-13 Receiving the Help of Father

John 14:15-17 "If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate 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."

Psalm 121 "I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harmhe will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

Since Jesus is our Great High Priest Who ever lives to make intercession for us (Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:25), He is always talking to the Father about us. In John, He was telling His disciples to keep His commands not for fear of punishment, but because they love Him. Jesus knew what was going to happen, that He wouldn't be with them much longer, so He was comforting them by saying He would ask the Father to send 'another advocate' of Helper or Holy Spirit to help them and be with them forever... and that He was the Spirit of Truth. Nobody at that time knew Holy Spirit, but Jesus said that they knew Him (Jesus was living with them - and He was with Jesus) and that when He was gone, Holy Spirit would indwell (be inside) of them. It's the same today!

We can talk to Jesus, we can talk to Father, and we can talk to Holy Spirit - all three together or one at time (which is actually talking to all three together because they are all together.... yeah... anyway... Talking to Father is like talking to a Good Dad (if you had not-so-good parents then He would be everything good you could think of). He won't hurt us. He wants to help us. Some of us have been abused and don't like to be touched unless we initiate it, but He extends His Hand to us and says, "My child, let Me help you." Then it's up to us to trust His Word regarding Who He says He is. That's a hard one. Especially, if we had parents who were all nice and sweet out and about and then a terror at home. We got mixed signals - it messed with our brains.... our minds... our thoughts. Numbers 23:19 "God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" Guess what? He doesn't lie. So, what do you think He means when He says that He will help us? Well, I think it means that He will help us.

Look at Psalm 121. Now it's up to us to look up.... someone looking down all the time, for one can't see where they're going and two, are basically rejecting help. They're facing the opposite direction. The Psalmist asks 'where does my help come from?' Well, since he's looking up, he sees 'hey, my help comes from the Lord, from God, from Father, from Dad - who, ummmm, just happens to be THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. Yeah, THAT DAD. What does He go on to say? He watches over us all the time. He protects us, so, well maybe that means we don't have to protect ourselves anymore?? Yep. He's got it handled. We do... I have done so much over the year to protect myself from people, places, things... after over 4 decades - I haven't done a very good job. So, right here and right now, I drop anything that I've created to protect myself that hasn't already been dropped - at the foot of the Cross of Jesus (it's a smaller list than it used to be). I don't need to protect myself anymore and I don't want to protect myself anymore. I can see Jesus picking all of it up and throwing it all as far as the East is from the West (He's got quite an arm). Fear is no longer in my vocabulary (except the healthy kind), neither is self-protection.

Just made it kind of personal, didn't I? AND I mean it with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. It really is just as 'easy' and 'hard' as that. "But it means that we'd be that 'v' word, you know.... vulnerable." No, it means we believe that "(Our) Dad watches over (us)—the Lord is (our) shade at (our) right hand; the sun will not harm (us) by day, nor the moon by night. Father will keep (us) from all harmHe will watch over (our lives); (Dad) will watch over (our) coming and going both now and forevermore." HE COVERS US AND PROTECTS US SO THAT WE WILL NEVER BE VULNERABLE AGAIN.

So, receive His help today. You won't regret it.... you just may like it!

God Help Me - Rebecca St. James

No comments:

Post a Comment