http://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions/our-help-in-weakness?firstItem=e77a4ffd-9d56-4467-b1ca-4e2e1f67d00e
Today’s scripture reading:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world
cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him.
But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
John 14:16-17 (NLT)
Today’s
devotional:
Following the Last
Supper, Jesus took time to teach the disciples more about His mission and what
would happen after He left the earth. He knew their darkest times lay ahead.
They would experience despair at the death of their beloved Teacher, great joy at
His resurrection, and sorrow at His departure. He was also aware that bearing
witness to His life would challenge their faith. So, in John 14:16-31,
He promised a Helper who would stand alongside them in the coming trials.
We often face life
with a stiff upper lip, trusting our own ingenuity and skills to get us
through. In choosing to follow the Lord, however, we agree to adopt a totally
different mindset: We’re weaker than we could have imagined, but through the
Holy Spirit, we are stronger than we dared to hope.
Whether our struggle
is spiritual, emotional, or physical, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to help
us. Paul gives us an example of what this looks like. When dealing with pain
from a physical condition, the apostle prayed that the Lord would take away
what he referred to as a “thorn in the flesh.” Instead, God said His power
would be “perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Too many Christians
operate under the misconception that God helps us only when we have gone as far
as we can go. In reality, His Spirit doesn’t add to our strength, like some
kind of spiritual steroid. Instead, when we admit we are powerless to help
ourselves, the Holy Spirit gives us the strength we need to face any challenge
with absolute confidence in God.
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