Receiving present help for present troubles
By Taiwo Akinola
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee ~ Isaiah 41:10a.
Introduction:
Life is a journey, excellence is the target. However, until you receive supernatural assistance, people are bound to see your sweat. Why? The universe is too complex for any human being to exist here without supernatural help.
Man’s search for supernatural help always begins at the point where he realizes that he is faced with a resistance beyond his power, and that his needs are beyond his human capabilities. Happily, this is also at this point that we become most qualified to receive divine assistance.
Troubles do come in varying shapes and sizes. They could take spiritual, social, emotional or even relational forms to which we have no answers. Examples of these are: worrisome sinful habits, marital issues, political uncertainties, financial predicaments, health challenges, mental harassments, and so on.
Troubles could also come in the deeper form of yearnings of destiny, a strong soul’s cry for fulfillment. Such yearnings bare out their fangs in the form of a nagging quest to generate more impact and more significance upon the earth.
Meanwhile, underpinning all these problems is the reality that from the day you were born till the day you die, there is a subtle conspiracy to keep you in a box. From womb to tomb, you daily encounter one box or the other. The world wants you to “settle down”, but God wants to take you from one dimension of glory to a higher one.
Even though our souls reach for greater heights, yet our efforts to help ourselves out of our troubles woefully fail us, and our best of wits and wisdom proves to be unreliable. Hence, we become restless and unhappy, and within the borders of our reasoning are still no clues to tackle the situations.
These inner hungers persist and everything at our disposal fails to satisfy them. But, that is the moment, when we begin to cry out for the help of God. And, that is the very moment in which we are most qualified for the help of God. A moment of mercy in which God transforms our tests and trials to testimonies!
Friends, you can still overcome the limitations that others have learnt to accept. However, you need to discover, first of all, the higher place that God has prepared for you, learning how to “lift up your eyes from the place where you are” and embracing the intangible supernatural force of the Holy Spirit (Genesis 13:14). Then, suddenly, help comes for you from the Lord!
Elements of Strange Help On Our Journeys of Destiny
Troubles can sometimes assume the shapes of a solid reality, but most times, unknown to us, they come as accessories to the development of our destinies. Hard fact? Ask King David, he certainly has more to tell you (Psalms 3:2; 121:1-8).
Moreover, the burdens of life can be too enormous and, sometimes, too numerous to bear alone: you definitely need a Helper to lend you a hand of succor. And, at such moments of anxiety, worrying and panicking are not useful options, but humbly casting our cares upon the Lord (1 Peter 5:6-7).
We must humbly look up unto the Lord Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2). He is our faithful Covenant Friend and Helper today (Isaiah 53:4-5; Hebrews 2:14).
One of the central characteristics of humility is that it makes us to know the limits of our strength. And, with this, we become enabled to recognize the One who can help us, to let Him handle our cares.
Jesus Christ Our Ebenezer Stone of Help
Bible is replete with exceeding great and precious promises. Some of these promises are coded and require spiritual eyes to reveal them, and some others are just plain and simple to personalize.
One of those coded promises can be found in 1 Samuel 7:22, where God is revealed as our “Ebenezer”; being interpreted, “the Lord Our Helper”. Thus, the apostle Paul was simply echoing what Prophet Samuel had said centuries back when, in Hebrews 13:6, he declared, “… The Lord is my helper …”.
Ebenezer! Inside that name is a mighty revelation of the promise of God to help His people unto the utmost bounds. And once we come into this full assurance of faith, we do not have to worry or fear what any man can do to us (Isaiah 54:15).
King Asa was once overwhelmed by the enemies, but he had a revelation of the helping Hand of God. With this, he invoked the help of God and, immediately, the battle was taken to another frontier, from the man-dimension to God-dimension: “So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa ….” (2 Chronicles 14:10-14).
Jesus Christ is our Ebenezer Stone of Help, today (1Corinthians 10:4). Very certainly, He is our Super-Advocate (John 16:7; 1John 2:1). Indeed, He is everything to the believers today through the ministry of the Holy Spirit: our Worthy Companion, our Noble Counselor, our Abiding Joy, and our Very Present Wonder.
However, it is very important to highlight the fact that it is men that God commonly uses to bring help our way (Romans 16:3-10; Mark 2:1-12).
For example, it was men, with their different abilities, that God used to make David great: “For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host like the host of God.” (1 Chronicles 12:22).
You cannot accomplish everything you desire by your own intelligence alone, you require the services of other people to fulfill destiny. And, you don’t need to know everyone in life; all you need to know is someone that knows someone who will be a blessing to you (Ezra 6:14).
In conclusion, friends, you must have God as your greatest connection, no matter where you’re coming from. It was God that connected Elijah with the widow of Zarephath, and if not for Barnabas, Paul’s ministry would have suffered some foul smell of rejection (Acts 9:26-27).
No matter how intelligent you are, you’re still limited in some areas. Hence, some of the best things that ever happened to you happened because God gave you some necessary connections (Exodus 2, 18:13; Hebrews 11:25).
God is our Very Present Helper (Hebrews 13:6). He can arrange men, situations and circumstances to work in your favour. And, He can even use non-human channels to bring us what we require.
It was the raven bird that brought bread and meat for Elijah. To Prophet Balaam, it was a speaking ass that saved him from the sword of death. Albeit, your implicit trust must remain firm in God, and as you trust Him, He will show up as your Ebenezer, and decorate your life with victories, in Jesus Name. Amen.
One of those coded promises can be found in 1 Samuel 7:22, where God is revealed as our “Ebenezer”; being interpreted, “the Lord Our Helper”. Thus, the apostle Paul was simply echoing what Prophet Samuel had said centuries back when, in Hebrews 13:6, he declared, “… The Lord is my helper …”.
Ebenezer! Inside that name is a mighty revelation of the promise of God to help His people unto the utmost bounds. And once we come into this full assurance of faith, we do not have to worry or fear what any man can do to us (Isaiah 54:15).
King Asa was once overwhelmed by the enemies, but he had a revelation of the helping Hand of God. With this, he invoked the help of God and, immediately, the battle was taken to another frontier, from the man-dimension to God-dimension: “So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa ….” (2 Chronicles 14:10-14).
Jesus Christ is our Ebenezer Stone of Help, today (1Corinthians 10:4). Very certainly, He is our Super-Advocate (John 16:7; 1John 2:1). Indeed, He is everything to the believers today through the ministry of the Holy Spirit: our Worthy Companion, our Noble Counselor, our Abiding Joy, and our Very Present Wonder.
However, it is very important to highlight the fact that it is men that God commonly uses to bring help our way (Romans 16:3-10; Mark 2:1-12).
For example, it was men, with their different abilities, that God used to make David great: “For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host like the host of God.” (1 Chronicles 12:22).
You cannot accomplish everything you desire by your own intelligence alone, you require the services of other people to fulfill destiny. And, you don’t need to know everyone in life; all you need to know is someone that knows someone who will be a blessing to you (Ezra 6:14).
In conclusion, friends, you must have God as your greatest connection, no matter where you’re coming from. It was God that connected Elijah with the widow of Zarephath, and if not for Barnabas, Paul’s ministry would have suffered some foul smell of rejection (Acts 9:26-27).
No matter how intelligent you are, you’re still limited in some areas. Hence, some of the best things that ever happened to you happened because God gave you some necessary connections (Exodus 2, 18:13; Hebrews 11:25).
God is our Very Present Helper (Hebrews 13:6). He can arrange men, situations and circumstances to work in your favour. And, He can even use non-human channels to bring us what we require.
It was the raven bird that brought bread and meat for Elijah. To Prophet Balaam, it was a speaking ass that saved him from the sword of death. Albeit, your implicit trust must remain firm in God, and as you trust Him, He will show up as your Ebenezer, and decorate your life with victories, in Jesus Name. Amen.
Bishop Taiwo Akinola is the Presiding Bishop of the Rhema Christian Church and Towers, Sango Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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