by STEPHANIE WILLIAMS O’BRIEN, for the Evangelical Covenant Church
God helps those who
want God’s help.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not
sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. —HEBREWS 4:15-16, NIV
We have all experienced a time in our lives when we needed help and we didn’t want to admit it. God made us to need each other, He made us to work together in community, to depend on each others gifts and to share our own.
In this text in Hebrews, we are told that Jesus is our high priest, Jesus has empathy for us, and Jesus understands temptation. He can understand what we are going through because He experienced it as well.
Because of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us we can go straight to God with our problems, concerns and our fears. We can approach Him with confidence that He will help us solve the problem and not look down us because we needed help. We need to be willing to choose grace and to ask for help. Asking for help in society is often looked upon as a sign of weakness but we are taught that is is a sign of strength
1. What areas in your life have you turned over to God?
2. Are there areas of your life that you still need to fully surrender to God? Read Hebrews 4:15-16.
Close your time in prayer asking God to help you fully surrender your life to him.
3. What strongholds, or things that hold you back, have come up in your life that you have needed
deliverance from? What strongholds might you struggle with today? Let us pray for deliverance
for each other. When we walk in freedom, we can more fully join God’s kingdom work in the world.