Another one of the many wonderful definitions of paraklete that’s encouraged my faith in recent times is the word “helper.” I’ve been familiar with that name for the Holy Spirit for years because many of the newer translations of the Scriptures use it. But, just as I did with the word comforter, I’ve seen it in very narrow light. I’ve thought of a helper simply as someone who comes along beside you to give you assistance.
Lately, I’ve discovered it means something much more powerful. It refers to a person called to undertake a public duty. It can even be applied to someone who maintains and trains a team at his own expense to run in an Olympic race.
I love the idea of having my own spiritual Olympic trainer, don’t you?
An Olympic trainer is a specialist. He knows how to instruct, equip, and motivate each individual athlete. He has a strategy for every situation. He understands the solutions to the peculiar problems every one of his team members face, and if they need help in any way, he provides it.
While there are limits to what even the best natural Olympic trainers can do, our Helper is unlimited! If we don’t have the ability to overcome in a situation, He can supply us with boundless supernatural assistance. He can enable us not just to barely get through, but to absolutely triumph!
Consider, for instance, what He did for Bezalel when the Tabernacle of Moses was being built.
Talk about a man who faced a challenge! Bezalel bore the responsibility of taking the plans Moses received from God on Mount Sinai and making them a material reality. He took on the tremendous task of seeing to it that almighty God’s first earthly sanctuary was perfect in every detail.
Most of us can’t even begin to wrap our minds around what that job included. Bezalel had to take a hunk of bronze that weighed 4,522 pounds and carve a door out of it. He had to overlay altars with hammered gold, sculpt cherubim to hover over the ark, weave the fabric for the priests’ garments, and cut stones for the ephod. Nobody on earth had ever seen anything like this Tabernacle before, yet Bezalel had to create everything in it exactly according to the divine plan!
The task seems practically impossible. So how was he was able to do it?
The Lord...filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and wisdom, with intelligence and understanding, and with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, for work in every skilled craft. And God...put in Bezalel’s heart that he may teach...In other words, the Helper came on Bezalel! The Holy Spirit worked through him, looking through his eyes, thinking through his mind, and operating through his hands.
(Ex. 35:30-34, AMP)
Bezalel could have stopped the process at any point. He could have refused the Holy Spirit’s help and said, “This is too hard! I can’t do it!” But he didn’t.
He yielded again and again to the power of the Holy Ghost that had come upon him. He called out for God’s help and taught others to do the same until the Tabernacle was finished and all the work was done.
The Power to Put Jesus On Display
This will be the story of the Church in the last days if we’ll believe God and use our faith for it. Divine history will record about us what it did about Bezalel and his company: “The stuff they had was sufficient to do all the work and more” (Ex. 36:7, Amp.). As end-time believers running the last laps of the race, we’ll do supernatural exploits that outshine even the adventures of Samson and Gideon.
How can I say such a thing?
Because what the Holy Spirit did in the Old Testament pales in comparison with what He accomplished in the New Testament. The greatest, most eternal miracles of all happened when “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38 KJV). And today we’re the ones who carry that anointing. Just as Jesus promised, we have received power because the Holy Ghost has come upon us to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8).
The word witness refers to a “display.” So you might say that as Spirit-filled believers, we have the power of the Holy Ghost to put Jesus on display. The problem is that we haven’t fully known how that power works and what we can do to cooperate with it. That’s why the apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18 that the eyes of our hearts would be flooded with divine revelation about:
- The immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of God’s power at work in and for us who believe (Amp.)
- The erupting greatness of His power in every situation
- (Cling Translation)
- The energy working in every believer immeasurable, unlimited victory, supreme in every way, authority over every ruler and for every situation (Jordan Translation)
“Holy Ghost, take over. Possess me. Clothe me with Your energy. Make me brave. Give me the strength that defies all odds. Supply me with Your divine wisdom, skill, and ability. Anoint my eyes with Your vision. Fill my mind with Your knowledge. Move through my hands to do the very works of God. I yield myself to You!”
Mighty things are ahead, dear friend, because we have the Mighty One within us. Keep yielding to Him and putting Jesus on display.
(Minneapolis: Lynne Hammond Ministries) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”
