When we are bashing ourselves, when we are saying we can’t before we have even started, when we feel we can’t do it on our own, then we need to ask for help from one of the strongest weapons in our arsenal: the Holy Spirit. Stopping ourselves from saying these negative comments brings us into alignment with the Holy Spirit. The voice of God through the Holy Spirit comforts us.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law’ (Galatians 5:22-23)
The Holy Spirit can guide our emotions from the fight or flight response so that our intellect can re-engage, and we can discover the means to find the solution to our problems. Just pausing for a moment to consider what we should do rather than just doing something I often find that the answer comes to me in a simple format. The Holy Spirit makes things understandable and can stop fear from overpowering us. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13)
I’ve had a big decision to make regarding work. It involves an entire change of lifestyle including attending a recertification course. I’ve gone back and forth over this for a year. All the steps were falling into place to make the change. It was expensive, then the fees were reduced. The course was to be taught overseas, then it was brought right here to our country.
The answer finally came when discussing it with one of my sons who reminded me that this wasn’t something I wanted to do but rather others telling me it was something I should do. The Holy Spirit is a gentle, kindly voice that can appear in the form of another human being, our own inner voice, or even a strong, deliberate thought that comes to mind as we awake in the morning or are out in nature where it is quiet and still.
Technology can be frustrating even for experts in the field who have developed the programs. Many rockets in the space program never make it up. Most things worth the effort require patience and discipline: two attributes that are characteristics of those living closer to God. When we are working with analytical matters or in any area that doesn’t come easily to us, we can stop and consider that we are not stupid but rather we just need to break down an elephant sized problem into smaller parts and start working on it little by little.
Asking the Holy Spirit to help us breaks the cycle of emotion based in fear and can put us into an emotional headspace where it is easier to learn. The Holy Spirit is like a self-driving car already programmed to take us to the right destination.
-Shira Pacult (a contributing writer and member of the COBI community)
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