There’s an expression that drives me nuts: ‘God helps those who help themselves.’

(No, it’s not from the Bible.)

Even though it’s true that God helps those who help themselves, he doesn’t ONLY help those who help themselves. He also helps the down and out and those who are chasing their tails.

In Romans 8:26 and 27 Paul writes, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans… the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

God helps us “in our weakness.” Even when we don’t know “what we ought to pray for” the Holy Spirit continues to intercede “for us through wordless groans.” And he does so in a way that honours his own will!

Talk about a loving and understanding God! He advocates for you—even when you’re a bumbling mess who is too exhausted or hurting to think straight.

In his book The End of Me, Kyle Idleman says, “God is always strong, but in our weakness that strength goes viral.”*

In and through our weakness, when our masks are removed, and when our guards are down, and when the illusion of our own self-sufficiency is shattered into a thousand pieces, God continues to work.

Take the pressure out of your prayers. Be honest. And ask for the Spirit to help you, even when you can’t stammer a single sentence together.

Our lives are built not on what we can do, but on what God can do.

“God is always strong, but in our weakness that strength goes viral.”

By Matthew Ruttan

–This devotional is connected to my most recent sermon: “The problem with religion.” You can watch or listen here.
–As quoted in: Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins (David C Cook: Colorado Springs, 2015), 184.
–Bible quotes are from the NIV.