“Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
(Isa. 41:10, NKJV)
When I came into my current ministry role as director of Foursquare’s Center for Spiritual Renewal—East, the Lord laid a vision on my heart: I have a dream of a ministry culture where “Help!” no longer feels like a “four letter word” for Foursquare pastors.
In Isaiah 41 the word “help” is used four times. Three of those times refer to God helping us (vv. 10,13,14). One of those times refers to people helping people (v. 6).
My predecessor, Chuck Shoemake, has been a mentor and spiritual father to me for many decades. Chuck worked tirelessly to help our pastors find the help they needed. With the deeply appreciated support of our Foursquare leadership, Robby Booth (director of Foursquare’s Center for Spiritual Renewal—West in California) and I do the same.
It’s the Lord’s heart that for those of us crying out to Him, “Help!” would become a regular part of our vocabulary. Adding this word to our prayer lives regularly is essential to emotionally healthy discipleship.
Prayer + Reflection
1. Take a moment right now to quiet your soul in stillness and silence to consider one area of your life where you need help.
2. As you think of that one area, simply speak the word “help” to Jesus.
3. Free yourself of the temptation to add to that word, and let the Holy Spirit make you aware of His growing presence inside you.
Such a good word. I never thought of help standing on its own, but it does. There is some health issues I face and will take the time to quiet my and say help.
Grateful for Foursquare seeing the value in having CARE and HELP available for its leaders. Thanks Paul and Robby for all you do and for Chuck and all he did and still does. God HELP you to HELP others.