Day 6 - Growing Strong to Carry On

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.” (John 14:16, NLT)

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” (John 16:13, NLT)

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” (Galatians 5:16, NLT)

My family has dealt with a difficult situation for more than a decade. Some days I pray about our concerns with gusto. Reading Bible verses about God’s faithfulness and hearing others’ stories about impossible prayers answered inspires me to pray big. And so, I bring my requests to the Lord, believing He will honor them and right the wrongs.

Other days, as time wears on with no sign of change, my hope wanes and drags faith along with it. My heart tells me to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. It urges me to persevere in prayer because prayer matters. I believe this is true, but frankly, I’m at a loss for words. What can I say that hasn’t already been said?

When my faith feels weak and knowing how to pray eludes me, I cling to the truth of who God is as revealed through His Hebrew name Ruach Elohim, which means “Spirit of God.” It first appears in Genesis 1:2—“The earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God [Ruach Elohim] was hovering over the surface of the waters” (NASB).

Inky-black darkness dwelt in space, but God, in the form of His Spirit, Ruach Elohim, hovered over the chaos. “Hovered” suggests fluttering, like the gentle movements of a butterfly. No rush. No panic. No disturbance.

You and I might encounter seasons when we feel as though darkness and chaos surround us. We ask God to shed light and give answers, but nothing comes. We pour out our hearts to Him, but time passes and, as we wait, we finally run out of words.

When hope wanes and faith weakens, remember that darkness and chaos don’t disprove God’s presence and power. Ruach Elohim is with us. He is unrushed by time, unafraid of the things that frighten us, and undisturbed by the things that ruffle us. But there’s more: Ruach Elohim prays for us in our dark and difficult places.

The apostle Paul wrote, “The Holy Spirit [Ruach Elohim] helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit [Ruach Elohim] prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit [Ruach] is saying, for the Spirit [Ruach] pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will” (Romans 8:26-27 NLT).

We never know how long our challenges will linger, but we can be sure that Ruach Elohim is present and praying for us during them. Learning to live from this truth gives us strength to persevere.