The Lord Is My Helper from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Today I want to talk about the importance of realizing that you are not isolated and alone. This is so important today, because it easy to just hear those words, nod and smile, and then go on about your day not actually believing them. Maybe only one in 10,000 will get this, but it was a turning point in my life when I realized that the Lord was right there with me at work, and I could ask Him questions, and He would answer back.

I could get answers straight from the Source without going to someone else. Now I want us to stay balanced and avoid extremes. Prayers and confirmations from others are great, wonderful, and welcome; what I am saying is that you need to be able to pray and hear the Lord yourself. Jesus said “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27) and there will be times when there is no one else to ask. He will make sure of it. Let’s begin in the book of Hebrews:

(Hebrews 13:5–6 NKJV)  … For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

I want to focus on “The Lord is my Helper; I will not fear” part of that verse. I had to learn it the hard way, but hopefully I can share it with you. The Lord put me through some humbling circumstances, unemployment, then a job polishing brass at a buffing wheel for minimum wage for a year while He prepared me. Each day I came home as black as smut from the buffing compounds, and when I washed, my skin kept a green tint from the brass. It was humbling, but I knew at that time it was where I was supposed to be.

I started working on computers as a hobby at night. This was before Google, before there was a Facebook, before Netflix. Geeks connected to the internet using a command prompt and a “High Speed” 2400 baud modem. It could take an hour to download a 1 megabyte file. I couldn’t afford to buy a computer for they were thousands of dollars then. Just a modem was $200 to $500, but parts began finding their way to me almost on their own. A motherboard came from a garage sale, a power supply from a friend at church, I salvaged some RAM from a computer someone scrapped.

Eventually I had enough parts to assemble a bare bones, but working machine, and I got it booted up to a command prompt. I had no case to hold the parts, so I took a cardboard box and cuts holes for the floppy disk drive, drew some highlights on it with a marker, and that was my first computer. It was so fascinating, and I would stay up till two in the morning reconfiguring, reinstalling, and upgrading it. I added a second floppy drive so I could have the operating system on one, and the applications and data stored on the other. It was cutting edge!

I had no idea what the Lord was preparing me for. I polished brass all day, I worked on computers at night. After a while, people began calling me to work on theirs. Now there were no cell phones then, except for those giant bag phones that looked like a suitcase and cost thousands of dollars, so we used a land line.

One day an accountant’s office called me who had gotten my number from the friend of a friend. Their customer database had become corrupted when one of their computers crashed with it open, and they wanted me to come look at it for them. Computers, and the people that worked on them, were both rare in the small South Carolina town I was in. I didn’t know anyone else who worked on computers then, and I had never seen a database before, so I tried to get out of it, but they were desperate for help and couldn’t find anyone else.

As I was listening to them I heard the Holy Spirit whisper “Go and I’ll go with you.” I had spent many days standing at a buffing machine polishing brass, listening to the Bible, and praying. I was beginning to recognize when the Lord was speaking to me. That was the first time that He told me that, and it was a turning point in my life. I agreed to go look at the database for them. I prayed all the way to their office and when I got there, they took me to the computer that was broken. I sat down at it and cluelessly typed a few general commands to see the file structure, and suddenly I knew exactly what to do. I repaired the database in a few moments and was gone. They were my client for the next fifteen years.

My job at the brass plant ended when it merged with another plant, and I began to work on computers full time. Events like the database began to happen every day, and I was completely dependent on Him to give me the answers. As long as I would go, He would go with me, and after prayer, He would give me the answer. That is what I want you to get from this message.

Was there fear? Absolutely! But you cannot let that fear stop you. Remember: The LORD is my helper; I will NOT fear. If you let fear hold you back, then He cannot use you.

(2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

You don’t have to be afraid for He is right there with you. He is the One that opened the door. He is the One that has prepared you for it. He is the One that inspires you, it was He who gave you the idea in the first place. He will whisper directions and corrections along the way as they are needed. He is your Helper, and He comes to help us. Let’s look more closely at that.

(John 14:26 NASB)  “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

We see that the Helper is the Holy Spirit, and He can “teach you ALL things.” The word “all” here means: (Strong's #G3956) “every kind of, the whole, complete, totality.” The Holy Spirit knows all. He knows about databases, He understands medicine, and He can literally teach you all things. This idea is nothing new, it has always been God’s way of getting things done.

(Zechariah 4:6 NKJV) …‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.

When the Lord sent Moses back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to set the Israelites free, Moses began making excuses: “Lord I am slow of speech! Please send someone else!” The Lord told him:

(Exodus 4:12 NASB)  “Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”

In the Old Testament, we see that the Lord would go with Moses and teach him. In the New Testament, Jesus told His followers that the Holy Spirit would teach them:

(Luke 12:11–12 NASB)  “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Many people are cut off from church today and from others, but I want you to know that the Holy Spirit is right there with you in your house, and while you are at work. If you will take the time to ask Him for help, then He will help you. You don’t have to face the challenges alone. You don’t have to have the wisdom, the knowledge, or the resources, for He does. Take the risk. Get out of the boat and walk on the water like Peter did. The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me get in tune with what You are doing today. Give me inspiration and help me realize that You are right here with me. Remind me of Your presence today and come be a part of my life, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.