Please Help Me!

It was one more panicked phone call where I felt mostly inadequate to give advice that would help the situation. When trouble strikes, we want to be able to do something or say something that will fix the problem.

“How can I help …?” “What can I do?” I’ve been on the other end of many urgent calls from people wanting the right words to say or the right actions to do. Many times, words or actions will do little or nothing to bring positive change to the situation.

In the most difficult situations, words generally mess things up. Promises of help seem like a cruel joke. Just being there and being available as a sounding board or a connecting place is the most significant thing a person can do.

The Scriptures illustrate the idea of spiritual headship. When two people or a group of people come together, most of the time, the spirit of one is going to win. Sometimes that means a spirit of fear takes over a group. Sometimes the peace of God spreads until it is in control. Generally there is someone in the group who has the respect of others and the spiritual energy to maintain until what is going on inside of that person has pretty much taken over. That person has spiritual headship.

God designed for husbands and fathers to have spiritual headship. They are supposed to come under God’s headship and then spread His peace, His love, and His joy to those who are in their sphere of influence. But spiritual headship is not just for men. It is for mothers with their children. It is for bosses with their employees. It is for leaders with whomever they are leading.

I often say, “The best thing you can do for those you love is to be a man or woman of God.” When a mother is seeing her children go through something very painful or tragic, the most powerful thing she can do is to be a spiritual head. She needs to forcefully surrender her own spirit to God and receive from Him. Too often, the mother in pain receives from the children or from the “unfairness” of life. Bitterness, hopelessness, and pain prevails. When that happens, her headship is a destructive force hanging over her children.

For a while, I was helpless and just listened as the description of a tragic situation tumbled through the phone. I didn’t know what to say. But words seldom are helpful … especially if they try to give some kind of hollow solution. My first job was to listen and connect with the pain. When the time was right, I responded, “The most powerful thing you can do for your children is for you to get what you need from God. If you can walk in peace, it will help your children heal.”

Spiritual headship is powerful. Have you learned how to walk with God through difficult situations? Have ever you had the incredible experience of seeing others come to a point of peace because you forcefully maintained the peace of God through a rough time? Words are often weak but the very presence of God nurtured and poured out to others during crisis is powerful. Be a spiritual head. Be a man or woman of God. Be a lifegiver!