Why Does My Christian Life Feel Like I'm Doing It All on My Own?

By Angela D. Thomas, DrPH, MPH, MBA

Because you have not been leaning on the Helper who already lives inside you. When you accepted Christ, God did not just save you and wave from a distance. He moved in. The Holy Spirit is God in you, and most of us are out here trying to carry it all on our own, when He was sent to help us.

Let me talk to the woman who is worn out from trying. You love God. You are showing up, praying, doing your best to live right. But somewhere in there it started to feel like a solo job, like you are out here gutting it out on your own strength and running low. I want to introduce you, or maybe reintroduce you, to the gift you already own and barely use.

We are so good at celebrating Jesus, and we should be. Our whole freedom hinges on Christ. Without Him, we would not have access to any of this, so culture puts a lot of emphasis on Jesus, and rightfully so. But there is Somebody we do not talk about nearly enough, and the silence is costing us. The Holy Spirit.

What Is the Holy Spirit, Really?

Let me give you a simple way to hold it that helped me. Walk the whole story of God with His people. In the Old Testament, before Christ came, God was God for us. He worked from the outside, choosing prophets and priests and men and women to carry His word. He was God for us. Then Jesus came, God wrapped in flesh, walking around with people, eating with them, teaching them. That was God with us. And then, when Jesus was getting ready to go back to the Father, He did not leave us to figure it out alone. He sent the Holy Spirit, who is God in us.

God for us. God with us. God in us. Read that last one slow. The same God who parted seas and raised the dead does not live down the street from you. He lives in you. 1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV) says, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" You are carrying God around on the inside, and half of us are living like the house is empty.

Why Would God Put Himself Inside You?

Because He knew you could not do this life on your own, and He never once expected you to. Listen to how Jesus set it up before He left. John 14:16 (NKJV) says, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever." A Helper. That is the actual word. Not a decoration, not a badge you wear on Sunday, a Helper who moves in and never leaves.

And catch that word abide, because we have talked about it before. It means to stay, to remain, to dwell, to not depart. Jesus did not send you a Helper who clocks in for the hard parts and leaves you hanging the rest of the week. He sent you One who moved in forever. You are never actually doing this by yourself. You just keep forgetting Who is in the room.

And He planned it this way on purpose. Before the cross, Jesus told His disciples plainly, I have to go, but I am going to send you a Helper. He knew they would forget things. He knew they would face days they could not handle on their own. He knew they would need Somebody with them every single day, not just on the mountaintop. So the Spirit was never a backup plan or a consolation prize. He was the plan. God intended from the very start for you to have Him living on the inside, doing this life right there with you.

So Why Do I Still Feel So Alone in It?

Because having the gift and using the gift are two very different things, and that is the whole reason for this week. You can own the most powerful help in the universe and still live exhausted if you never reach for it. A lot of us have shrunk the Holy Spirit down to a special church word, something for the really spiritual folks or the really desperate moments, when He was given to be your daily, hourly, right-now Helper.

So this week, we are going to fix your relationship with the gift you already have. We are going to stop treating the Holy Spirit like fine china you only bring out on holidays. We are going to stop letting Him sit in the box like an infomercial gadget you were excited about and never used. And we are going to walk fully into the access He already bought and paid for you to have.

But it starts here, today, with one truth settling all the way down in you. You are not doing this alone. You never were. God is not just for you, and He is not just with you. He is in you.

Take this to the Word yourself. John 14:15-18, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Romans 8:11.

What This Means for You

Where in your life have you been gutting it out on your own strength, when the Helper was living inside you the whole time?

This is the first post in a five part series called An Awesome Gift, where we take a fresh look at the Holy Spirit and learn to actually use the most powerful gift we own. Next up, why the Holy Spirit is not just for your emergencies.

I teach God's Word weekly inside the SheShed Community, and this is exactly the kind of teaching that hits different when you're in the room for it. The replay of this teaching, “An Awesome Gift,” is available inside the community as well. Come sit with us.