The Spirit of God - Our Companion

 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8: 26-27).


Today, we would like to continue celebrating the season after Pentecost day, a season of remembrance in which we celebrate that the church began with the pouring of the Holy Spirit over all humanity.

The Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, has a centrality in what it means to be the church. It is the Holy Spirit the one who provides the means through which the work and the mission of the church in the world (Missio Dei – the mission of God in the world) is done. The Holy Spirit has the role of be a companion to the church in the world, constantly providing consolation, reassurance of salvation, supplying the gifts to perform the necessary works of grace in the world, and reminding us of the Gospel of Jesus and his promises. We can summarize this by affirming that the Spirit of God is completely necessary for the church to fulfill its role in the world.

There is a complete dependency on the Holy Spirit to become the church. Think about this. The Spirit is the one who gives direction, purpose, and intention to everything that the church does. We can pray and connect with God through the action of the Spirit. Lives are transformed, redeemed, called, and sent to the world by the intervention and healing action of the Spirit. This is what the Apostle Paul is referring to in the quoted text, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. However, if we speak of weakness, we need to speak about grace.

It is not usually thought as related, but the role of the Spirit of God to be our companion amid our weaknesses implies that the presence of the Spirit is mostly experienced when we find our limits. As humans, we are limited, inclined to fail and to err frequently. There is a plethora of things that we as human beings don’t know how to do or even deal with them. It is specially in these boundaries, limiting moments when we experience the abundant grace of God. As a response to our limited condition, the grace of God provides what we lack as an action of love to us. Therefore, the Spirit of God is both present as a witness in our moments of difficulty and limitations and is the Spirit the enabler of the abundant Grace of God in our lives.

The German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, in his book The Spirit of Life quotes the following text from the book of Job:

“But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.” (Job 36:15-16).

Since speaking about weaknesses implies our limitations, we can also understand how facing such limitations will lead us to suffering. We can see that when we deal with health-related issues, and also when we confront relational or family matters that leave a burden on us. We find our limit through exhaustion, anger, sorrow, or utter and plain brokenness. This is the season of wilderness. But the quoted text in Job supports the affirmation of Paul about the Spirit helping us in our weaknesses and expands it by establishing that “he delivers [those who suffer] in their suffering”. The Spirit will meet us in the place of hurt. The Spirit will meet us in the hospital bed. The Spirit will meet us in the cold and windy cemetery. The Spirit will meet us… and will provide what we need through grace.


Jurgen Moltmann affirms that the Spirit will meet us in our suffering, and the action of the Spirit will always bring with it liberation: “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction”. To say it plainly: The action of the Spirit of God will always bring with it freedom. No matter the type of limitation, or the roadblock that we might be facing, the Spirit has a way. And the way of the Spirit will always lead to more, to a season of plenty and enough.

The abundance of the Spirit is referred in this text when it says, “to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.” It reminds us of another text: “You prepare a table before me    in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalms 23: 5). When Paul reminds us that the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, is a throwback to the old promises of God to his people of companionship, of faithfulness driven by pure love. This is the type of company that will have our backs, which will always make the best effort to meet us with our needs, and even more. God, through the action of the Spirit, will tend the table for us, will give us consolation and rest, will heal our wounds, will restore our broken souls.

Romans 8, Job 36: 15-16, and Psalm 23 are texts that are insistently reminding us that the commitment of God with us is real, he will be with us through the “valley of shadow of death”, and through green pastures, through quiet waters. Our weaknesses don’t provoke judgement from God, but instead they are met with grace, healing, and love. Yes, indeed, Holy Spirit of God, we need you ever and ever more! Help us with our weaknesses and lead us to a life of fulfilling grace and love!

Location: New York, NY, USA

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