Living on a northern Michigan farm, right across Lake Huron from our Canadian farm, Phylicia Masonheimer spends her days tending kids (both human and goat) and teaching theology. I truly love this woman — and she loves Father, Son and Holy Spirit and she loves to share how the things we believe about God change our everyday lives and conversations, inviting us to be better witnesses to the world. It’s an absolute joy to welcome Phylicia to the farm’s table today…
Guest Post by Phylicia Masonheimer
I’d hung beads in my bedroom doorway. I liked how they looked. I was at my desk staring at the beads, chewing an eraser, when Dad came in. He leaned a callused hand against the doorway and parted the beads with a tolerant smile. I smiled, turned my journal over. He glanced down. “What’s this?” He turned over the book on my desk. The Perfect Christian.
“I found it on the shelf, probably from Grandma’s stuff,” I said hastily. Dad was kind, but I felt foolish. I wanted to know it all, to do faith right.
“You know,” Dad said, setting the book back down, “you don’t have to try that hard.”
I rolled my eyes. “We can’t all be perfect like you, Dad.”
“I’m not perfect, you know that. I’m saying: these books aren’t what helps you be a Christian. They aren’t what makes you a follower of God.”
I crossed my arms. “Then what does?”
I Will Send You a Helper
A simple version of the answer to that question is just three words: the Holy Spirit. When we go deeper into the expanded version of that answer, it’s called pneumatology, or the theology of the Holy Spirit. (Pneumatology comes from the Greek pneuma, which means “spirit” or “wind.”) This “ology” sums up everything the Bible says about the Spirit’s helping, advocating, empowering, purifying nature.
Jesus specifically talked about the Spirit to His disciples in John 14:
Jesus knew we could not live the new life on personal power. He wanted His disciples to make full use of His presence—and He wants us to do the same.
If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:15–18)
Other translations say “helper” instead of “advocate.” This Helper, the very Spirit of Christ remaining with the disciples, would equip them for the task ahead: building the church.
The Spirit Jesus promised was no different from the Spirit of the old covenant. He provided the same equipping and presence. The difference after Jesus is His permanence. The Holy Spirit is our Helper, not just for one task or temporary calling but for all of life in Christ. Jesus knew we could not live the new life on personal power. He wanted His disciples to make full use of His presence—and He wants us to do the same.
Dad picked up the book on my desk and flipped idly through the pages, ignoring my crossed arms. “Your desire to do the right things is good, Phylicia,” he said. “But being a Christian is not about white-knuckling good deeds or being ‘the perfect Christian,’ as this book promises.”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do? How else am I supposed to do what’s godly? It certainly doesn’t feel easy, if you say it isn’t so ‘hard.’” I didn’t even try to hide my irritation. Honestly, the Christian life didn’t feel easy or light to me—it felt like one long haul of trying to obey.
You have a Helper. Let Him help.
“It is hard,” Dad replied. “I’m not denying that. But the difficulty isn’t in doing good things. That’s not where your energy is to be directed. You’re to focus on letting the Spirit guide you.
Follow His voice. Rely on His leading, which will never contradict the Bible. It’s not about memorizing lists of what to do or not do. He will tell you what to do.” He turned and parted my hippie-bead doorway, the pink cascade of beads a wild irony against his builder’s plaid shirt. “You have a Helper,” he said. “Let Him help.”
We have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us, empowering us to live up to that new identity in Him!
The Force of White Knuckle Christianity
Perhaps faith feels heavy to you. Perhaps you are memorizing the fruit of the Spirit and trying to do them on your own strength. Maybe you’re like sixteen-year-old Phylicia, sitting in the parking lot of my summer job at the greenhouse, pink Bible in one hand and sandwich in the other. I memorized the passages about Christian behavior: love, joy, peace, purity, honor, respect. I would rehearse them, hop out of my cheap red convertible, and muscle my way through the workday on willpower-morality.
I suppose this is what Dad foresaw that day by my desk: the force of white-knuckle Christianity—driving hard, giving it all, right before the crash and burn.
Let Him help. Don’t do it alone.
That’s always been the Spirit’s role: to help. To advocate. To empower. From creation, when He hovered over the waters in union with Father and Son, three Persons in one holy God, the Spirit’s presence poured out goodness. He empowered beauty, order, and peace, and He still does in the world and in us. He helps us become like Christ. Without Him sanctification isn’t possible.
I wanted a nice, neat checklist. Something I could sign my name on, a way to say, I’m doing this Christian thing right. But the way to do the Christian life right is much simpler than that. Jesus would say it is easy and light (Matthew 11:30). Paul said it this way: “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). The “flesh” is your pre-Jesus identity. You were pronounced free. You are no longer a slave. To act like a slave is to live into your old, unredeemed humanity. But that is not who you are.
In Christ, we have a new life, new hope, new purpose. But most of all, we have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us, empowering us to live up to that new identity in Him!
“The Holy Spirit bears the fruit of the Spirit in our character to the degree we let Him.”
As a saint in Jesus, you have a responsibility to image Him—to reflect His heart in the world. We all do. But we can’t muscle our way into that reality on our own. We have to allow the Spirit to transform us, which involves having ongoing contact with God. The Holy Spirit bears the fruit of the Spirit in our character to the degree we let Him. His role is transforming us, and our role is to rest, remain, and live in connection to God through prayer—an ongoing heartfelt conversation—so we know His voice and are ready to obey Him. This is how we are sanctified, or purified, into Christ’s image.
When my dad objected to The Perfect Christian, I felt attacked. I liked the promise of an impersonal Christian faith. But that was Dad’s point: Christianity is intensely personal. The Spirit is dwelling in you, with you, shaping and forming you to look like Jesus. That takes daily interaction with Him! It takes listening for His voice.
Walking by the Spirit does not guarantee an emotional change. You may not feel like obeying His voice. You may pray and ask for strength or patience and still not feel it before stepping out in obedience. This is faith! Walking by the Spirit is faith that God will supply your every need in Christ Jesus, including your emotional capacity (Philippians 4:19).
As evangelist D.L. Moody put it: “There is no use in attempting to do God’s work without God’s power. A man working without this unction, a man working without this anointing, a man working without the Holy Ghost upon him, is losing time after all.”
Phylicia Masonheimer is wife to Josh and mama to Adeline, Geneva and Ivan. She is a writer, speaker and podcast host teaching Christians how to know what they believe and communicate faith well in the world – beginning at home! She writes on Every Woman a Theologian and her podcast is Verity with Phylicia Masonheimer.
How do we know what we believe about God is true? We hold beliefs about the world, ourselves, and Jesus —beliefs we may have adopted unknowingly based on experience or the culture’s messages.
But God has revealed Himself through Scripture so it can transform how we view and navigate the world—how we think, act, love, work, marry, and parent. When we do that, we become theologians. No, we’re not wearing tweed suits or giving lectures; we’re driving to our corporate job every morning, or juggling babies on our own, or connecting with our communities. We are women who want to know who God is and how He answers our toughest questions.
[ Our humble thanks to Thomas Nelson for their partnership in today’s devotional. ]
