The Holy Spirit  – Your Master Rebuilder

This past spring my husband took on a rebuilding project of beautifying our small patio. The surface area around our tree was weirdly slanted and we wanted to level it up to maximize its surface potential. It was a DIY remodeling and landscaping project: building a retaining wall, laying stone pavers, and putting in new grass and plants. Being resourceful, he used leftover beams from our old fence, and collected free stones and slates given away through craigslist. It was a simple project but he wanted to do it with the wise counsel of my father, a very experienced do-it-yourself kind of guy. My dad not only guided him, but gave him specialized tools to aid in the rebuilding project. My dad’s help and expertise made the renovation easier, which brought an assurance that the patio was well built. 
 
This garden patio project reminds me how we view our lives as a constant renovation project! We see things in ourselves that need to be made better, rebuilt, beautified, so we can be maximized for God’s purpose, and we need expert advice on how to.
 
When we are reborn in Christ, we receive His Spirit, which makes us right with God, yet sometimes we have great difficulty getting our lives together, being desperate to get to the real us in Christ. We may feel helpless, not knowing where to start even though we are Christians, so we tend to change ourselves on our own strength. The Good News is that we have The Helper, The Holy Spirit who is sent to us to help with our personal restoration and fulfillment regardless of our past. 
 
So who is the Holy Spirit and how can He help you in rebuilding the real you, your soul (your mind, will, and emotions)? 
 
The book of Nehemiah will provide you a picture of the Holy Spirit and how He wants to help us; the wall-rebuilding process described is likened to the way God wants to restore our souls. We find here an account on how God gave a second chance to the people of Israel by bringing them back to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile after disobeying Him repeatedly. The first group that returned was able to rebuild the temple, but the protective city walls remained in ruins making them susceptible to conquering enemies. Nehemiah, a leader and kinsman having heard of such a sad state of his homeland returns to begin and complete the process of rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. The temple of Jerusalem represents our spirit that has been made new in Christ. The walls represent our soul, and Nehemiah represents the Holy Spirit who is sent to us by King Jesus to work on our life rebuilding process. 
 
Nehemiah’s name in Hebrew is derived from nacham, “to breath strongly, to pity, to console” and from yah, which is the name of the Lord. So his name means “The Lord who comforts or brings consolation”. His name is synonymous with the Holy Spirit as our comforter!!!
 

1. The Holy Spirit helps guard our mind.

 
In order to experience growth and change, we must change our thought life. Proverbs 4:23 (NCV) says “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.”  For this reason the enemy would want to attack our minds with lies so it would affect our lives. 
 
When faced with the enemy, Nehemiah prayed and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat (Nehemiah 4:9). In the same manner, the Holy Spirit helps us to be careful and filter negative thoughts and instead He gives us peace that guards our hearts and minds in Christ. He also brings to remembrance the Word of God and reminds us who we are in Christ!
His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:7b
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 things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. – John 14:26,27
 

2. The Holy Spirit helps us pray.

 
But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves. – Nehemiah 4:7-9
Nehemiah always responded in prayer! Through the thirteen chapters in this historical narrative, we count about seventeen times he prayed as a a response to challenging circumstances, attacks of the enemy, and he also encouraged everyone to do the same. 
In the same manner, we must go to the Lord in prayer to see our minds being renovated. And though it might be difficult sometimes to pray when in a negative state of mind, Jesus sees our first humble step in calling out to him, and he responds sending you the Holy Spirit to assist you to pray. He hears and cares for you! Just as Nehemiah came to the people of Jerusalem when they were weak, and in distress, so the Holy Spirit will help you in your weakness and daily problems when you do not know how to pray. You can be raw honest with the Lord and tell him what you worry about and then pray in your understanding asking God for what you need.  And even when you feel stuck, the Holy Spirit will give you words to say when you pray in the Spirit. Jude 20 says that you can be “building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit”
And in the same way– by our faith – the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words. – Romans 8:26
 

3. The Holy Spirit will encourage and help you in weakness, and arms us for the battle with the Word.

 
So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows….All the builders had a sword belted to their side. – Nehemiah 4:13,18
 
As Nehemiah advanced the construction work, they received escalating threats deterring them from finishing the wall. Nehemiah is such a wonderful picture of the Holy Spirit as he encouraged people pointing back to God who gives courage and power. He says “Our God will fight for us” (Nehemiah 4:21). 
He also took position in the parts of the wall where they were most vulnerable, and then stationed the people at the exposed areas of the wall with their swords. When Satan wants to attack us in areas that still need to be restored, you can welcome the Holy Spirit to defend you, while standing firm in faith.
Nehemiah also encouraged them to be armed with defensive weapons while guarding their areas. We have the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) that we can also use to resist the spiritual enemy who comes to attack our minds. We can push back His lies by speaking God’s word in response. If a destructive thought comes, you can declare a promise of God that cancels the lies – once you say it out loud, because the Word of God is living and is Spirit (John 6:63), the enemy will need to flee from you. The power of God is released, and the enemy cannot stand being where His power and His Word is spoken out. 
A great way to declare the goodness of God over your life (and push back darkness) is by confessing God’s word over your life and mind. Our Coastal Church App
has a list of daily confession that you can start speaking out loud over your own life. 

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword.” – Hebrews 4:12
The words I have spoken to you–they are full of the Spirit and life.” – John 6:63
and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. – Ephesians 6:17b

We are all in a work-in-progress and constant growth process of our soul. Don’t get discouraged in the rebuilding of the real you and lean into the Holy Spirit for everything that you need. He is sent to you as the helper and comforter, and help in times of need. He will give you fullness and freedom as you allow Him to guide you into all wisdom.  Like Nehemiah, the Holy Spirit is saying… “Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem [YOUR SOUL], and we will no longer be in disgrace.”  I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.” And you can reply like the people of Israel did…“Let us start rebuilding.” So they [you can] began this good work (Nehemiah 2:17-18).