When the Spirit Helps Our Praying
Romans 8:26-27
Tonight I want to address two verses from Romans 8, and then I want us to put them into practice. We spoke directly on the person of the Holy Spirit a couple of weeks ago as we looked at vv 12-17. This morning we still read of the working of God's Spirit in our lives - especially in the area of remaining committed and passionate about the things of God. Well tonight, we see another area where I am so grateful God's Spirit is clearly at work again - in our praying. Notice what Paul says,
Romans 8:26-27
8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
8:27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit [is,] because He makes intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God.
Three points I want you to see regarding the Helper, the Holy Spirit. He,
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Helps in our weakness v 26a
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What great news that the believer is not left alone in the hour of greatest need! There are times, maybe even seasons, that we will experience where we may feel like we are all alone. But the good news is that God's Spirit is, and has continually been, helping us. Never has there been one moment that we could ever say that we were helpless. And the use of the present tense with the verb "help" means that God's Spirit keeps on helping - not because we may have a weak moment or need or struggle, but that we constantly live in a state of weakness!
The word "help" is a very rich word and this particular word is used only one other time in Scripture. Do you remember the story of Jesus going to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus? While in that home, Jesus had the opportunity to teach. Mary chose to listen to Jesus while Martha was in the kitchen. And it didn't take long for Martha to get upset that she was moving pots and pans and Mary was sitting on the rug in the living room. And so she spouted off to Jesus that He should tell Mary to get herself in the kitchen and "help" her. What kind of help? What did it mean? It means a very practical kind of help in aiding someone with needs. It is the Holy Spirit that comes alongside us and helps even with the common everyday needs.
The word used for "weakness" can mean a "physical, emotional, and spiritual disability" that could be evidenced by the groaning of the Christian. But perhaps the greatest weakness that each of us faces is in the realm of prayer. And it leads to our second point. The Holy Spirit also,
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Intercedes when we are clueless v 26b
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Creation groans. The Christian groans. And we see here where the Comforter groans. Now I want you to understand something about this groaning. It is not as some have interpreted or suggested a prayer language. Notice what Paul says here. He intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. That is, the Holy Spirit prays for us with agonizing longings which never find words.1 And again the use of the present tense means that the Holy Spirit keeps on interceding for us. Thank God for such a wonderful Comforter!
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There are times that we just don't know what to pray. That's okay. In fact, it may be better if we did not know how to pray so that we would be more willing to desire God's will than to try and force our will and thoughts on Him! Have you ever been guilty of praying selfishly? I'm sure there were a bunch of students that prayed selfishly on Wednesday evening, "Please Lord, let it snow! I don't want to go to school!" How many adults may have been praying for snow too! But let's be honest about it - we pray selfishly more than we want to admit - and we may feel that we are sincere about it - because it just seems to make sense in our mind that it should happen how we think it should happen. And then when it doesn't, we feel God doesn't care or that He has left us. It's His fault that omniscient and perfect God didn't answer the request of sinful and imperfect man!
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So what are we to do? Pray! Pray when you have words and pray when you don't have words. But get on your knees before Him and confess that and then be still and allow God's Spirit to intercede as Scripture promises.
I want to give you a specific admonition. I have had several people come to me over the past months and say, "I woke up this morning with you on my mind. When I got up, I couldn't stop thinking about you. Is everything okay?" And I want you to know that means more to me than you'll ever know. I am humbled and grateful for that. It happened again this week. One dear brother called me and said what I just shared with you. And I responded to him that I didn't really know of anything major happening in my life or anything coming up that may put a check in someone's spirit like that. I told him, "Maybe something is coming and God prompted you to pray so that I would be prepared for it." Sure enough, right after I hung up with him I went through something that I sure needed prayer for. When I was praying the next morning, God showed me that and revealed to me that I needed that intercession in order to handle that situation correctly. How easy it would have been for me to buckle a bit, but I answered with words not my own. So the admonition is this: when someone comes to your mind and you have no reason why - pray for them. And you may very well be like this brother and not know what to pray - pray anyway. Just go before the Lord and lift up that person and be still. The Holy Spirit will intercede and pray specifically for that need even if you don't!
And there's a third encouragement about the Holy Spirit. He,
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Directs when we feel useless v 27
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What a great comfort again to know that the Holy Spirit intercedes for the believer according to God's will. "We do not always know God's will. We do not always know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes so that we might live in the will of God in spite of suffering. The Spirit "shares the burden."2
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When you are uncertain of God's will for your life - pray, and remain there until the answer comes. I'm convinced that God will show you His will, but don't think that He's going to give you a plan for the next 40 years of your life. Our sinful flesh wouldn't like it. There would be things and events and trials and struggles that we would want to change. All that God may show you is the next step. And I can tell you that to take that step will require faith. Some steps are easier and more comfortable than others. But the real test - and the real TRUST - will come when you step and you have no idea what will happen. All you know is that you feel convinced that is what you need to do. Is that easy? No. But is God's will easy? No. In fact, if it were, we wouldn't need God. We would have it all figured out.
I can assure you that there will be some times or seasons in your life where you may feel very useless and you just don't know what to do. I've got good news for you, believer. The Holy Spirit is interceding for you. And the God who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit - and that is that He will intercede for you and me to do God's will. BUT will you trust Him enough that you will obey even when and especially when it may not make sense or all of your questions are not answered?
Thank God for the Holy Spirit interceding for us at such a vulnerable time!
You may ask where the application is. The application is in prayer. I want us to have a season of prayer this evening for some things that are happening or coming up in our church. And then after that, I'm going to give you an opportunity to pray specifically for some things that are happening in your life and family. Again, remember that this is to be a continual practice of the believer, but maybe this will be the start for some that do not practice prayer as you need.
We're going to pray tonight for four areas - areas where we need help, wisdom, and direction.
NFL Sunday. No Friends Left Out. That is next Sunday morning in Sunday School. Now, you may wonder why we need to pray about this. Several reasons. As you know, we are going to have many guests here that we do not usually have, and we need to pray,
1. We will be so excited about having a large number of guests with us. Hey, that means you may not be able to park in your spot, or sit in your spot, or walk in your spot. We will apply spot remover all over this building this week so there will be no spots when you get here next Sunday morning.
2. Every Sunday School class will be prepared for the guests that are to come. Welcome them and get their information and be expecting those that are to come.
3. Especially for our children's ministry that will be pressed to fit more children into an already crowded area. That means that we will need extra greeters for the children. We will need extra helpers in the classes. We will need extra room for some of the classes. We need much prayer in that regard.
4. For our parking lot helpers (CPA's) and greeters to be able to touch every person and greet every person with a smile and genuine excitement. They're going to need wisdom to act quickly as folks ask them questions.
5. For God to do a saving work in the lives of many of them as they come.
Salvation of lost souls. Church Family, we must never tire of praying for the lost to be saved. In fact, let me ask you the last time it was that you went by one of the crosses out there and just prayed for a few names - whether or not you knew them? When was the last time that you spent some concentrated time in prayer praying by name for some lost people you know? When was the last time that you prayed God would introduce you to some more lost people? If a soul-saving station (and that's what the church is) is not seeing people saved, isn't there a problem? Thank God for the people that we've seen saved - but the fields are still white unto harvest.
Workers. I mentioned a moment ago that the fields are white unto harvest - and they are. Jesus said those words and then He told us something that we can and must pray for. Listen to how Jesus put it, "Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest that He may send forth laborers into the harvest." Why? Because the laborers are few. Can I say something to you? The laborers are few at Maysville Baptist Church. We need more. We need every member serving in our church. AND we need those that have been visiting, attending, worshiping, enjoying - to join with us so that we can make a greater impact for the kingdom than we are making now.
I mentioned a moment ago the need for more greeters in our children's ministry. We need more children's workers - teachers, assistant teachers. We still need more youth Sunday School teachers. We still have a need for more adult Sunday School teachers and workers in our Sunday School. We still have a need for more CPA's and greeters and ushers. We still have a need for more folks in our choir and orchestra. We need more workers! We need you.
Capital Campaign. In just under a month we will begin our next capital campaign. And I am so excited about it! In fact, I want to go ahead and tell you the theme - What Matters Most. Isn't that awesome?! What matters most? I, me, my, mine? Or Him? What matters most? It's loving God, loving others and serving the world. It's all about Him. That's what matters most. And we need to begin praying that this time in the life of our church will be greater than we can even imagine and that God will do a phenomenal work. It's more than just about retiring debt - it's a conviction that Maysville Baptist Church is here to make a difference in this world. That's what matters most.