PRAYING ABOUT WHAT WE PRAY ABOUT

Rom 8:26-27

Morning Meditations 1/12/14

We examined effectual praying yesterday. Today I want to continue to think on the subject of prayer. These verses will help explain why our praying is ineffective: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

The Holy Spirit is our great helper in prayer. To those of us who want to pray and pray successfully, the time taken to meditate on these verses will be invaluable. It is evident that Paul is saying here that the Holy Spirit is our Helper in prayer. I don’t know if you are like me in this matter but I have prayed much without even considering this truth. It is unwise to ignore the Helper. Successful praying needs to be guided praying. In other words, we need to pray about what we are praying about. When I read of the effectiveness of George Muller’s prayer life, I say “Oh Lord, that kind of prayer is not just for the George Mullers. It is for us. Lord teach me to pray.” I will assure you that my prayer journal does not look like his. I have gotten great answers to prayer. But they are too spasmodic.

Paul says, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” The word “Likewise” connects this with what Paul has already said about the work of the Spirit in this chapter. The Spirit has made us freed from the law of sin and death (8:2); the Spirit indwells us as a sign of His ownership (8:9); the Spirit enables us to mortify the deeds of the body (8:13); the Spirit leads us (8:14); the Spirit creates a spirit of worship in us (8:15); the Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are the children of God (8:16); the Spirit indwells us as the firstfruits of our coming redemption (8:23). So after all this he says, “Likewise the Spirit also...” There is also something else He does.

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth.” The word “helpeth” (sunantilambanomai) means “to lay hold along with, to strive to obtain with others, help in obtaining.” It is a present middle indicative verb. The present tense means that the Holy Spirit continually does this at the present time. The middle voice means that He does this to bring glory to God in our lives (The middle voice is where the subject is benefitted by the action of the verb). This is the reason I said that the end of this work is to glorify God. God is glorified in answering our prayers. He helps by continually “laying hold along with us.”

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” The word “infirmities” (astheneia) means “a native weakness and frailty.” This describes a condition that exists in the whole human family and is a result of our fallen nature. Some Christians do not have this problem. It is all of us. We need this great work of the Holy Spirit in our prayer lives.

The words “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought” describe the weakness. The words “We know not” (eido) mean “to know or perceive.” It is a perfect active indicative verb. The perfect tense is completed action in time past that completed action having present results. I believe the completed action takes us back to the fall and the present result is that the inherited old sin nature affects our present perception in the area of the Spirit. So the Holy Spirit over comes the ignorance of Spiritual things and knowing the will of God and works with us to know His will.

The words “But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us” mean that He is continually making (present tense) intercession for us. But it is not like He is separate from us. “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit” (1Cor 6:17). We are not being told this to release us from the responsibility of prayer because the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. There is to be a joint effort. This is the reason I named this meditation: Praying about what we pray about. The Holy Spirit communicates to us that we are the children of God (8:16). The words in verse 27 say “ . .. . He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” The Holy Spirit always prays according to the will of God. He lives in us to pray in unison with us. If He communicates to our spirit that we are the children of God, He can communicate to us the needs we have that are in the will of God. It is impossible to pray the prayer of faith for things that are not in His will. We have the weakness of ignorance. The Holy Spirit is in us to get us by that weakness so that we can pray according to His will. So we need to pray about what we are praying about so that when we pray we are praying for things that faith can receive. This is the way of successful praying.

The words “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit” give me a little problem. I know that this is a reference to God. I would like to make it a reference to those of us who search our hearts so we would know what the mind of the Spirit is in the matter of what we are praying about. I can’t get any support in the commentaries. This is the reason for my problem. The Holy Spirit is God. They are One. I quote Tozer here: “Christ did not hesitate to use the plural form when speaking of Himself along with the Father and the Spirit.. ‘We will come unto him and make our abode with him.’ Yet again He said, ‘I and my Father are one.’ It is most important that we think of God as a Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance. Only so may we think rightly of God and in a manner worthy of Him and our own souls.” --The Knowledge of The Holy, p. 20. I can understand God searching my heart for sin. But I cannot understand God searching my heart to know the mind of the Spirit. Tozer said again, “Scholarship’s task is to get as close to the original text as possible. When he discovers the true meaning of the text his authority ends. Only faith can enter within the veil. Let reason kneel in reverence outside.” So be it!

The words “with groanings which cannot be uttered” are words addressed to faith. There are three groanings in this chapter. Creation groans (8:22), the saint groans (8:23), and the Spirit’s groans. What an awesome thought that the Spirit’s work in me is “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” This speaks of travail. The Holy Spirit loves us, wants our success as Christians and sets out to work with us through prayer. The deacons were ordained that the Apostles might give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. We need to give ourselves to prayer.

Jesus said, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:13.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Earl White