By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 15-18 of chapter 8.
1.1.1. In that
study we saw that Paul began by telling us that for the Christian that concerning
their relationship with God that the Lord has not given them a spirit of
slavery that is based upon fear but rather the spirit of adoption, as sons of
God
1.1.2. Paul began
to speak of internal assurances of salvation that a Christian has through the Holy
Spirit that dwells within them and confirms to them that they are children of
God through saving faith in Jesus Christ.
1.1.3. Paul also
taught about the fact that the Christian is an heir of God and a co-heir with
Jesus Christ. We discussed what that
means to the Christian.
1.2.
In our study today, we will look at verses 19-27.
1.2.1. I thought
about naming this message, “The Three Groaners” since we will study
about three who groan: believers
awaiting the return of Christ and resurrection of their bodies, creation who
longs for the restoration of the earth and glorification of believers, and the
Holy Spirit who groans within believers in intercession as they pray to the
Lord.
1.2.2. Creation
groans.
1.2.2.1. In chapter 3
of the book of Genesis we see that with the fall of man came not only curses
upon mankind that would be played out throughout their generations, but also a
curse upon the earth, such that instead of being a fertile garden as it had
been that it would instead yield thorns and thistles.
1.2.2.2. The fact
that the creation on this earth is languishing under the curse of man’s sin is
seen in the fact that the earth is overgrown with weeds and vermin, that there
is an ozone layer problem, that much of the world’s oceans are now dead and
incapable of sustaining fish due to lack of oxygenation, that millions of
species of plants and animals are now considered to be extinct, that
earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, mudslides, wildfires,
plagues and disease, global warming, pollution of all types (air, water, land,
sea, space, etc.) and litter, and other natural disasters are constantly
occurring, etc.
1.2.3. Believers
groan.
1.2.3.1. Having been
promised that we shall one day have sin completely removed from us and that we will
receive a glorified and resurrected body of the same type as Christ’s (things
we have talked about in our study of Romans), believers in Christ now have a
great longing and groan within themselves as they await that time of
restoration.
1.2.4. Holy Spirit
groans.
1.2.4.1. When
believers pray, we will see that Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit intercedes
for us according to the will of God with groanings
and utterings since we don’t know how to pray as we
should.
2. VS
18:19-20 - “19 For the anxious
longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of
God. 20 For the creation was subjected
to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope” - Paul
tells us that the creation itself is waiting eagerly for the revealing or
glorification of the saints
2.1.
In Gen. 3:17-18, Moses wrote about how that because of
Adam’s sin that the Lord cursed the earth, and cursed man, “17 Then to Adam
He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from
the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow
for you; And you shall eat the plants of
the field.”
2.2.
John MacArthur has written the following about what
part of creation Paul is referring to when he says that creation groans, “What
part of creation is longing for that new age? It couldn't be the angels because
they aren't subject to corruption--they aren't longing for another state. It
couldn't be demons because they will never share in any glorious liberation.
They have been sentenced to eternal bondage. It couldn't be believers since
verse 23 distinguishes their groans from the groaning of creation. And it
couldn't be unbelievers because they have no hope. Now that we have eliminated rational
creation, all that's left is animate and inanimate irrational creation: plants,
animals, mountains, hills, stars, seas, rivers, lakes, sky, earth, and flowers.
Romans 8:19-22 personifies them in poetic fashion. We see that elsewhere in
Scripture. Isaiah 35:1 says, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall
be glad." Isaiah 55:12 says, "The mountains and the hills shall break
forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands." Those verses personify the joy creation will have when it enters
the glory of its future state.”
2.3.
So, this cursing of the earth that occurred at man’s
fall reported in Genesis 3 extended not only to the inanimate objects and plant
life itself, it also extended to the entire animal world. Because of this curse, it takes much work to
grow a garden due to weeds, for instance.
Because of this curse, many animals were made carnivorous as well.
2.4.
When Christ returns, God’s people are going to be
glorified and rewarded, and the curse which was placed on the earth is going to
be reversed. In this verse, Paul writes
about the longing and anxious expectation of creation for that period of time
that Jesus referred to as the period of “the regeneration,” when this
reversal of the curse in creation shall take place. Matthew records this in his gospel, verse
19:28, “28 And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have
followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious
throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
2.5.
Peter called this time of “regeneration” the “restoration
of all things” in his sermon in Acts 3:21, “21 whom heaven must receive
until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the
mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”
2.6.
Paul tells us here that creation has an ‘anxious
longing’ for the revealing of the sons of God, or their glorification. John MacArthur has written the following
about the use of this Greek word translated ‘anxious longing’ in this
text, “That translates a very vivid word in the Greek text. It refers to
someone standing on the tips of his toes, sticking his neck way out to see
something in the distance. In a sense, nature is on its tiptoes peering into
the future.”
2.7.
Paul writes in this verse that creation was subjected
to ‘futility,’ which is the translation of a Greek word used to express
the effect of this cursing of the earth which causes it to not be as productive
and harmonious as it once was before man’s fall. Because of man’s fall into sin, creation is
unable to fulfill its God intended purpose.
Strong’s Greek Dictionary has the following entry for this word translated
as ‘futility’ :
1) what is devoid of truth and appropriateness
2) perverseness, depravity
3) frailty, want of vigour
2.8.
The sons of God will be revealed, Paul says. This Greek word translated ‘revealing’
is the word from which our word “apocalypse” comes from, as in the book
of Revelation. Most think that the book
of Revelation is a closed book, however it is meant to be a revealing, and this
is why we teach through the book of Revelation just as we teach through all of
the books of the Bible. It is as if Paul
is saying that though the sons and daughters of God may seem indistinguishable
now, there is coming a day in which they shall be on display for all creation
to see, the day when they shall be glorified.
Paul wrote about this revealing of the sons of God in Col. 3:4, “4 When
Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him
in glory.”
2.9.
Creation was subjected to this ‘futility’ not
of its own accord, but rather by God Himself, and this was due to man’s
sin. Man was given authority over
creation, and when man fell, creation fell into ‘futility’ along with
man. However, when all of the effects of
man’s sin are removed when the Lord returns and God’s people are glorified,
then likewise creation shall no longer be subjected to futility.
2.10.
However, when God subjected the creation to ‘futility’
there was also a “confident expectation,” a certainty or ‘hope,’
that when God’s people would one day have the effects of sin removed from them,
that ‘creation’ itself will also be set free from its curse.
3. VS 8:21 - “21 that the creation itself also
will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory
of the children of God.” - Paul tells
us that the creation itself will be set free from the ‘slavery to corruption’
from man’s fall into the ‘glory of the children of God’
3.1.
Using language to explain how it is that the creation
itself is subjected to futility at the present time, Paul writes that it is
currently in a ‘slavery to corruption.’
This Greek word translated ‘corruption’ that is used here has a
physical as well as a moral sense in which it can be used. I believe the physical sense is what is
primarily intended here. In the physical
sense the word could be used of food that has “spoiled.”
3.2.
Strong’s Greek Dictionary has the following definition
for this word translated ‘corruption’ :
1) corruption, destruction, perishing
1a)
that which is subject to corruption, what is perishable
1b)
in the Christian sense, eternal misery in hell
2) in the NT, in an ethical sense, corruption
i.e. moral decay
3.3.
The ‘freedom of the glory of the children of God’
which Paul writes about in this verse, that which the creation is longing
anxiously for, is just the glorification with which God’s people will
experience when He returns for them.
That ‘freedom’ is really “liberty from sin” and the unregenerated nature that is still resident within men and
women. When man is truly freed from all
of the effects as well as the presence of sin in his life, then the ‘creation’
which Paul speaks of here will likewise be liberated.
3.4.
Charles Spurgeon once preached about what that day of
‘unveiling’ or ‘revealing’ of the sons of God will be like, “When a Roman
general came home from the wars, he entered Rome by stealth, and slept at
night, and tarried by day, perhaps for a week or two, among his friends. He
went through the streets, and people whispered, "That is the general, the
valiant one," but he was not publicly acknowledged. But, on a certain set
day, the gates were thrown wide open, and the general, victorious from the wars
in Africa or Asia, with his snow-white horses bearing the trophies of his many
battles, rode through the streets, which were strewn with roses, while the
music sounded, and the multitudes, with glad acclaim, accompanied him to the
Capitol. That was his triumphant entry. Those in heaven, have, as it were,
stolen there. They are blessed, but they have not had their public entrance.
They are waiting till their Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the trump of the archangel, and the voice of God; then shall their bodies rise,
then shall the world be judged; then shall the righteous be divided from the
wicked; and then, upstreaming in marvellous
procession, leading captivity captive for the last time, the Prince at their
head, the whole of the blood-washed host, wearing their white robes, and
bearing their palms of victory, shall march up to their crowns and to their
thrones, to reign for ever and ever!”
4. VS 8:22 - “22 For we know that the whole
creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” - Paul tells us that the whole creature groans
and suffers childbirth pains up till this time
4.1.
In this verse, Paul writes about the ‘whole
creation’ (a term we defined earlier in our discussion of this chapter)
experiencing a “groaning” which is in similarity to the ‘pains of
childbirth.’ Just as a woman
experiences the horrific pain of childbirth in anxious anticipation of the joyous
arrival of a baby being born, so all the inanimate, animal, and plant life of
this world and the heavens are “groaning” with joyous anticipation for
that time when it shall be set free from the bondage of the curse from which it
is under.
4.2.
Paul writes that all of ‘creation’ groans ‘together,’
each element joining in together with anticipation for that time. Since today is what is known of as Palm
Sunday, and because it ties into our study and this idea of the ‘anxious
longing’ of creation for the unveiling of the sons of God, I will throw out
a relevant reference from the gospels that occurred on that Sunday in which
Jesus entered Jerusalem and the people laid palm branches on the road and
exalted Him as Messiah. In Luke
19:35-40, notice that Jesus defends what the people are doing to some Pharisees
by saying that if the people didn’t exalt Him in this way that the rocks
themselves would cry out and exalt Him, "They brought it to Jesus, and
they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He was going, they
were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as He was approaching, near the
descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to
praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen,
shouting: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in
heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to
Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if
these become silent, the stones will cry out!” Yes, inanimate objects can express themselves
and they can ‘groan.’
4.3.
There are several verses in the Bible that teach about
a coming time when God shall create a new heavens and a new earth. For instance, Peter wrote about this in 2
Peter 3:13, “13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens
and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
4.4.
During the time of the Millennial Reign of Christ
before the new heavens and earth this regeneration of the earth will begin and
we read verses in the Bible about this future time when the lion will lay down
with the lamb, a child will play at the hole of the asp, etc.
4.4.1. Isaiah wrote
about this period of regeneration in Isaiah 35:1, “1The wilderness and the desert
will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and
blossom; Like the crocus,” and
55:12, “12 “For you will go out with joy, And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth
into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their
hands.”
4.4.2. Isaiah wrote
in Is. 11:6-9, “6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard
will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together; And a little boy will lead
them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will
graze; Their young will lie down
together; And the lion will eat straw
like the ox. 8 And the nursing child
will play by the hole of the cobra, And
the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My
holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the
waters cover the sea.”
4.4.2.1. From this
verse, I must make the conclusion that the period being discussed by Isaiah
must be the period of the Millennial Reign of Christ because that is the only
time when there will be non-glorified people marrying and having children, yet
the curse of God from Genesis 3 is lifted from the earth.
5. VS 8:23 - “23 And not only this, but also
we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of
our body.” - Paul tells
us that even we ourselves are groaning within our hearts as we anxiously await
our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body
5.1.
In this verse, Paul writes that all true Christians
are also groaning within themselves awaiting the redemption of their body which
will occur when Christ returns for His church.
5.2.
Our dog is aging and now is 9 years old and my wife
and I have noticed over the last couple of years that more and more out of
nowhere she lets out a big groan. This
brings a chuckle from us. However, when
she does this we usually also remark questioning whether or not she has learned
to groan this way from hearing us? More
and more we find ourselves groaning. In
the morning when we awake or when the alarm rings, when we get out of bed, when
we stretch, when we have to get up off of the coach to put on our coat and go
somewhere, who knows how often when we roll over in the middle of the night, or
whenever it may be, we also sometimes let out a groan. In our hearts we also groan to see the Lord
return and rejuvenate our bodies in glory, and we groan in prayer desiring the
Lord to work mightily to bring revival in our lifetime and in our land.
5.3.
In 2 Cor. 5:2-4, Paul writes the same thing type of
thing speaking of Christians longing to be clothed with a heavenly body instead
of this temporary body which is diseased and decaying, “2 For indeed in this
house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; 3 inasmuch
as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in
this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed,
but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”
5.4.
Paul writes here that we Christians today have ‘the
first fruits of the Spirit,’ which means that we have the sealing of the
Spirit which is a guarantee of our inheritance, however we will be fully
partaking of the Spirit when the Lord returns for us and gives a spiritual body
to replace this physical body which is under God’s curse.
5.5.
Though Christians have already received ‘adoption
as sons,’ Paul speaks of the final consummation of our salvation as being a
time when we inherit the complete package of that promise of ‘adoption.’ The fullness of sonship
is still future for the Christian who is upon earth.
6. VS 8:24 - “24 For in hope we have been
saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what
he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait
eagerly for it.” - Paul tells
us that we have been saved in hope and now with perseverance we eagerly wait
for the fulfillment of our hope
6.1.
In these two verses, Paul defines what a Christian’s ‘hope’
consists of. The hope that a Christian
has is not “wishful thinking,” rather it is “confident expectation”
of what the Lord has promised that He will do on our behalf. This is what faith is defined as in Heb.
11:1.
6.2.
The ‘hope’ of Christians is primarily something
that he does not presently possess, but rather something future which the Lord
has promised to give him, therefore Paul writes that it is not seen.
6.3.
Further, Paul writes that the Christian who is truly
exercising ‘hope’ is persevering in his anxious expectation for what the
Lord according to the promises of scripture is going to do on his behalf.
6.4.
In 1 Thess. 5:8 Paul writes about the Christian’s ‘hope’
as being a helmet protecting his head, “8 But since we are of the day, let
us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet,
the hope of salvation.”
6.5.
We Christians need to be fixed upon our future hope in
Christ, which should then become an anchor to our soul to help us through the
difficult times and trials we face, as the author of Hebrews writes in Heb.
6:18-19 , “18 in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is
impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled
for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within
the veil,”
6.6.
As James wrote in James 5:7-8, we need to be patient
in waiting for the coming of the Lord, “7 Be patient, therefore, brethren,
until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce
of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. 8
You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at
hand.”
6.7.
If we Christians have hope in the salvation that the
Bible promises to those who belong to Christ, then we must and we will also
purify ourselves before God in anticipation of that day, knowing that we shall
appear before Him at the Judgment Day of believers, and, we shall be with Him
for all eternity as well. The apostle
John wrote about this purification of himself that a believer performs in 1
John 3:2-3, “2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared
as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him,
because we shall see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed
on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
7. VS 8:26 - “26 And in the same way the
Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should,
but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings
too deep for words;” - Paul tells
us that in the same way the Spirit helps our weaknesses for we do not know how
to pray as we ought but the Spirit intercedes for us
7.1.
In this verse, Paul begins by saying ‘in the say
way,’ and it would appear that the most likely thing that he has previously
said that he is referring to is what he said in verse 22 about creation groaning
for the revelation of the Sons of God and the groaning within believers who are
awaiting their adoption as sons and glorification with Christ.
7.2.
So then, Paul in this verse is seeking to give
encouragement to the church because of the work that the Holy Spirit does in
their lives helping them in the area of their weaknesses. Even though Christians have received
regeneration and subsequent salvation from sin, the life of a Christian is
still beset with weaknesses. Paul the
apostle said of himself said that he gloried in his weaknesses because it was
in his weaknesses that the power of God was able to be made strong.
7.3.
We do not know what to pray for at times and sometimes
even pray for things that would not be good for us or which would take us out
of God’s perfect will for our lives. We
can take comfort though in the fact that the Holy Spirit protects us from those
selfish or misguided prayer requests we make and interprets our prayers to the
Lord according to His will.
7.4.
At times we are totally at a loss concerning what to
pray for, sometimes overwhelmed by the spiritual weight and oppression upon us,
and sometimes even too weak to pray effectively
Yet, when we come to the Lord and pray the Holy Spirit intercedes for us
and prays for God’s perfect will for our life.
In the movie “Luther,” there is a scene that illustrates
this. Martin Luther is under spiritual
attack, his life is being threatened, he is facing severe temptations, and he
falls prostrate on his face before the Lord and just says, “Help me!” He stays there in prayer for a whole
day. During that time the Lord is
interceding for him and he finally gets up and the Lord has answered his
prayers and strengthened him.
7.5.
It is foundational to understand that the Holy Spirit
is given as a ‘helper’ to the Christian, as the apostle John records
Jesus saying in his gospel, chapter 14 verses 16-17, “16 “And I will ask the
Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does
not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and
will be in you.”
7.6.
So, the Holy Spirit’s general function for the
Christian is as a helper, advocate or comforter. He is here to assist the Christian in all
areas of his Christian walk.
7.7.
This Greek word that is translated as ‘helps’
is a word that means to give an assist to another, to help them bear a certain
load, as when someone who assists by
picking up one end of a load that another is carrying. Strong’s Greek dictionary has the following
entry for this word translated as ‘helps’ :
1)
to lay hold along with, to strive to obtain with others, help in
obtaining
2)
to take hold with another
7.8.
We Christians have our spirits redeemed and transformed
by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, however we still dwell in this sinful body
of flesh. This body of flesh so weighs
us down and preoccupies us that it is essential that the Holy Spirit help us in
our areas of weakness.
7.9.
So it is that God has given the 3rd person of the
Trinity to dwell within the Christian in order to help him with his ‘weaknesses,’
specifically when it comes to the area of prayer. We Christians often lack the wisdom and
knowledge we really need in order to pray according to God’s will in various
situations. Not only so, but we do not
really know what the future will bring, we do not know what is really inside
people’s hearts to do, and we do not know the plans that the Lord has in mind
for individuals and communities. Therefore,
it is for this reason that the Holy Spirit is needed to help us when we pray.
7.10.
How is it that the Holy Spirit does this? He ‘intercedes for us’ to the
Father. Thus, He turns our prayers into
the perfect will of God, and by His doing so we know that the Father will
answer our prayers. The apostle John
wrote in 1 John 5:14-15 about the efficacy of prayers that are offered which
are according to God’s will, “14 And this is the confidence which we have
before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And
if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the
requests which we have asked from Him.”
7.11.
So we see that not only is Christ our intercessor
before the Father on our behalf, but the Holy Spirit works within us when we
pray and makes intercession to God the Father for our prayers. So, two persons of the godhead are
interceding for the Christian to God the Father.
7.12.
This intercession of the Holy Spirit during prayer is
described by Paul as being ‘with groanings too
deep for words.’ A few questions come immediately to
mind then if this be the case.
7.12.1.
First of all, are we the
ones who are doing the groaning, or is it the Holy Spirit?
7.12.2.
Secondly, are the ‘groanings’ audible to us, or are these just heard by
God the Father as the Holy Spirit produces them?
7.12.3.
Third, are these
‘groanings’ what are referred to as the
praying or speaking in tongues which Paul writes about?
7.13.
My answers:
7.13.1.
MY ANSWER TO THE FIRST question is that the groanings must be produced by us since the Holy Spirit
would not need nor probably desire to produce mere groanings
to the Father in order to communicate to Him our prayer requests.
7.13.1.1. Sometimes
when my wife catches me having fallen asleep during prayer and snoring I
jokingly tell that she is hearing those groanings and
utterings that are too deep for words!
7.13.2.
MY ANSWER TO
THE SECOND question is that the groanings that are
referred to are sometimes produced by us in an audible way. I have read much literature about people who
prayed and prayed diligently for revival in their churches and their cities,
and that their prayers eventually turned into mostly groanings. After many days of prayer consisting mostly of groanings
and sighs, a great revival always ensued.
However, we Christians often have a groaning in our hearts that we do
not verbalize, yet it is there none-the-less.
7.13.2.1. I think in
many ways, Christians are quenching the Holy Spirit’s moving in their hearts and
their churches by refusing to allow themselves to groan before God in prayer
when they do not verbalize that groaning that is within their hearts. Groan away!
7.13.3.
MY ANSWER TO THE THIRD question is that I don’t think
that speaking in tongues can be described as ‘groanings’
in the Spirit. Those in Pentecostal camp
see the Spirit helping the Christian when he prays here as referring to
speaking in tongues. Praying in the
Spirit is something that Christians should always do (see 1 Cor. 14:15, Eph.
6:18, Jude 20), however to pray in the Spirit does not necessarily mean to pray
in tongues, but it does always refer to praying under the influence of the
Spirit. Plus, tongues speaking is the
speaking in a language to the Lord, whether a language on earth, or one that is
heavenly, such as the tongues of angels that Paul referrs
to in 1 Cor. 13. In other words the
language is intelligible in words, albeit perhaps only to God. However, this prayer that consists in ‘groanings’ is something different, however from the
context it is a phenomena of prayer that every Christian can and should
implement.
7.13.3.1. Paul
describes these ‘groanings’ as being ‘too
deep for words’ because the Christian groans in prayer when he does not
know how to pray as he should and he is being overwhelmed by the great need for
God to work in prayer accompanied by his great lack of discernment and wisdom
as to how to pray in the particular situation.
7.14.
We Christians need to realize that it is not a sin for
us not to know how to pray as we should, rather it is just a symptom of what we
already know is true of us, and that is that we have weaknesses, we are beset
with weaknesses. We lack spiritual
wisdom, knowledge and discernment, not to mention prophetic foresight. We need God’s help in all areas of our life.
7.15.
We Christians must also realize that we are commanded
to pray always and for all things, and that most of the time we will know
things that we ought to pray for, because we do know God’s will in certain
situations in peoples’ lives. This type of
prayer that is in ‘groanings’ should only
occur in our lives when we are perplexed and we know that we should pray about
something, but we don’t even know where to start nor what to ask for. Paul wrote about praying about everything in
Phil. 4:6-7, “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And
the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
7.16.
We Christians must also not think that this groaning
in prayer is the highest form of prayer that we can offer to God. It is just one aspect of prayer in the life
of a Christian, one that is necessitated upon because of the preponderance of
weaknesses in a Christian’s life.
7.17.
We as parents of newborn babies are thrilled by every
sound that our child makes when it is so young and new, and we love to hear our
child make any attempt to communicate with us before it knows how to talk. In the same way, we Christians must realize
that our heavenly Father loves any attempt that we make to talk sincerely to
Him, and even when we don’t know what we ought to say and we groan, it is a
pleasing sound in His ears. We should be
encouraged then to try and communicate with Him as best as we can and not feel
like we have to even really know what we are doing in order to do so.
8. VS 8:27 - “27 and He who searches the
hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the
saints according to the will of God.” -
Paul tells us that the One who searches the hearts knows what the mind
of the Spirit is for he intercedes for the saints according to God’s will
8.1.
This verse actually contains a particular enigma of
the godhead, in that Paul seeks to describe how it is that one member of the
godhead knows what the other member is seeking to accomplish, and yet both
persons work together to do according to the will of the third member of the
godhead. This is yet another verse that
displays all three persons of the Trinity working independently, yet in
unity.
8.2.
This verse refers to Jesus since it is He who ‘intercedes
for the saints.’ The author of the
book of Hebrews wrote in Heb. 7:25 about Jesus in the life of the believer, “25
Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through
Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Intercession is a form of prayer, and Jesus
is constantly praying for each and every Christian to the Father.
8.3.
Jesus then is also the one who ‘searches the hearts’
and who also ‘knows what the mind of the Spirit is,’ and He takes the groanings which Christians make in prayer and since He
knows what the Spirit has done in producing these groanings,
then He also knows what the mind of the Spirit is seeking in prayer. Jesus then takes these groanings
and intercedes to the Father in prayer for the person praying, with the prayer
being the kind of prayer that the Father must answer since it is being prayed
according to the will of God.
9. CONCLUSIONS:
9.1.
As we consider this teaching and how to apply it to
our lives, I would encourage you to realize when you pray that you need to “pray
in the Spirit.” Ask the Holy Spirit
to guide you and direct you as you pray and try to be as sensitive as you can
be to the Holy Spirit’s leading as you pray.
9.2.
Since you don’t have to always know God’s will when
you pray because the Holy Spirit will intercede for you according to God’s will
when you pray, then never be discouraged from bringing all things to God in
prayer. You can never go wrong by bringing
any matter to the Lord in prayer. Plus,
when we come to God in prayer an amazing thing happens for God meets with us
and begins to change our hearts and bring them into conformity with His will.