An Incredible Promise

“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.” (Ro 8:26 AV)

Ignorance is an infirmity.  With prayer, this makes much sense.  How do we pray to an all-knowing God who has a perfect plan for all things down to every detail?  Let’s face it, it is not His omnipotence or even omniscience that we struggle with.  It is the providence of God that is our hindrance.  In many things, we do not know what the will of the Father is.  In some things, it is obvious.  Holiness is a no-brainer.  Salvation for all is another.  But with the particulars of life, sometimes we simply do not know what God wills.  Does God will perfect health, or has he determined sickness and disease as a means of expressing His wish?  It is our infirmity to not know the perfect will of God in all things.  We are in the dark for much of it.  That is why the promise above resonates with the child of God.  The Spirit prays for us.  He may pray with us, but the verse above says that He prays for us.  Why?  Because we are at a disadvantage.  Our humanity cannot pray completely.  We can only take guesses.  We simply do not know enough to pray effectively in all things.  The promise above is a precious one!

Think of an advocate who knows someone’s situation better than he or she ever will.  They have expertise that the individual never will have.  The individual is in great need.  He or she simply does not understand it, cannot self-diagnose, nor find the right solution.  In the field of medicine, this happens all the time.  With my wife’s cancer, specialists are a must.  The cancer is a rare type.  It is treatable and manageable.  Her cancer is not a death-sentence.  People with her type of cancer, with the grade and stage in which she was diagnosed, can live decades with it.  The downside of this type of cancer it that it comes with a wide variety of complications that can affect other body systems.  This means she needs several specialists to simply navigate the complications that come because of it.  This also means that information regarding her cancer and the different complications is overwhelming and changing.  It is often said that patients with her type of cancer are the most well-informed of all types.  That is because of the duration of the disease and the individual considerations the course of this disease takes.  No two cases are the same.  The medical field cannot pigeonhole patients into a set treatment for all situations.  Treatments have to be tailormade for each person.  What this further means is your specialist needs to be a great advocate for things that you are not even aware of nor might understand.  We have such a specialist.

This is what our advocate, the Holy Spirit, does for us.  We are not the only ones praying for our needs.  Other believers are praying.  Churches are praying.  Family is praying.  Most of all, the Holy Spirit is praying.  He is God.  He has the mind of God.  He is just as all-knowing as the Father.  This means the Spirit is praying with knowledge that is too high for us.  He is praying with all things in consideration.  He is uttering in groanings (which reveals His feelings for us and our situation) which cannot be heard nor understood.  When we think in this, it blows the mind.  We enter the throne room of God with company.  Jesus is our chief advocate.  We know He prays for us and with us.  He did so in John chapter seventeen.  Now, we learn that even when we do not pray as we should, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and prays in ways we will never understand.  I cannot imagine what that might look like.  God, the Holy Spirit and God the Father are having a conversation about each and every saint of God simultaneously, perfectly and without error.  What a incomprehensible God we worship!  So, don’t get frustrated.  Take the verse above by faith.  Trust that the Spirit knows our situation better than we ever will and is presenting it before the Father!  He is there on your behalf, praying prayers it would be impossible for us to pray so that the Father’s perfect will is accomplished in the life of each of us.