The Spirit Helps Us in Our Weakness—Romans 8:26

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26)

It is amazing to have such a partner in life. Throughout the entire chapter of Romans 8, Paul is teaching us about the marvelous companionship we have with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 16 that it was expedient for him to return to the Father in order to send to us the Holy Spirit ( John 16:7 ). He went on to explain how important He would be to us. "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come" ( John 16:13 ). The Holy Spirit was given to guide us into all truth and to be a helpmate for us while we navigate this life.

Paul has revealed to us several things in Romans 8 concerning the Holy Spirit. First, that those who are in Christ Jesus and walk according to the Spirit will face no condemnation in life ( Romans 8:1 ). Second, those who are controlled by the Spirit will experience life and soul peace in the midst of trouble (Romans 8:6). Third, the Spirit living inside of us will give life to our mortal bodies and we will live forever ( Romans 8:11 ). Fourth, those who live by the Spirit are children of God ( Romans 8:14 ) and He testifies and confirms with our spirit this very truth ( Romans 8:16 ). And today he reveals that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we pray ( Romans 8:26 ). He turns our prayers into acceptable, powerful utterances before the Lord. All of these things are wonderful alone, but we have received the entire package through faith Jesus.

Prayer is a powerful tool. Prayer releases the power of God upon the earth. John talks about praying in faith according to the will of God. "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him" ( I John 5:14-15 ). If we pray in faith and pray according to Gods will, then know and have confidence that God will answer us. The problem with this is a lot of times we don't understand God's will or we don't ask in faith. Paul concurred with this when he said "...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for..." ( Romans 8:26 ). The amazing thing about this is that we have the Holy Spirit to help us in our weaknesses when we pray. Paul said the Holy Spirit takes the words we speak and translates them into powerful supplication before the Lord on our behalf. The Amplified Bible puts it this way, "So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance" ( Romans 8:26 Amp ).The Holy Spirit is our prayer partner, helping us to release the power of God to act in our behalf.

James said, "...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" ( James 5:16b ). Through faith in Jesus we have been made righteous in his sight ( Romans 3:22 ). So we know our prayers yield tremendous power. To release this power, we must pray and allow the Holy Spirit to join with us and help us on our behalf.

Today, I am so blessed to know all the ways that the Holy Spirits helps us. What a great reminder to know that we are not alone but that we have this amazing gift living on the inside of us to show us and remind us the truth. Today, may you take this word and join with the Holy Spirit in release the power of prayer in your life, Amen.

 

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Juli Camarin

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