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Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)
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.
27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
Romans
8:31-34 (NIV)
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us,
who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us
all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It
is God who justifies.
34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than
that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also
interceding for us.
How often I have heard the following,
"I just cannot pray any more. It seems that all my prayers are empty of
any power. All that I pray for never happens, things only get worse."
If your prayer life is anything like mine I
am sure you have more than once said something like this. Perhaps you have
prayed and prayed and prayed for something that you were truly concerned
about and instead of things becoming better they grew worse. Then the
circumstances convinced you that prayer was of no effect so you stopped, or
at least prayed only because you knew good Christians should.
Does the Word of God have anything to say
to those of us who have felt like this before or perhaps even now? Yes it
does I can assure you of this. Let us consider the text before us. What
happens when we do not know how to pray? The Holy Spirit takes up our prayers
and intercedes for us. He prays for the will of God to be accomplished in us.
He is at work even now directing our thoughts and our prayers.
To be empowered in our prayer life we must
depend on the Holy Spirit to pray through us. When we come to prayer we
should immediately agree with God that unless his Holy Spirit works in us our
prayers will be empty and powerless. It makes sense to spend time to listen
to God's Word as we prepare our hearts for prayer.
A saint I know said it best, "I read
the Bible until I can believe God again and then I find that I can pray with
great confidence. Prayer is only taking God at His Word and staking your
claim to his promises."
What confidence can we have in our prayers
because of the promises of God? We can take our stand on these passages to
start with, "Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both interceding for us so
how can we lose in this exercise of prayer?
Let us take our stand in prayer that the
power and promises of God will be made available yo us as we seek the Father
in prayer.
Holding tightly to the Word of God and His
Promises,
Pastor Phil
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