ROMANS UNWRAPPED 140

THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT, PREPARING US FOR GLORY:
6)   Assisting us in our weaknesses.

"Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit Himself makes intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  

Romans 8v26

"Likewise..... also "   takes us back to the previous verse and the connection is obvious.   There the Holy Spirit is pointing us to future blessings, and using that to smooth our pathway here.   However in this verse He recognises that we are still on this earth in all our weaknesses and so He is involved here in our present distresses.   This is all about Divine help with us all through life.   He helps us, the word is "jointly" helps us in our infirmities.   That is He is involved with us every step of the way, He is our spiritual partner providing assistance whenever we need it.   This is one of the highest truths in the New Testament concerning the believer's life; God at work in a human soul!  

It has to be said that if we understand the revelation of the Bible, God will only do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.   He expects us to use the talents that He has given us and the energy and the time that He has given us to fulfil maximum effort on our part; but there are things that we cannot do, there are inherent weaknesses and this is where the Holy Spirit comes in with His gracious assistance.   In particular, He mentions prayer, something that should be a normal part of Christian living, namely communication with heaven.   Rather than being seen as a chore it is the greatest privilege on earth, and the greatest power for the Christian life.   The apostle James speaking of prayer highlights two problems with it.   The first is that we don't pray at all  "You have not because you ask not."   The second problem is that we pray the wrong way  " Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts."   James 4v2-3   In all our weakness we have to learn to ask God for His help; but we must recognise to whom we are praying, a perfect God, and we have to know, or get to know, what to ask for, and how to ask for it.   This is the downfall of many a Christian life.   First of all we must speak to God in our troubles and secondly, we must know how to speak to God.   If Jesus needed to pray when He was here in the flesh, how much more do we.   When He was here He taught His disciples how to pray, (see Matthew chapter 6).   The biblical teaching on this is very important.  

a)   We need to pray constantly and in every situation  "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."   Ephesians 6v18

b)  We must pray or learn to pray according to the will of God "this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us and if we know that He hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."  1st John 5v14-15 

c)  We must pray in His name, taking account of all His Divine character.   "And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name that will I do."  John 14v13   Other scriptures along the same line are John 15v16 and John 16v23-24.

In prayer we are praying to God the most hallowed being, we must learn to how to approach Him, we must learn to pray according to His will and according to His Name.   Prayer is useless otherwise and this is where the Holy Spirit comes in.   We don't know what to pray for or how to pray for it as we ought but the Spirit comes alongside us and interprets our prayers acknowledging our weakness, making intercession for us, coming between us and a perfect God and he does so with groanings which cannot be expressed in human language.  

We have seen creation groaning waiting for a better day'; we have seen believers groaning waiting for the redemption of the body, now, amazingly, we see the holy Spirit groaning before the Father reflecting the pain and the weakness that we all feel and that we all exhibit.   This is how close the Holy Spirit is with us assisting us in all our need and making our prayers, which would ordinarily be rejected, acceptable to God.   We must say before we finish that believers should learn how to pray more properly as time goes on.   The Bible points to people who were known for their greatness in prayer such as Moses and Samuel and God acknowledges that their prayers carried more weight with Him than many others.  There is a progress in prayer and it is the work of the Spirit to help us along this pathway.