Rev. Phyllis Pottorff-Albrecht, United Brethren Communi

commented on Dec 2, 2017

One day, you will need to tackle Romans 8:26 - 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. - Romans 8:26 OR - as the Amplified puts it - 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. This verse has always given me a great deal of comfort - because so much of the "popular" preaching today seems to emphasize the theory that everyone needs to "speak the correct words" in order to have their prayers answered. This passage is assurance that, even when you are so overwhelmed, you are having difficulty forming any type of prayer - the Lord is already rushing His assistance to guide your prayers. When we participated in an Ancestry DNA project, we discovered that the first members of my father's family, who came to North America had left comfortable lives as University professors in Europe had left their homes in 1708 - Just a few months ahead of the coldest winter to hit Europe in the past 500 years. Although many passengers passed away during the six months voyage from England to New York, many of the passengers who arrived in the colonies worked in the tar and pitch industry. This is actually better news than it sounds at first. The severe cold of 1709 destroyed European trees as far south as Florence, Italy. Those left in Europe, who tried to cut down trees to use as firewood - found themselves tackling trees which were more like the trees in the Petrified Forest! The good news was that the killing cold had NOT migrated from Europe to North America - and North American trees were still healthy - healthy enough to provide the tar and pitch which was needed for building - especially building ships. Now, both European and American governments have learned how to conserve forests. Our ancestors, who had been University professors before they left Europe - learned how to cut down trees and put up their own homes. Knowing nothing about tilling the soil, most of their descendants still became farmers - and successful farmers at that. They had all left Europe, searching for religious freedom - and established a new homeland, where they worked to help establish religious freedom for themselves and their descendants. There must have been many times when they all felt overwhelmed by the seemingly impossible tasks ahead of them - yet letters which many left behind show that the more impossible the tasks ahead seemed to be - the more determined they were to look to the Lord for the strength which they knew they would need to continue working in the path which He had set before them.