A. Four years ago, the world experienced a crisis that few of us had experienced in our lifetime – a microscopic virus shut down life as we had known it.
1. The Covid 19 pandemic crippled the economy, incited global anxiety, and took the lives of multitudes of people.
2. It created a tsunami of fear and altered every aspect of our lives for a number of years.
3. New phrases captivated our consciousness and vocabulary: “shelter in place,” “social distancing,” and “flatten the curve.”
4. Masks covered our faces, fear shrouded our hearts, and the dread of a fatal inhale shut our doors.
5. In hindsight, governments – including our own – might have taken a different or better approach, but in truth no one really knew what to do or how to do it.
6. And more importantly, we often didn’t know how to pray.
B. Many ministries, including Max Lucado’s, created virtual prayer pages and their pages were flooded with prayer requests.
1. Some of the prayer requests were: pray that I find some work, pray that I get along with my family, pray that I can sleep, and pray for someone to call me, I’m lonely.
2. But the most common requests were like these:
a. I don’t know what to ask, just pray for me.
b. I’m at a loss for words, can you mention my name?
c. I try to pray but I can’t, most of the time I just weep.
d. I’d pray, but the needs are too great for words.
e. All I can do is sigh.
3. These kinds of prayer requests are the groans of the heart.
a. Most of us have heard them and many of us have made them.
b. They are the language of pain, the vocabulary of despair.
c. When there are no words, these are the words.
C. Nevertheless, these guttural appeals find their way into the presence of God the Father.
1. How can we be sure of that? Because the Bible tells us that they are entrusted into the care of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Bible says: 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. 23 Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies…26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:22-23, 26-27)
3. Few passages of Scripture reveal the tender heart of the Holy Spirit as much as this passage.
4. We are more familiar with the Holy Spirit’s mighty deeds:
a. Like what appeared like flames of fire falling on the apostles on the day of Pentecost.
b. Like doors opening for the apostle Paul.
c. Like the prophet Ezekiel seeing the dead bones rise.
d. Like the deliverer Moses seeing the Red Sea part.
5. Those mighty deeds are powerful, but equally powerful and important is the way the Holy Spirit intercedes for the children of God.
D. One of the important things for us to understand and to rest in is the fact that the presence of the Holy Spirit does not guarantee the absence of pain.
1. This passage from Romans 8 mentions our groaning and our weakness.
2. Pain is a part of every life, Christian and non-Christian, and it leads to groaning and weakness.
3. Paul and Timothy both had their physical afflictions and weaknesses, which God did not remove.
4. Many in our church family suffer from ongoing chronic illnesses, including: migraines, diabetes, arthritis, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, COPD, and cancer.
5. But other groanings and weaknesses come from other sources: a crumbling marriage, the rejection or abuse from someone, a business failure, unemployment, or poverty.
E. All these groanings and weaknesses lead to the same struggle in prayer.
1. Perhaps we feel like Hezekiah who prayed: “I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward.” (Isaiah 38:14)
2. Or perhaps we feel like the psalmist who wrote: “I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.” (Psalm 38:8-9)
3. There is often a gap between what we want from life and what we get in life, and during such times of struggle and weakness, “we do not know what to pray for as we ought.” (Rom. 8:26)
4. Aren’t you thankful for Paul’s honest admission?
5. If the great apostle Paul did not always know how to pray, then we shouldn’t be surprised that we often experience the same!
6. What should the cancer patient request? Physical healing or deliverance into heaven?
7. What should the parent of a prodigal pray for? God’s patience for their child or a pigpen to get their attention?
8. What should the persecuted prisoner ask for? Release from captivity or endurance in captivity?
9. What should the person who wants to be married request? For Mr. Right or Mrs. Right to come along, or to be at peace and sustained by the presence of God?
10. What should the person applying for the promotion pray? That they be granted the new position, or be granted satisfaction in their present position?
F. Truth is, we often don’t know how we should pray and that’s why we need the Holy Spirit to be our intercessor.
1. With the help of the Spirit, we realize that the ultimate purpose of prayer is not to get our will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth.
2. Paul declared, “because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts know the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Rom. 8:26-27)
3. To intercede is simply to stand in between – when a strong person takes up the cause of a weak person, then intercession happens.
4. Intercession means to bring a petition on behalf of someone, or to plead for someone.
5. When we talk about “intercessory prayer,” we are talking about a person praying or pleading for someone else.
a. Intercession isn’t us praying for ourselves, it is us praying for others.
b. And that’s what the Spirit does for us.
6. Notice that the text says that the Spirit himself intercedes for us.
a. The text doesn’t say the Spirit itself intercedes for us – the Spirit isn’t an it, it is a He.
b. The Spirit does things only a Person can do.
7. We also notice that the text doesn’t say that the Spirit intercedes through us, or by us, or with us, but says He intercedes for us.
a. Intercession is something that the Spirit is doing all by Himself apart from us.
b. It isn’t something that the Spirit is inspiring us to do for ourselves, rather it is something that He does for us.
8. And, we notice, that He does it in accordance with the will of God.
a. This is exactly the point where we are the weakest, we often don’t know what the will of God is, but the Spirit always knows what the will of God is.
b. The Holy Spirit is God and therefore knows the mind of God and the will of God.
c. The very one who knows our problems and knows the mind of God is the very one who is praying for us! Isn’t that amazing!!
d. The Spirit takes what is weighing on our hearts which we don’t know how to express, and He takes them and brings them into conformity with the will of God and prays the perfect prayer to God the Father on our behalf.
9. Exactly what does the Spirit say to God? The text says that He makes this intercession with inexpressible groanings.
a. The Spirit’s prayer on our behalf is so deep and so profound and so comprehensive that it cannot be put into human words.
b. In a sense it is “God-talk,” not “human-talk.”
c. When God talks with Himself, when the Spirit talks with the Father about us, and when Jesus also makes mediation for us, then the concern of the Triune God is always for our good and our salvation.
d. That’s why the very next verse in Romans 8, is the well-known verse: We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (Rom. 8:28)
e. God often hides from us the purposes for the things that are happening, but we can rest assured that they are working toward our good and not our ill.
f. The Christian life has often been compared to a tapestry where we only see the bottom side of it with all the knots and stitches and confusion of color, but God who is weaving the tapestry sees it from the top and is perfectly weaving things into a beautiful outcome.
g. When we get to heaven and see the completed picture, it will make more sense.
G. Who is the “us” that the Spirit is praying for? The saints.
1. And who are the saints? Are they all the super spiritual Christians? Do they all live in New Orleans?
2. No, everyone who is born again and therefore is a child of God is a saint.
3. The word “saint” is derived from a Greek verb (hagiazo) whose basic meaning is “to set apart, sanctify, or make holy.”
4. Becoming a “saint” isn’t something we do for ourselves, but something that God does for us.
5. When we express our faith through repentance, confession and baptism, God sets us apart, sanctifies us, and makes us holy.
6. Our holiness and righteousness is given to us through Jesus and that makes us a “saint.”
7. Because of our position in Christ, it is God’s will that we live holy lives and that our conduct and character becomes holy and pure, like God who is holy and pure.
8. But all Christians are “saints” from the moment of their conversion.
9. In Romans 1:7, Paul wrote: to all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints.
10. As imperfect and immature as the Corinthian church was, Paul still addressed them as: To the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor. 1:2)
11. The Holy Spirit is praying for us – we are God’s saints; His children; His set apart ones who are made holy through Jesus.
12. And as God’s children we have the indwelling of the Spirit and this is a blessing that those who are outside of Christ do not have; the Spirit does not live in them nor is the Spirit their intercessor.
H. Let me make an important clarification at this point: The fact that we have weakness and limited vision and have the Spirit praying for us, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pray.
1. Prayer is an essential practice of the Christian life.
2. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16)
3. Through prayer we receive God’s strength and peace as we draw near to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
4. So, the last thing I want for any of us to conclude from today’s sermon is that we don’t have to pray any more, because the Spirit is praying for us.
5. Keep on praying for yourself and for others – that’s what Paul admonished us to do: Pray constantly (1 Thess. 5:17) and “Pray at all times in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18).
I. As we bring this sermon to a conclusion, I want us to consider this illustration from an experience of 12 boys from Thailand.
1. Back in 2018, 12 boys made a decision that nearly cost them their lives.
a. They descended into the recesses of the Tham Luang cave in Thailand.
b. Their plan was simple: poke around for an hour, emerge with fun memories, and cycle home.
2. Unfortunately, a sudden storm flooded the passageways and trapped the group deep inside.
a. They had no food and no light and no communication with the outside world.
b. The boys had no way of knowing, but people around the world were praying for them.
3. God heard our prayers and a network of nations developed a rescue plan.
a. The effort involved more than ten thousand people – divers, rescue workers, soldiers, helicopter pilots and ambulance drivers; as well as diving cylinders, sniffer dogs, drones and robots.
4. It took the workers 9 days, but divers eventually found the boys huddled on a muddy ledge.
a. The 1st rescuer removed his mask and told the boys, “I’m just the first, others are coming.”
5. Can you imagine how they felt when they heard those words?
a. If so, then you can imagine how the Spirit wants us to feel when the Spirit says: “I am praying for you.”
b. We aren’t trapped beneath a mile of earth, but we may be stuck in a dark place with no way out.
c. When we find ourselves in that kind of time and place, then we can be encouraged to know that our Helper is here and when we don’t know what to pray the Spirit knows and prays for us.
J. So, here’s what I want us to be encouraged by today:
1. First, Let’s be encouraged by the fact that God does not expect us to know the will of God for us in every specific situation.
a. We can and do know the revealed will of God found in the Bible, but we don’t know all the specifics of God’s will for certain circumstances of our lives, and that’s okay.
2. Second, Let’s be encouraged by the fact that when we don’t know what to pray, the Spirit knows what to pray and prays it on our behalf.
a. If God hears our prayers, then how much more does God hear and answer the prayers of God the Holy Spirit, who always prays for us in accordance with God’s will?
3. Third, Let’s be encouraged by the fact that God’s work in our lives isn’t limited to what we can understand – God is working in ways far beyond our understanding.
4. Fourth, Let’s be encouraged by the fact that God works all things for our good, even when those things include weakness, sickness, hardship, loss and even death.
a. Ultimately, God is for us, not against us!
K. How awesome it is that God is our Father, Jesus is our brother, Lord and Savior, and that the Holy Spirit is our helper and intercessor, who prays for us! We are truly blessed, indeed!
Resources:
Help Is Here, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2022
The Intercession of the Holy Spirit, by Rodney Kleyn
The Intercession of the Holy Spirit, by Brian Anderson
