A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.
The last two parts have been heavy ones. Asking amiss . . . and a kinked line . . . and six things that hinder a man's praying . . . if a man read those two back to back he could come away thinking that praying is a narrow business and he is likely to get it wrong.
So this one is the relief, and it is not a change of subject . . . it is the same subject from the other side.
Because Paul turns around and admits, flat out, that we do not know how to do this – and then tells us what God has done about it.
THE ADMISSION
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.”
We know not what we should pray for as we ought. That is Paul writing . . . the man who wrote Romans . . . if he did not know – I am going to quit pretending that I do.
And be careful how you read that. He is not saying that we do not know what we want – we know that fine. He is saying we do not know what we OUGHT. What this means – is that we cannot see far enough down the road – to know what is best . . . and half the time we are asking for the thing that would ruin us.
Now most preaching stops on that verse and makes it about our weakness. But Paul did not write it to make us feel small . . . look at the first four words. The Spirit also helpeth. The admission is only there to set up THE HELP...
THE WORD PAUL USED
The word behind helpeth – is one of the biggest words in the New Testament – and it is only used twice in the whole Bible.
It is built out of three pieces – along with - over against - and to take hold . . . put them all together and it says: to take hold of a thing ‘on the other end’ alongside somebody.
That is not a man calling advice out to us from the porch . . . that is a man who comes down and gets under the other end of it alongside of us…
And the only other place it shows up is Martha - in Luke 10 - asking the Lord to bid her sister help her… She was not asking for suggestions about the kitchen… She wanted somebody on the OTHER END of the work.
WHAT HE ACTUALLY DOES
Romans 8:27 — “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Now put the two verses together - because there is a chain running through them - and it is the whole comfort of this passage…
I do not know what I ought to ask for… BUT the Spirit does - and He takes hold of the other end . . . and what He carries up to God - is according to the will OF God – which is the very standard that ‘Part Seven’ said everything has to meet…
So look what has happened . . . the thing I could not do for myself - is being done for me - at the exact point where I was going to fail… I could not get my asking lined up with His will . . . so - somebody else is lining it up…
And notice one more thing… He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit… The Father is reading THE SPIRIT rather than reading my wording . . . my poor words are not the message… They are the occasion for the message.
✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE
If we go back to the 107 PS… Remember the four groups that were mentioned here – the wanderer – the prisoner – the fool – and the storm tossed… I remember being “the prisoner” guilty of rebelling against the Word of The Lord – being “bound” in affliction and iron – and there was NONE to help… When I recognized my position – I had no words to offer – all I had was a cry ‘in my heart’ – and it was this CRY that The Holy Spirit found when He searched my heart – and this is what He took to God in the form of my prayer… with a request (and words) that I did not know how to make… — C.T.
THE INTERPRETER
Here is the picture I keep coming back to.
A man is standing in an office - in a country whose language he does not speak… He has a real need . . . and it is urgent . . . and every word he owns is the wrong word… He can point . . . and he can say it louder - and none of that is going to help him.
And a man steps up beside him who knows both languages perfectly… He listens to the mess the man is making of it – gets what he actually means - not what he actually said – and turns to the man behind the desk and says it right.
The stammering man did not become eloquent… He got an interpreter . . . and the message that arrived at that desk was accurate - and it was accurate because of the interpreter and not because of the man with the need...
That is Romans 8:26. And notice that a man cannot hire this interpreter and he does not have to… He is already standing there.
Simple truth: God did not answer our not knowing how to pray by teaching us to be eloquent… He answered it by sending Somebody to carry it up for us...
GROANINGS WHICH CANNOT BE UTTERED
Now that phrase . . . it has been made into all kinds of things it isn’t - so let us handle it carefully.
Cannot be uttered means exactly what it says – not able to be spoken . . . whatever this is - it is not something coming out of a man's mouth… Paul is not describing a sound we make… He is describing something too deep for sound.
And the groaning is not new in the chapter . . . it is the third one in a row… Verse 22, the whole creation groaneth… Verse 23, we ourselves groan within ourselves… Verse 26, the Spirit groans with groanings that cannot be uttered.
A world that is not right (groaneth) - a people who feel that it is not right (groan within ourselves) - and a Spirit who takes that ache and carries it to God (groanings that cannot be uttered) . . . that is a chapter about hope, and this is what this concept is talking about…
AND HE IS NOT ONLY FOR THE HARD DAYS
This is not just for the times ‘a man’ is too broken to talk… Paul puts the Spirit in the middle of ordinary praying:
Ephesians 6:18 — “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
Jude 20 — “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”
Praying always… All prayer… So ‘in the Spirit’ is not a SPECIAL GEAR for emergencies . . . it is meant to be the ordinary way - a saved man prays.
And He (The Holy Spirit) is the reason a man can call God ‘Father’ in the first place…
Galatians 4:6 — “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
Abba . . . that is what a child in that country called his daddy . . . it is not formal, and it is not grand - and the Spirit is the one who put that word into our mouth…
So - every time a man opens his prayer with ‘Father’ – the way the Lord taught us in Part Five – that word came from the Spirit - before it ever came from the one praying...
📖 FROM THE PULPIT
Think of a small child who cries when ths when they are hungry – when they need a diaper changed… the mother knows exactly what the child is trying to say – and the child cannot even talk yet… Our old dog could say things that I understood – he never uttered a word – but I could tell by his bark – what he was wanting to say… Our prayers will NEVER be heard because of our MUCH SPEAKING – they will only be heard if our heart is humble before God… — C.T.
NOW LET ME GUARD THIS
Two guards - and I want both of them to be plain…
Knowing that The Holy Spirit is going to interpret – is NOT a reason to quit trying to pray well... The Spirit helping does not mean my part is nothing… Paul did not stop praying after he wrote Romans 8 – he prayed MORE . . . and he told churches what he was praying ‘for them’ - in detail . . . the presence of an interpreter does not excuse the man from opening his mouth…
And this is not a license to make prayer strange… Groanings which cannot be uttered are - by Paul's own word - not uttered (not spoken) ... So - whatever a man hears out loud in a room during a prayer - is not what this verse is talking about... I want us to be careful here . . . because this passage gets pulled around a great deal . . . and the plain reading is both ‘plainer and better’ than all the strange things it gets pulled into.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
There are three – who are praying for you – and only one of them who is praying – is you.
The Son is at the right hand of God and ever liveth to make intercession – that was Part Six… The Spirit is inside - taking hold of the other end - carrying up to God what we could not say ourselves – and that is this part… And the Father is reading the Spirit's mind while He listens to our words.
So - a man is not standing at that throne by himself - working up the right words with everything hanging on whether he gets them right… He is the smallest part of his own praying . . . and that is the best news in this whole study.
TRY IT THIS WEEK
Find the thing you have not been able to pray about – and there is usually at least one thing in our life that fits here . . . the thing we start praying about and then quit - because we don’t quite know what to ask for…
Take this to Him this week without a request attached... Say - Lord, I do not know what to ask for here . . . and then be quiet a minute and leave it there…
That is not giving up... According to Romans 8 - that is the prayer with the best help behind it…
NEXT — Part Ten: Keep Knocking. If God knows and God helps, then why does He make us ask twice? Elijah sent that boy up the hill seven times . . . and the Lord told a story about a widow who would not go home.
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