THE BOOK OF ROMANS Thursday – June 6, 2013 – Romans 8:26-27 “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. 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..” In Matthew 6, our Lord is telling the disciples how they should pray. He is not giving them a prayer to memorize and repeat in order to please God, He is telling them not to pray for public appeal or public recognition but, “After this manner, therefore, pray ye:” Jesus is telling them that His Father in heaven is their Father in heaven, “Our Father, Who art in heaven”, and He is telling them that Gods very name is hallowed. He is telling them to look forward to God’s kingdom and His will in their lives and to ask for daily guidance while forgiving their sin. Paul tells us that we really do not know how to pray; actually, what to pray for. I think of Matthew 6:8, which says, “…for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him” and I see that He knows because the Spirit has made intercession for us “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Think about it. With all the millions of people on this earth, and the mega-millions of things going on at any given moment, God is so tuned in to you that He knows your needs before you even ask Him. The Holy Spirit is in your heart, with you wherever you go, listening in on your every thought, feeling your every need, and making intercession for you before God the Father in heaven. When you have the sniffles, the Holy Spirit knows it, even before you do; when you have cancer, the Holy Spirit knows it, even before you do; when a need arises in your life, the Holy Spirit has already presented it before God. Our prayers are an affirmation that we trust Him to care for us and provide for our needs, and a recognition that we need Him to care for us and provide for our needs. I remember a time in my life when my grief was so hard to bear that I had no idea how to pray or what to pray for. In fact, I don’t even think that I thought to pray at times. My heart was breaking, my life was changing in ways that I had no idea how to handle, but the Holy Spirit was there for me making intercession, talking to God for me, helping me to cope even when I was not conscious that He was there. I remember that final morning before my son died, sitting alone with him in the den, at his feet with my head on his knee. As he sat there dying, at sixteen years old, I was having a major pity party. I could not understand why God would allow this to happen to us, why God would allow our family to go through something like this. I was blaming God for deserting me and pleading for some kind of answer. As I sat there on the floor, I felt my son touching my neck with his fingers. I knew he had an oxygen mask over his face, and medication flowing into him through an IV, so I sat up, turned around and asked him what he needed. He reached up and pulled his oxygen mask aside, and his response floored me! He said, “I hope that something that one of those doctors did to me will help them cure someone else down the road.” God answered my prayer, through the voice of my dying sixteen year old child. Our lives are not our own, we are a part of a much larger picture than the selfish one I had been painting for myself. From that day forward, I have taken what Chip said to me as a challenge. I have tried to ask God to send me someone every day that I can have a positive influence on, that I can touch in some way, that my life will mean something other than the possessions I accumulate, that I would store my treasures in heaven and not on this earth. When I am gone, I hope no one will remember me as the guy with the truck, or the guy with all the pets, but will remember me as the guy who loved his God and showed it. My prayer for today- Even when I do not know what to pray for, or how to pray for it, the Holy Spirit is making intercession for me, Lord, and You already know my needs. Help me not to use that as an excuse not to pray, but to pray as an affirmation of my love for You and my need for You in every moment of my life. Help me, Lord, to be a blessing to someone today. Send me someone, and help me to see them when You do. For these daily devotions/studies to truly apply to your life, you must first belong to God. He will welcome you because He loves you, even before you love Him. He loves you so much that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Scripture tells us that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation, (Romans 10:9,10). Won’t you confess today and ask Jesus to forgive your sins and be your Savior? He is waiting with open arms…
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:11:56 +0000
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