The Aid of the Spirit
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For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Intro: Understanding that our only access to God in prayer is through the work of His Spirit!
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.
For a moment if we may consider Paul...
That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
All of that Paul was used to do, all that he accomplished for God and yet, it is Paul that says… “we know not what we should pray for as we ought:”
So we conclude to this fact, that we don’t know how to pray, what to pray, to whom to pray, lest we be guided.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
That guidance comes by the hand of the indwelling Spirit of God!
We must be mindful of this truth… Because we live in a day and time of great wise men, a day when men have concluded that they can call upon God without any assistance. Yet, the apostle Paul, said… “we know not what we should pray for...”
“as we ought” To avoid this phrase, or to remove this phrase would have us in a mess...
And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
Paul says we must pray as we ought… but we cannot do this by skill or devise of man… But it is the Spirit itself… Notice it isn’t the Spirit plus man…
Why is this important? Many have asked...
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
“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.”
Without this work of the Spirit of God in our prayers, we are critical, cold, and hypocritical at best.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
A Discourse Touching Prayer What It Is to Pray with the Spirit
It is not the excellency of the voice, nor the seeming affection, and earnestness of him that prayeth, that is anything regarded of God without it. For man, as man, is so full of all manner of wickedness, that as he cannot keep a word, or thought, so much less a piece of prayer clean, and acceptable to God through Christ; and for this cause the Pharisees, with their prayers, were rejected. No question but they were excellently able to express themselves in words, and also for length of time, too, they were very notable; but they had not the Spirit of Jesus Christ to help them, and therefore they did what they did with their infirmities or weaknesses only, and so fell short of a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of their souls to God, through the strength of the Spirit. That is the prayer that goeth to heaven, that is sent thither in the strength of the Spirit.
Because of my infirmities, I need to Spirit!