Help In Our Weakness

(S1)

Do you ever struggle with prayer…? How to pray? What to say?

A father, walking past his 5 year old daughter’s room one night, proudly noticed she was on her knees in prayer. Listening in, he heard this curious prayer- "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"- repeated several times. When she was finished, he asked her what it meant: "God is really smart," she said, "when I don’t know what to pray about, I just say the alphabet and He figures it out for me"

Pray a key spiritual discipline…(means of grace)

“Wesley likened the operation of the Spirit to the natural process of breathing. As the “breath of God,” the Spirit inspires “every good desire” in the heart as the believer exhales back to God “unceasing love and praise and prayer.”

Prayer left up to me, doesn't generally go very well—Control/order/plans

Today’s message is not about how to pray…but the help we have in praying in a way that aligns with the will of God.

Jesus prayed...taught…Jesus prays for us...Spirit of God helps us in pray

(S2) — SERIES—Life in the Spirit—Romans 8

Last Week—How God’s Glory is to be revealed...

— Through the suffering of all of CREATION in hopes of liberation

— Through the suffering of all BELIEVERS in hope of redemption

Present sufferings (sin)/Future Glory(redemption)—God’s condemnation of sin/death through Christ…

“for he hath justified them "freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus." He hath forgiven all their iniquities, and blotted out all their sins.” (J.W).

The apostle Paul confirms this...

1 there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Yet, believers still struggle from their corrupted state…Struggle with flesh/spirit

—Creation is groaning (8:22)— longing for its full restoration—Believers groan inwardly (23)…in hopes of better days ahead

When the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt God heard their groanings. As captives, they could not move freely from place to place, only stand in place and groan, crying out to the Lord for their freedom.

“When a believer is truly saved, they possesses the God’s Spirit, and bear the fruit of the Spirit. They then begin to live abundantly, and experience the fullness of God’s Spirit. His love, joy, and peace, causing them to groan and ache … for the perfection of the Spirit’s presence and fruit — for the day of adoption, when he will actually move into the perfect presence of God — for the redemption of his body” (POSB)

(S3) — Today…how help comes from the Spirit in our weakness

The Spirits deep groaning, with our spirit, connecting us intimately with the will of God in prayer

Read 8:26-27

Living Life in the Spirit you have all you need…

‘Let it Be’ — Protestant version

When I find myself in times of trouble, H.S. comes to me...

Three benefits of living Life in the Spirit, connecting us to the will of God

PRAY

(S4) — Two big hurdles in life (men)—Admitting we are WRONG…WEAK

Admitting we are weak means we need help, which we are most often afraid to ask for

A Dad’s Strength/flex our muscles

I later realized…that my dad’d greater strength was not measured by his might

— The strength of his character—Honoring God—The way he faithfully stood by my mother…

I pray that my kids see a strength in me that has nothing to do with my strength, and everything to do with admitting that I am weak.

2 Corinthians 12:8–9 “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”

Life in the Spirit is about flexing your spiritual muscle…who you are in Christ.

— It starts with admitting that we we don’t have the strength to do it on our own.

(S5)

And...the Holy Spirit helps us…in our weakness.

in the same way (NIV)...

— because of the Spirit Christ in us…God’s Spirit gives us hope which saves us (24)

Now we learn that the spirit comes along side us...taking on our burdens of living in the flesh and the temptation we may face...

1 Corinthians 10:13 “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

The first benefit of living Life in the Spirit that connects us to the will of God

(S6)

I. The PHYSICAL involvement of the Spirit…

…in the life of every believer

The spirits HELP strengthens us when we are weak…

After sin came into the world, God’s people learned early on, they needed God’s help, and began to cry out to Him. Its when they began to worship…

Genesis 4:26 “At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.”

Worship is a crying out to God in our weakness! Calling on the physical involvement of God’s Spirit to strengthen us…

Jesus/Garden/Cross

The secret of the believers strength, is in their weakness leading to a greater dependency on God.

There is no shame in admitting that we are weak!

(S7)

Paul then moves to speaking of a specific weakness of all believers

26 For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for.

By nature we are weak. These becomes more apparent with age. Without the Spirit, we are lacking the power to pray as we ought

— for prolonged concentration—to avoid distractions—to stop all wandering thoughts

—to govern our varying affections (emotions)

(NIV) We do not know what we ought to pray for

—we lack the power...to know what is best for us

1 Chronicles 16:11 (NLT) Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.

Ever felt you knew you needed to pray, but the words were just not there?

— Someone is very sick…how/what do I pray

Bill Hybels, "I used to make excuses for my faint-hearted prayer life. I don’t have any good models of persevering prayer, I told myself. I have too many responsibilities to fulfill, so I don’t have the time to pray properly. But God convinced me that I was not being honest with myself. The real reason my prayers were weak was that my faith was weak" (Page 31, Too Busy Not to Pray).

As we struggle to pray by controlling our flesh and its weakness, the Spirit takes our minds and emotions and quiets them, and at the same time, stirs and excites them—drawing us, pulling us in, and then directing and guiding our prayers.

(S8)

27 But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

The second benefit of living Life in the Spirit that connects is to the will of God

(S9)

II. The INTELLECTUAL involvement of the Spirit...

…in the life of every believer

Ever find yourself not knowing what specifically to pray for? What about what God wants you to pray for?

— I know some of you have your list…needs, desires and hopes for yourself and others. But let me ask, how do you know that's what God wants you to pray for?

— Truth is we don’t but the Spirit knows.

Notice, Paul includes himself in this, we…which is to say that every believer needs the spirit who prays for them intellectually.

The girl praying—God’s smart

Jesus’ own words...

Matthew 6:8 “for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!”

(NIV) the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans

—The Spirit makes a personal petition to God — Not just empty words. The Spirit groans...beyond human expression, beyond our understanding.

God’s spirit talks to God in a way that only He can understand and its all for your benefit! How cool is that!

(S10)

27a the Father who knows all hearts knows (exactly) what the Spirit is saying...

…because He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit (NIV)

Psalm 139:1-6,11-12

God knows the mind of the Spirit, and through the spirits interceding for us, as He searches our hearts

SEARCH—comes from a root which suggests someone lighting a torch and going slowly round a large, dark room full of all sorts of things, looking for something in particular. No doubt God, in searching the dark spaces of our hearts, comes across all sorts of things which we would just as soon remained hidden. But the thing he is wanting to find above all else, and which according to Paul he ought to find in all Christians, is the sound of the spirit’s groaning. Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans Part 1: Chapters 1-8 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 154.

At the moment when we don’t know how to pray, or what to pray for…the spirit calls out God, “who knows exactly what the Spirit is requesting for us. There is perfect agreement between the Holy Spirit and God the Father.”

There is no shame in admitting that we don’t always know specifically what to pray

— we only have to learn to trust the spirit knows whats best

Life in the Spirit—The INTELLECTUAL involvement of the Spirit in your life

(S11)

27b for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

The Spirit makes a case for us to God, out of his great love for us, so that we would know the will of God.

in harmony with…

— God the father communicates, on your behalf, with God the Spirit, because of your relationaship with Jesus the son.

— The Triune God, personally involved in your life, through your prayer, so that you would know God’s will for your life!

(S12) — The third benefit of living Life in the Spirit...

III. The EMOTIONAL involvement of the Spirit…

…in the life of every believer

the spirits pleading…in harmony with God’s will…

How do you know if your life is out of alignment with the will of God…through the word of God

John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”

In prayer the Spirit aligns or realigns our needs to God’s will

There is a challenge here to every church, and every Christian: to be willing to shoulder the task of prayer of this kind, prayer in which we are caught up in the loving, groaning, redeeming dialogue between the father and the spirit. Paul for Everyone, Romans Part 1: Chapters 1–8 (Prayer, Sonship and the Sovereignty of God (Romans 8:26–30))

I’m not trying the humanize the Spirit of God…but to PERSONALIZE the work of God through Life in the Spirit...

When God sent his only son to live in this sinful and broken world…when Jesus lived obediently God’s will in his earthly life…and when he went to the cross to die for our sins…

(S13) …through the Spirit…

God became PHYSICALLY, INTELLECTUALLY, and EMOTIONALLY involved in your life!

Jesus prayed…taught us to pray…the Spirit helps us to pray…we only need to live life in the Spirit

— by admit your weak

— trusting in the Spirit who gives you strength through prayer...

— so you can discover the greater strength of God’s Spirit in you

(S14)

Whether you pray a little or pray a lot, pray with fancy words or…living life in the Spirit, because of Christ in you, means…

1. You have help in times of weakness—The spirit is PHYSICALLY involvement…

2. when you don’t know how to pray—The Spirit is INTELLECTUALLY involved

3. When you life is out of alignment with the will of God… The Spirit is EMOTIONALLY involved

Can any other religion say this about their God?

Paul is clear of every believers problems

—our unwillingness to admit we are weak,

— that we don’t know how to pray as we ought,

— and even what specifically we need to pray for

— without the spirit we are powerless to pray in a way that aligns with the will of God

But God knows, the spirit pleads on your behalf all because of Jesus who brought himself to a place of great weakness so we could find our strength through him by living life in the Spirit.

Life in the Spirit is about flexing your spiritual muscle…who you are in Christ. That’s what I hope my kids and others see in me...

PRAY

Lord, help me to pray...admitting that without you, I am weak. Physically strengthen me by your spirit, to better face whatever tries to draw me away from you.

Resources

1. Romans (King James Version) (B. The Whole Creation Will Be Freed from Struggling and Suffering, 8:18–27)