And
He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He
makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
—Romans 8:27
What a light these words cast upon the prayer
life in the hearts of the saints! “For we know not what we should pray for
as we ought” (verse 26). How often this hinders our prayer or hinders the
faith that is essential to its success! But here we are told for our
encouragement that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered” (verse 26). “He makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God.”
What a prospect is opened up to us here! Where
and how does the Spirit make intercession for all believers? In the heart that
does not know what to pray, He secretly and effectively prays what is according
to the will of God. This of course implies that we trust Him to do His work in
us, and that we wait before God even when we know what to pray, in the
assurance that the Holy Spirit is praying in us. This further implies that we
take time to wait in God’s presence, that we exercise an unbounded dependence
on the Holy Spirit who has been given to cry “Abba Father” (verse 15)
within us, even when we have nothing to offer but “groanings which cannot
be uttered” (verse 26).
What a difference it would make in the lives
of many of God’s children if they realized this! They have not only Jesus the
Son of God, the great High Priest, “ever living to make intercession
for them” (Hebrews 7:25); they have not only the liberty of asking in
faith what they desire, and the promise that it will be given them; but they
have actually the Holy Spirit, “the spirit of grace and of
supplications” (Zechariah 12:10), to carry on, in the depths of their
beings, His work of interceding for them according to the will of God.
What a call to separate ourselves from the
world, to yield ourselves wholeheartedly to the leading and praying of the
Spirit within us, deeper than all our thoughts or expectations! What a call to
surrender ourselves in stillness of soul, resting in the Lord and waiting
patiently for Him, as the Holy Spirit prays within us not only for ourselves,
but especially for all believers according to the will of God!
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