We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered —Romans 8:26
We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.
“He,” the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.
The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . .” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “. . . He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16). The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer . . . . But you have made it a ’den of thieves’ ” (Mark 11:17).
Have we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.
Journal, DJR
Good Morning Lord,
It is good to realize that we are only responsible for the conscious part of our mind … and that the Holy Spirit uses the rest of it for his intercession and other purposes. It brings to mind the study on “Free Will” that we are doing as a group at church. How free are we? Did you cause a behavior or just know about it from before time began? That whole thinking quagmire that humans of all and no religious persuasions have tinkered with for millennia. Today we add another aspect … that the Holy Spirit may have an agenda and want to use us and our prayers for his ends.
Prayer: Help me today to walk in the Spirit, reckognizing the nudges and whispers … and obeying quickly. And help me do my part of keeping my temple clean for you and watching with expectation to see what you will do.
Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)
3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Click Image for John White's Original Vision For CO2's
