[Ro 8:26] In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; [27] and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
[28] And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. [29] For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; [30] and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? [32] He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? [33] Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; [34] who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. [35] Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] Just as it is written,
"FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."
[37] But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[Ro 8:26] In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; [27] and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. [28] And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
My wife and I home school our children and the post-algebra math is one of my responsibilities. The questions can get pretty hard and it is a difficult balance between knowing when to step in because my son needs more information or when to stand back and let him feel the confidence of working things through alone.
I can usually tell when to step in because he will become increasingly frustrated and unable to focus on the enigma. Finally, he sighs (groans) and displays some sign of helplessness. I never step in and solve the problem for him. However, I will sit down and help him ask the right questions - use the critical formulas - to solve the problem.
This is the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The closer we get to God, the more we realize that we do not even know how to pray for our own good. Our prayer becomes less and less childish and asking for things; "God, I want a new CD player for my truck, a new computer game, a new flat display TV and I also want you to smote that guy who has been bothering me."
Increasingly, our prayer becomes a request for an attitude of service: "Lord, make me your servant. Let you will be done in my life."
Finally, prayer becomes an act of intimate relationship; "Lord, let me be your intimate. Let me someone worthy of your trust. Let me stand beside you at the cross."
This is the ultimate prayer of ultimate trust. Knowing that God wants only my good and is desirous of my completion in His plan for my life. I might even begin to pray with a certain request - only to be cautioned by the Spirit - realizing the Father knows what I need. Instead of a request - out comes a groan; "Lord, show me what to ask for." "Holy Spirit, make me long only for the Father's will."
The Psalmist said it like this; "Delight in the Lord and He will shape the desires of your heart [Psalm 37:4 - author's translation]."
The Father seeks my joy. If I seek the Father - to come like a dancing child into His presence - He will make my heart increasingly a servant's heart. As I become more of a servant - I will become more joyful.
"Ahhh, Holy Spirit. Make me His."
The word for intercession [huperentugchano] really combines two important Greek concepts. Huper means to supersede - the Holy Spirit knows the true need behind our request and petitions God for that need instead of our want. The Holy Spirit asks above and beyond or on a deeper, more expansive level than we could even consider asking.
Entugchano is a word that means to ask on our behalf. It is as if we know the King's best friend (which we do) and we are asking that person to refine our request so that it is fit for the King's ears.
The Holy Spirit knows our needs even more than we do. She is able to take our minuscule concept of what I need now to satiate my desires and petition the Father for what I need forever to have life more abundantly.
Paul uses a combination of words for 'groaning' that are very gutteral [stenagmos and alaletos]. Combined they mean 'groanings that can't be uttered.'
I find that in my closest moments to God that my words are absolutely incomplete. This is the prayer of intimacy. It is the recognition that God knows what is needed in all life and I want to be in perfect compliance with His plan. It dawns on us (as a gift from the Holy Spirit) that there is nothing that I could do to improve upon God's plan - so I just want to live in that plan. "Help us know and do your will, Father."
One might say that the perfect prayer looks something like this:
[Matt 6:9] "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. [10] 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. [11] 'Give us this day our daily bread. [12] 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. [13] 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen).' (NAS)
This is a prayer of perfect trust. Our God is eternal and abundant life (heaven). Only in His name can wholeness be complete. So, at the very moment we do His will we enter His kingdom.
He knows our deepest needs and can give us exactly what we need today. Enough of our needs to keep us reliant on Him but focused on His work.
He calls us to be freed from encumbrances and self-righteousness and to turn our pettiness over to Him. To live for giving instead of for taking. He will pay and collect any debts outstanding.
Finally, He alone controls Satan - and although the Evil One is powerful and devious - God is abundantly greater. His shield surrounds us, His Spirit guides our footsteps.
Ultimately, we begin to realize that if we only seek to serve Him we will find "Zao." This is the word Paul often used to describe life with Christ - the ultimate and abundant life. The life promised us by Jesus. The life claimed by Paul in this reading; [28] And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (NASB)
[Romans 8:29] For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; [30] and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (NAS)
Throughout the ages, this small section of Paul's writing has been misinterpreted and maligned in multiple ways. Some have read it to state that our lives were fixed before birth and therefore - there is no use in trying to become saints or sinners. It was all 'pre-ordained.'
However, that is a misuse of the very term, 'pre-ordained' [proorizo]. It also undermines the entire concept of 'choice - choosing to love God' that is redundant in the Word of God.
A more accurate reading of this scripture that fits the rest of the bible is that God knew us intimately even before we were formed and placed within us all the tools necessary to know Him in His fullness. No one is born incomplete or unable to know God in His loving presence. After all, who exists that God did not ‘foreknow?’
We have everything necessary in our lives to become like Jesus Christ - the firstborn among the family (brethren / adephos - of the same womb). He who has formed us has called us, He who has called us has set us free and He who sets us free can bestow upon us His glory.
[Ro 8:31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? [32] He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? [32] He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
Occasionally we stumble across a sentence that summarizes the entire bible. Indeed, this is one of them! God, from the very first breath of creation, was willing to give His very son for our salvation. What then, would He hold back in the effort to bring us to His side?
Many times I am afraid to pray because I suspect that God will ask me to change, to let go, to risk, and to forgive. In my wounded nature, I would rather choose homeostasis, cling to the past, relax in comfortable surroundings and carry around with me a back pack of righteous indignation.
This prayer is so human. Yet, it lacks the understanding offered in this marvelous verse: “What then, would He hold back in the effort to bring us to His side?”
What concern could possible overwhelm my life if I lived in the faith of this verse: “If God is for us, who is against us?” Should I be concerned about the cares of this world? Should I be concerned about what people will say? Should I be concerned about tomorrow’s problems?
Or… should I live in total abandonment to the God who ‘freely gives all things?’
Circling in towards God has been a painful process for me. Yet, it is only painful because of the many encumbrances that I have had to let go in the process. The defenses I felt I needed. The competitiveness, the anger, the compulsions – the sinful man. Yet, which of these qualities have served me in my endeavor to be fully embraced by the loving Creator?
It is time for setting free and letting go. It is time for absolute liberation.
[Ro 8:33] Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; [34] who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. [35] Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] Just as it is written,
"FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."
[37] But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul is on a roll now. One can nearly see him pacing back and forth as he dictates this letter to his secretary, Tertius [Romans 16:22]. The Holy Spirit is now pouring forth in glory from Paul’s diminutive and weathered frame. If we had been nearby, those of us given to verbal support of a evangelist might throw out; “Preach it, brother,” or, “Amen – say it!”
In the fervor of rhetoric, Paul is not looking for answers to these questions, he is stating questions that lead to one undeniable truth:
· Who can charge God’s elect?
· Who can condemn?
· Who can intercede?
Christ Jesus who died! It is the right of God’s son who gave His life for our salvation to charge, condemn and intercede. It is Christ alone that can stand before the Father and state; “I know this one, Father. We stood together in the harvest.”
Paul then, having answered his first questions with the response, Jesus Christ, Paul then lays out a second rhetorical question;
· Who can separate us from the love of Christ?
He asks;
· Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
And, he answers;
· For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In other words, we are the untouchables in Christ’s path. Paul, of course, was talking about our relationship to Christ. Not our eyesight, our physical prowess, our mental alacrity, our hearts, our steady walk, or pride. All these things pass with time.
However, our relationship with the Lord only increases with time. Even as our bodies fade – our trust in the Spirit can increase. Our relationship with the Lord is enhanced as we rely less on ourselves and our abilities and more on His presence and power.
· Neither death nor life: Christ broke the sting of death with his victory over the power of sin [1 Corinthians 15:51-58].
· Neither angels nor principalities; The Jewish people believed that some of the angels were very jealous of their human counterparts and therefore try to hobble them in their progress towards the Lord. Paul tells the people that there is nothing that can stand in between God’s direct ‘line of sight’ love.
· Nor things present or to come; There is no aspect of time that God cannot control. He is the ‘Great I Am.’ We have said before – He is; “Who He needs to be, when He needs to be it, in order to bring us to all we can become.”
· Nor powers height or depth; Whatever territory God sends us to – however distant high or low – we will never go alone. Our Creator would never send His people to a place He has not already prepared for them.
· Nor any created thing; Is there anything that was not ‘created?’ Well, in truth, yes. The only thing that was not Created was… God. Only God can keep us from Himself – yet, he has chosen to invite us into intimate relationship. In other words, there is nothing – no thing – that can keep our Creator’s hand from us. Nothing!
If I truly believed this – how would it re-structure my life? What fears, angers, pre-judgments, would be justified?
* (Questions by Russ, included with the permission of Russ Knopp)