HELP IS ON THE WAY

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26

One area in the Christian life where many struggle is their prayer life. It is very common to hear some believers being classified as Prayer Warriors, but there are many faithful and sincere believers who find their prayer lives to be laboured, inconsistent, and far less than what they would like it to be.

In this section of the chapter, Paul’s two popular words, flesh (sarx) and spirit (pneuma), take centrestage. We generally refer to flesh as physical, but for Paul, flesh is a spiritual thing in that it represents human nature in all its “sin and weaknesses, and importance and frustration:…the flesh is all that man is without God and without Christ” (William Barclay). Spirit refers to divine power. In Hebrew, the word for spirit is ruach; it is the same word for wind and it conveys the idea of power that is active and moving. This power is not of us or within us: it comes from God. It is divine power.

The flesh and the spirit can be described as two contending forces. When one surrenders to God through Christ, Divine Power is given authority and primacy in that person’s life. The believer is no longer at the mercy of his or her weak, sinful nature, but has divine power at his or her aid.

In its sinfulness and weakness, the flesh is unable to comprehensively grasp the deeper aspects of life, and is therefore unable to communicate with the Divine as it desires and as it ought.

Many of us have had points in our life’s journey or faith walk where we know and feel that we ought to have a conversation with God, but we don’t know or where to begin or what to say. Sometimes the spinning turbulence of life and ministry pulls us from God, Centre of Being. There are times when we are virtually and sometimes literally out of control, unable to see our way or chart our course; powerless to save ourselves, and words fail us. Sometimes we literally throw our hands in the air or groan and sigh deep within our being.

Consciously or unconsciously, the Spirit of Knowledge and Calm will draw us into God’s saving sphere and voice the words we long to speak. Thank God for Divine help in prayer!

Thought: “Prayer is the Divine in us appealing to the Divine above us”. C.H. Dodd

Prayer Focus: Thank God for helping us when we cannot help ourselves.