“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26
It has been said that it is as impossible to create a world as it is to pray without the Holy Spirit. Why? The declared and revealed work of Calvary reveals to us that nothing of the flesh, the “Old Man” in Adam, and nothing of this world, possesses the capacity to rise to the level of prayer having its beginning and essence in God. Prayer did NOT originate in man, but in God. He designed it, gave it, provides for it, so that in His way for His glory, it can be used to accomplish His will through men and women of faith on this earth. What then is prayer? It is that blessed expression of the believer’s heart to the Father, by the Spirit, in the name of Jesus, of one’s love, affection, and desire for communion with God. It is that wondrous means by which a believer can come to God, knowing and believing that he is accepted before God, there to speak, and commune with God. More importantly, it is when, in the place of His choosing, God speaks to the believer. Such was the case with Adam and Eve with regard to the Lord, when “…they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” (Gen. 3:8) Scripture specifically declares that the Lord God was very present at that moment. Since the fall of man, the “free and fluid,” unobstructed communication between man and God has been obstructed. Man’s sinful attitude has barred the way, and the content and elevated concepts of prayer in worship and service have been replaced by often the menial, and self-centered expressions of one’s need, instead of that which pertains to the honoring of the name of God, the coming of His kingdom and the doing of His will. What then are we to do, if we are to pray aright, effectively, in a manner well-pleasing to God, where He literally answers prayer? The answer lies in a Cross, in Pentecost, and a letter written from prison to believers in Rome.
Why do we begin with the matter of the Cross as necessary to pray? It was Paul who wrote: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” (Gal. 2:20) The Cross of Chist is not only God’s symbol of His judgement on all that is of sin, self, the world, and the devil, but specifically, of His conclusive and complete work in Christ to deal completely with the “old man,” the sin nature, and that which would militate against the knowledge of God. It those terrible, and yet, wonderful words, “It is finished,” is revealed the accomplishment of His judgement on all that has its origin in sin, and the sinner. Since this is the case, what is God’s present and powerful means by which to pray aright?
When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night seeking to learn the true identity of Christ, the Lord Jesus told him of a work of God that must occur in every individual who would be enabled to truly pray. Only by the definitive work of the Spirit, at the moment and experience of the new birth, a new man or creature in Christ could be born. In that new creation the capacity was provided to pray acceptably, pleasingly, before God. It would be after Pentecost, when Paul was writing his letters, that we discover what this means. The Spirit of God had been poured out “upon all flesh,” this meaning that all men everywhere could be saved, and being born of the Spirit, that Christ by HIs Spirit would dwell in the heart. This presence of God by the Spirit would be the key to prayer. Believing, and effective prayer, is done BY the Spirit, according to the will of God, for His glory.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.