Groanings of the Spirit

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arapahoepark

Puritan Board Professor
In Romans 8:26-28 It says the spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Does this mean that the spirit intercedes in us and teaches us how to offer up prayers or does the Spirit actually pray for us while we are praying and make it palatable according to the will of God? Or both?
 
I read this from Jacob's Seed and David's Delight
The efficacy does not lie in the excellency of your prayer, but in the merits of Christ, and his mediation. Only Christ will have something of yourself in your prayer, and he will have your heart pant, and work after him. But there may be abundance of vanity. You draw a line, and make a blot, and another line, and another blot, but Christ draws all fair again, and presents it to his Father.
Would that be true?
 
In Romans 8:26-28 It says the spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Does this mean that the spirit intercedes in us and teaches us how to offer up prayers or does the Spirit actually pray for us while we are praying and make it palatable according to the will of God? Or both?

According to Matthew Henry, I think its closer to your first suggestion.

Quote:
The Spirit, as an enlightening Spirit, teaches us what to pray for, as a sanctifying Spirit works and excites praying graces, as a comforting Spirit silences our fears, and helps us over all our discouragements.

Thanks for posting this, I was interested to find out myself as this verse is notoriously misused.
 
I look at this as he is the filter to Jesus Himself, as the Spirit takes whatever is right and good as a prayer to Jesus, blocks the junky stuff in it, and then Jesus takes that request to the Father!

The Spirit knows the mind of the father/Son, so He always intercedes and make sure the prayers get purified and in the will of God for us...
 
Is it not that we do the groaning, and the Spirit does the working. That is, there are occasions when the burden is so deep and inexpressible in the soul that we can only groan, and the Spirit assists and if you like, interprates. Intercedes is not the normal sense or usage of the word. It is the Spirit that quickens us to pray, even when we can not utter the words. We know not what to pray for as we ought, and the intercession is with us not with God. He helpeth, aids and assists us.
 
The Spirit knows the mind of the Father, so He will be interceding to direct our prayers to be in the will of God for that situation...

Also, He gives us spiritual strenght to continue to keep praying even when we feel that it is doing nothing...
 
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