Hunkered Down Devotion

Romans 8:26-30 (VOICE)
26 A similar thing happens when we pray. We are weak and do not know how to pray, so the Spirit steps in and articulates prayers for us with groaning too profound for words. 27 Don’t you know that He who pursues and explores the human heart intimately knows the Spirit’s mind because He pleads to God for His saints to align their lives with the will of God? 28 We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. 29-30 From the distant past, His eternal love reached into the future. You see, He knew those who would be His one day, and He chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters. As for those He chose beforehand, He called them to a different destiny so that they would experience what it means to be made right with God and share in His glory.

One of the things that I think most Christians struggle with, at one time or another, is prayer.  Some of us might be more willing to admit it than others, but in my experience there are very few people who naturally ‘get’ prayer.   We struggle with how to do it, what to say, or  Sharing God’s Love, or just how to know if God is really listening.

That is one of the reasons I have always loved this passage from Romans.  In it, Paul tells us that into our weakness the Spirit of God enters in, and ‘articulates prayers’ for us.  I love too that he tells us that the Spirit prays with ‘groaning too profound for words.’  This gets at one of my biggest insecurities around prayer, that I won’t have the right or good enough words to say to God in prayer.

The point Paul is making is that the God that created us, that loves us, is pursues us now and knows exactly what it is we want and need.  Our prayers are not contingent on our way with words, or anything else involving us at all.  Rather, it is all about God, God’s goodness – that God wants to care for us – and God’s greatness – that God is powerful enough to help us.

The next thing that is important for us to understand is that we do still have a role to play in attaining all that God wants for us, the ‘good and beautiful’ plan that God is orchestrating for us.  As I said, it isn’t about us having the correct words to say, or anything like that.  It is much, much simpler.

What is required of us?  How can we tap into the power of God in this way?  Paul tells us this is possible ‘when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan’.  Our role is to say yes to God, to invite God’s Spirit into our hearts and lives and try to live in accordance with God’s plan.

Chip

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for your Spirit that speaks for us when we don’t have the words. Help us to accept your invitation and follow you.  Amen.