Spirit - Led Prayer

So as we look this morning then at these verses that we've read together from the
Book of Romans, allow me to make three observations. Number one, please note the
emphasis on all creation groans. Verse 22, we know that the whole creation has
been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. He goes
on then to say in verse 23, we ourselves who have the first streets of the
spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons. We know he says
the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to
the present time. So the imagery here is that of a woman giving birth to a
child. Now any woman here that has ever gone through childbirth or any male
that has ever watched the process of childbirth will know that it's an
incredibly laborious oftentimes very painful. I'll never forget when our first
was born in 1972. This was the first time that hospitals were loosening up
this policy about allowing husbands into the delivery room. Up until then
husbands were strictly for Bolton. They had nothing to do with this part of the
womanly process of giving birth but somewhere along the line somebody in his
wisdom decided that husbands really ought to be part of the birthing
experience. And out in PEI I was one of the first to be allowed in the room when
my wife was giving birth to our eldest son. And I'll tell you it was indeed a
brand new experience. I mean here she is don't tell her I told you this this
wording but here she is she was in a lot of pain and making a lot of noise and
good careful sensitive husband that I was I was embarrassed by all that noise
being made and I said be quiet don't make so much racket. And you know very
sensitive and very understanding as you can appreciate but after a long hard
labor there was our first child and I've been privileged as many of you
husband since then to be part of that birthing process with each of the
children. It's often been said that if wives and husbands were going to take
turns having babies there would be a lot of single child families. It gives you a
whole new appreciation of womanhood. And so that's the analogy Paul is talking
about here in Romans chapter 8 when he talks about all creation groding. The
groaning of creation he says is a key and to the birthing of a child. Now think
that through with me. Why does the Bible repeatedly use this imagery? Paul uses it
in Galatians when he says I am again in travail with you until Christ is
formed in you. Jesus uses it in Matthew 24 when he talks about the signs of
the times and he says these are but the beginnings of the birth pangs. Why
that imagery? Well the imagery is powerful because what it represents is that
the old order is giving way to a new order and that process is typically
laborious and painful. All creation has been groaning as in the pains of child
birth right up to the present time. And even as a woman groans to give forth
new life. So all of creation groans including the individual believer we
groan in the process of the old order trying to give birth to a new order. Let
me talk about that just briefly and see if I can explain it and make it as
clear as a can. The old order is life in a fallen world as we experience it
today. You know enough about scripture to know that when God first created
Adam and Eve in Genesis 1 and 2 he made it good. There was harmony in
creation. Adam and Eve sinned against God. The world fell into sin from that
moment to this. We are loaded down by the guilt and the failure and the
collective agony of sin. And the more sin progresses the more we disobey God
individually and collectively the more we reap the harvest of that and the more
life begins to spiral out of control. So that's part of the groaning. The
groaning is the old creation, a groaning that is experienced not only by all
of creation but it's also experienced by us individually even as believers
because part of our being is still the old creation. These bodies are not made
for eternity and we have a groaning. But even as the old creation grows there
are the birth pangs of a new creation because we know from scripture that God in
Christ has entered into our world and God is repeatedly bringing about a new
order. How does he do that? By bringing men and women into a living relationship
with himself, helping them to learn to walk an obedience before his will and
empowering them with the Holy Spirit and so throughout history and throughout the
course of God's redemptive purposes there's new life being birthed. There's
new life being birthed in our hearts. There's new life being birthed in the
world when new organizations, new institutions, new ways of doing life
before God, they emerge. Now you put the side by side. See here you've got the
old order. There you got the new order. It's being birthed and the process is a
process of agony as the old order gives way to a new order. I was astonished
a number of years ago. Watch the television program about Norman Bethune. Don't
know if you've ever heard of him but he was a Canadian who was extremely
popular among the Chinese because he had gone to China and did all kinds of
good things for them. One, a lot of good favor from the Chinese for the Canadian
people. But I remember some words in the process of watching this production.
There was an explanation of the violence that communism produces as it has
taken over nation after nation trying to birth this new social order. That was
astonished to hear the biblical language that was being employed. How do they
excuse the bloodshed? How do they excuse the millions of people that have died
for Stalin and for Mao and in all of these countries? Well here's how they
explain it. These are the birth pains of a new creation. And the messiness and
the blood is but the new order trying to emerge. And I shook my head and said now
isn't that a perversion of the biblical truth of God's kingdom being
birthed out of the brokenness and out of the chaos of this world. So what's this
groaning about? What's this groaning about in the world? What's this groaning about
in your heart and in my heart? It's a dual groaning. A groaning under the
way to sin. You know just as well as I do that even as Christians we
participate in the brokenness of creation and we share its pain. I'll talk more
about that in a little bit. But at the same time there is this groaning that
wants to give birth to new life because the Holy Spirit has come upon us and the
Holy Spirit has given us the first fruits of the harvest that is to come and the
more we experience of God's presence the more we taste the powers of the age to
come the more we have that moment of connection with God the more we have that
prayer answered the more that we see God at work in our own lives are in the
history of the world the hungrier we become for all of God's kingdom to come in
its power. So we grow on the one hand because the world can be such a
cruddy place but we grow on the other hand because we have seen the beauty. We
have seen the city on the mountain and we cannot wait for it to become reality.
Very important to understand this because the temptation is always to think that
coming alive in Christ is somehow going to make us feel better and minimize
our pain and I want you to know that coming alive in Christ is a wonderful thing
because yes we meet up with God we experience the powers of the age to come we
know the reality of sins forgiven we know the reality that God's presence in
our lives and to watch God's hand boof powerfully on our behalf even if it's
only once in my lifetime that makes everything worthwhile because everything
pales in comparison but we are mistaken if we think that coming alive means our
pain becomes less because part of coming alive means that our pain
increases in some ways why because now we're sensitive to the corruption that
is in the world before that it was just normal didn't bother us at all didn't
even see it now you stand a guest at how people treat each other and how much
agony suffering and pain there is you care for people and your hard breaks not
only that but you've had a touch of life you've known the presence of God you've
known the reality of answer prayer you've known God moving heaven and
earth on your behalf and everything inside you says I want more of that I want
to live there all the time think of it this way think of a young teenage girl
or a teenage boy never been in love before a principle of life is you don't
miss what you haven't had right now you fall in love you've got this great
romance going feelings emotions are stirred up you didn't even know you had
now the relationship falls apart you're broken out what happens you sense a
loss unlike anything you've ever known before because having tasted you want
more I think it's Valerie who tells the story of some American teenagers going
to Romania in a Romanian orphanage and if you remember the history of Chichesco
and the chaos that communism had produced in that country and and here where
all these parentless babies lined up in the foster home one after the other
raptus tight as tight could be and they're all nice and quiet and wonderfully
looked at by the nursing personnel and along come these American girls not
knowing anything better they start picking up these kids and holding them and
just loving them and after a while these nurses are just freaking out you can't
do that to these kids why because you are awakening their hearts now when you
put them back having tasted love and affection they won't lie down to be quiet
anymore and we don't have the personnel to look after these kids incredibly
tragic but you understand what happens when love is awakened understand when
God awakens love in your heart doesn't make your life any easier it just makes
you want more of what God has to offer so all creation groans and we ourselves
grown because we have the first fruits of the spirit get used to it it's the
way life works for the children of God moments of great glory but also moments of
pain because the two stand in sharp contrast to each other now Paul has a
purpose in introducing the subject this way because now he goes on to say not
only does all creation grown but now he goes on to say we don't know how to pray
first 26 we do not know what we ought to pray for so here's the question one
minute he's talking about all creation groding and now all of a sudden he
moves into the subject of prayer why does he make that switch well not hard to
figure out because when you are confronted by the tension of the old order
convulsing in pain giving birth to the new order the woman having the child
if you will we are driven to prayer and we're driven to prayer first of all for
our own needs as I said a moment or two ago you know just as I do this
morning but just because of your Christian does not make you immune to this
suffering of this age every so often thank God not lately but every so often in
the news there will be a story of a motor vehicle accident a bus full of Christian
kids involved in an accident many injuries many deaths I read a story like that
and you know what rises up in me as I say God that's not fair these are your
people about the business of your kingdom pick somebody else but not your own
not very spiritual maybe but just being honest with you the Bible says the
rain falls on the just and on the unjust Christians get sick just as
readily as non-Christians get sick Christians die Christians experience
difficulty not because God doesn't love them but because we're all part of a
world that is convulsed by the powers of sin and God in his own wisdom has his
own purposes for allowing things sometimes into our lives don't misunderstand
me as if God's not interested in our well-being and won't protect us but
later on Paul goes into all things work together for the good of those who love
God and who are called according to his purpose and good does not always mean
that we don't go through difficult times so here we are we experience the
groaning of this present creation and then as I said earlier we've also got
this four taste of glory that lives in our hearts and the more we experience
that tension the more we are driven to our knees God meet me in my place of
pain fulfill your word give me a future give me a hope and so prayer happens
out of the groaning the crying out that says God let your kingdom come and
let it come in my life help me to overcome my sin help me to overcome these
broken relationships help me to overcome all these obstacles that come against
me I want to see your name honored in my life so we pray for our own needs and
of course we're led to pray for the needs of other people around us because the
more we have seen God's presence in our own lives the more we know the
reality of his power and the more alive we become in Christ the more sensitive
we become to the needs of people all around us and so we begin to cry out to God
for them and we say God whatever it takes just let them experience your salvation
and your life I remember in the early days of my own Christian life and Christian
experience when Jesus had become real I'd be driving down the road I'd look at
the car next to me and I'd say to myself in prayer to the Lord I wonder if that
man or that woman knows Jesus Jesus show yourself give us a passion for the
loss that's known as intercession an intercessory prayer is one of the
mandates that God gives to the church because so he could save the whole world he
doesn't need you and me to do it I mean his angels are probably a lot better at
it than you and I but where his kids and it's all about growing up his kids it's
all about letting his kids share his heart his mission and his passion and so
he uses you and me to hear his heart so that we can echo back his heart and an
echoing back his heart pray the prayer of faith that releases God's power and
God's glory here on earth we pray for ourselves we pray for the needs of
others they've you've ever been in those situations where where you're
groaning because of the world's pain and you're groaning for more of God's
kingdom to come and for more of God's heart to be revealed then you will have
discovered as I surely have that when it comes to this kind of prayer we don't
know what to pray for we are remarkably weak we're remarkably weak for a couple
of reasons we're remarkably weak because we don't know the mind of the Lord who
has known the mind of the Lord so scripture or who has been his counselor how
many of us have not been asked to pray for somebody and we are just be
fuddled about what is the will of God love the story of the ladies who got
together to pray for this very sick woman who was at death's door and they
were so successful in their prayer they prayed her right through the door if you
get the picture do I pray for healing do I pray for God to take me home do I
pray for my marriage to be restored I do I pray for grace to accept the fact
that it's a retrieval be broken and I need to get on with my life do I pray for
God to empower me to step out into the new job I do I pray for God to give me the
grace to recognize that I can no longer follow that path Lord what is your will
because you see scripture says if you pray according to what of God he hears you
so know the will of God is fairly important now we get all spiritual about this
of course and I've talked about this before we get around testing the limits of
our faith by saying well Lord not my will but yours be done and we forget that
only occurs once in scripture when Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and that
part of growing up as a child of God is that we fight it out we struggle with
God we ask God to reveal what his will is in as much as we can know it and
that's where our weakness lies who has known the mind of the Lord and then of
course we struggle with confusion if you've ever grown with a world's pain or
come up against one of these walls that you cannot go through or if you've
ever tasted the glory of the kingdom that is to come and you try to connect
with God out of those deep places then you will know that one of the biggest
things we all struggle with in that place is confusion ever experience confusion
when you pray you know the deeper you push into prayer the more confused you
become you don't even know what you feel you don't know what you think you don't
know what God wants it's just like you're up against a wall even the good words
that you thought you had before you got into prayer you couldn't get into
anymore and all you can do is wander in your mind and you say well this is not
going anywhere so forget this you know I'm talking about and then of course we
get weary our flesh is not made for that level of prayer remember Jesus in the
garden of Gethsemane remember how he slept tears of blood and how he said to
his disciples please watch with me and how their spirit was willing but their
flesh was weak have you ever discovered that when you most need to pray it is
sometimes the hardest to pray ever try to pray when you depressed ever try to
pray when you're really sick ever try to pray when your life is really coming
down around your ears and yes I know I ought to be praying yes I know I ought to
be talking to God in this but I don't have what it takes I don't have the power
I don't have the energy I don't have the strength and frankly I don't even care
because right now I'm just hurting and I can even pray Paul calls that weakness
interesting word weakness is different from sin and it's very comforting to me
that when I have those moments in my life to discover from scripture that being
in those places doesn't always mean that I've wiped out spiritually doesn't
always mean that God is not there or that he doesn't care it just that I'm
confronted by the frailty of the human condition I can't figure out God my
mind gets confused my spirit gets burdened my body gets weary and I just don't
have what it takes to cry out to God for myself or for others in that place
even Jesus now listen to this Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when he
sweats those drops of blood when he is totally caught up in the agony of what
it is that faces him in the cross here is what he says now my heart is troubled
and what shall I say father save me from this hour no it was for this very reason
I came to this hour he don't think of Jesus second guessing himself but
there Jesus says father what shall I say I don't even know how to pray shall I
pray for this cup to pass away from me no not my will but yours be done why
do I belabor this because it's very easy for us to be right ourselves and
beat ourselves up for not being mature enough spiritual enough and strong
enough most of us have no trouble flying in the wings of a dove one life is good
and God is close by and we overestimate our own spirituality our frailty is
exposed in the valley and you know in those places it's okay to acknowledge our
weakness because we're not made in the groaning of this creation and the
groaning of the new creation that is coming what is required of us in those
places is more than what is humanly possible which of course is Paul's
whole point in this passage because not only does all creation grow not only
do we not know how to pray because we are so miserably weak but guess what good
news the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness verse 26 in the same way the
spirit helps us in our weakness that phrase in the same way goes back earlier in
the passage where Paul says if you live according to the sinful nature this is
verse 13 of Romans 8 if you live according to the sinful nature you will die
but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live
what's the function of the Holy Spirit he's the comforter he's the
encourager next to the morning his pentecost Lord willing celebration of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit why was the Holy Spirit given given for a number
of reasons but one of the reasons he was given was to come alongside you and me and
make real in my life and in my experience what in Christ is already mine and so
he's the one who comes alongside me when my journey in life is too hard and he
says lean on me and we'll walk this out together he's the one who gives me the
desire the wisdom and the energy to fight to sin in my life to try to rise
above that sea and he is the one who fills my heart with a passion to love
God and to love my neighbor now Paul says in the same way he helps us in our
weakness how does he help us in our weakness the verse goes on to explain we do
not know what we ought to pray for but the spirit himself intercedes for us with
the groans that words cannot express the spirit himself intercedes for us with
groans that words could not express wonder how many of us know that we have
really two intercessors there is Jesus when his high priestly office of the
right hand of God the Father is the great intercessor for all of God's
people and when stuff comes up in your life stuff comes up in my life and there
is a danger that we're going to wipe out or God wants to accomplish his
purposes there is Jesus at the right hand of the Father and he says Father we
got a little thing to talk about here I died for that dude or that dude yes I gave
my life so that he or she could experience all the fullness of God and your
protection from Satan's power so Father I ask you to bless and to annoy and to
provide care only eternity is going to reveal how many times angels have been
sent to your side and to my side to keep us out of trouble and on the straight
an arrow you know that and that's all in response to the intercessory prayer of
Jesus at the Father's right hand but I wonder how many of us know the Holy
Spirit is also an intercessor except he doesn't intercede in heaven because
Jesus is busy doing that now in the context of this passage he intercedes here
on earth in your heart and in my heart that is to say in those places of
weakness where we don't have what it takes to push through birthing forth a
new creation whether that's a new believer a transformed church a
transformed society in all those places where the old is dying and the new is
coming and we just ain't got what it takes to do and how long comes the Holy
Spirit and he says I'm coming alongside you to help you in your weakness and I'm
going to work in you to intercede for the saints according to the will of God
what does that look like what it looks like this it means he gives us a
desire to pray and typically what will happen is you and I we live our lives
carry on and all of a sudden there will be a certain event a certain episode a
certain person that we meet maybe it's in prayer maybe it's in driving a car
maybe it's in sitting in church it can happen in the middle of the night and all
of a sudden God's there and he drops them in your heart and into your mind you
ever have that just all of a sudden they're there and you want to wear in the
world as I had come from well that's very often the Holy Spirit placing a
burden on our hearts to pray for somebody while back I was talking to a woman
and she told me the fascinating story of how years earlier she had gone
around an apartment building inviting children to I think a child
evangelism course or something like this and she had knocked on this particular
door and she had met up with these two little girls and it was like God put
those two little girls in her heart and she knew that she was called to pray
for them their mother had walked out in their relationship prayed for them for
years and years and years only to discover much later that these girls were the
daughters of the man that she would one day marry imagine that amazing
surprise and then you ask yourself the question how much trouble were these
kids saved because this woman received a burden from God to pray how many of us
here are in the kingdom today because somebody somewhere heard from God and
they had a desire to pray for you and for me that's the work of the Holy Spirit
that's how the kingdom comes and it may happen once in a lifetime and when
you ever happen in your life or in my lifetime but there will be seasons in
the history of the church where God buys Holy Spirit births that kind of
desire to pray then the Holy Spirit gives us strength to push through because
you see when it comes to the new creation when it comes to the agony of this
birthing process whereby the old dies and the new comes forth the warfare is
intense every devil in hell parks on your doorstep because he'd ever wants to see
coming the kingdom of God and in those places you and I we often just walk away
from it because it's too hard it's too difficult it's too painful Lord here I am
but since somebody else well the Holy Spirit can give us the perseverance in
those places where we push through and we struggle it out as Jacob wrestled with
God and Jesus wrestled with a father in Gethsemane until all heaven moves and the
old world is pushed back you get that final big push in the new baby is born
because God has called forth a new creation and then of course it gives us the
ability to express the cry of our heart and typically typically that means he
gives us words all of a sudden we know what it is that we ought to be praying for
all of a sudden we have the words and and we connect with God and we know that
we have connected with God and we know that something is happening in a spiritual
realm because God's kingdom is coming but here in the context the Romans chapter
eight notice you can't even find words because of the scripture says with
size and groanings that cannot be uttered the spirit himself intercedes for us
with groans that words cannot express and so there is a place in prayer
where we are so caught up in the birth pangs of a new creation so caught up in
the pain of the old dying so caught up in the pain of the new being birthed we
can't even find the words to express it we can't even cry it out it is just
turmoil in our souls now we get into that kind of place and then again we beat
ourselves up and we say well what's the matter with me you know that's not
prayer well you know in fact it is it is praying in the spirit it's the holy
spirit groaning deep inside allowing us to participate with God in the birth of
a new creation and you know what's so neat and special about it that kind of
prayer is clearly according to the will of God and because it is clearly
according to the will of God God hears that prayer and so as we groan in
travail as we share in the birth pangs of a new creation we discovered that out
of that anguish out of that pain comes forth new life and what mother who
after having gone through all the pain of childbirth doesn't very quickly forget
the pain because you see she holds new life in her arms and that new life has
been worth all the suffering and all the pain the church is married to
Jesus we are his bride we are his agent in bringing forth new life and he invites
us to enter into labor pain with him until new life is birthed and the glorious
kingdom of God comes in power and his invitation to you and to me is to say
listen you can't do this on your own but the spirit helps us in our weakness
for all that you've done I will thank you for all that you're going to do
for all that you've promised and all that you want is all that has
been worth all that you've promised and all that you've promised is all that you've done.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you for loving and telling me free, thank you for giving your life just for me
now I pray Jesus I pray you, pray for me, thank you, thank you, for all that you've done
I will thank you for all that you're going to do for all that you've promised and all that you've
promised is all that has been worth all that you've promised and all that you've done.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for loving and telling me free, thank you
for giving your life just for me now I pray Jesus I pray you, pray for me, thank you, thank you.
Thank you for loving and telling me free, thank you for giving your life just for me now I pray
you, pray for me, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you.