Our Daily Bread -- The Spirit Delivers

April 22, 2016

Read: Romans 8:19-27
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 14-15; Luke 17:1-19

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. —Romans 8:26

Until recently, many towns in rural Ireland didn’t use house numbers or postal codes. So if there were three Patrick Murphys in town, the newest resident with that name would not get his mail until it was first delivered to the other two Patrick Murphys who had lived there longer. “My neighbors would get it first,” said Patrick Murphy (the newest resident). “They’d have a good read, and they’d go, ‘No, it’s probably not us.’ ” To end all this mail-delivery confusion, the Irish government recently instituted its first postal-code system which will ensure the proper delivery of the mail.

Sometimes when we pray we feel like we need help delivering to God what is on our heart. We may not know the right words to say or how to express our deep longings. The apostle Paul says in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit helps us and intercedes for us by taking our unspeakable “groanings” and presenting them to the Father. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (v. 26). The Spirit always prays according to God’s will, and the Father knows the mind of the Spirit.

Be encouraged that God hears us when we pray and He knows our deepest needs. —Marvin Williams

Thank You, Father, for giving me Your Spirit to help me when I pray. Thank You for hearing my prayers and for loving me.
What are you praying for today? Share it with us at Facebook.com/ourdailybread

When you can’t put your prayers into words, God hears your heart.

INSIGHT: Teaching on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit is scattered throughout the New Testament, but much of it comes from two places: Romans 8 and Jesus’s Upper Room Discourse in John 14-16. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is a Helper like Himself (14:16) who will never leave us. This Helper is the Spirit of truth and has a special relationship with the follower of Christ (v. 17). In John 16 Jesus returns to the subject of the Spirit saying that He will convict the world of our need for Christ (vv. 8-11), guide us into all truth (v. 13), and glorify Jesus (v. 14). Bill Crowder

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