{"id":1800,"date":"2010-06-23T21:22:08","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T03:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1800"},"modified":"2010-06-23T21:22:08","modified_gmt":"2010-06-24T03:22:08","slug":"romans-826-our-prayer-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-826-our-prayer-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 8:26 – Our Prayer Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Romans 8:26 – Our Prayer Partner<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit knows when we don\u2019t know what or how to pray and takes over for us, praying to the Father on our behalf.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Greek word translated \u201chelps<\/span>\u201d is sunantilambanomai<\/span><\/em>, which is a double compound word made up of sun<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201ctogether,\u201d anti<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cagainst\u201d or \u201cmutually,\u201d and a form of lamban\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto take, or to hold.\u201d Literally, this means \u201cto take hold of another mutually as by the hand,\u201d that is \u201cto grasp hands with someone so as to keep them from falling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word translated \u201cweaknesses<\/span>\u201d is astheneia<\/span><\/em>, which literally means \u201cwithout strength\u201d but by application means \u201cweakness or sickness.\u201d In the context of these verses we would have to conclude that it refers to weakness rather than sickness.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cIntercession<\/span>\u201d is the Greek word huperentugchan\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which is made up of \u201chuper<\/span><\/em>\u201d meaning \u201cover\u201d or \u201con behalf of\u201d and entugchan\u014d<\/span><\/em>\u201d meaning \u201cto turn to\u201d or \u201cto appeal.\u201d This is a legal term used to express what an attorney does when speaking in behalf of the client. As a legal representative, the attorney speaks in place of and with the authority of the client.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You will recall that we\u2019re talking about Christians enduring suffering during this lifetime. Paul has just said that it is our faith, the hope of future glory, which makes it possible for us to endure these sufferings. He also told us back in verse nine that the Holy Spirit dwells in us and he said that we should live by and be lead by the Spirit.<\/p>\n

We have all suffered at times because of our faith. Sometimes this suffering is so deep that we don\u2019t know how we will ever recover. And often in those times of suffering we don\u2019t even have the strength of faith to be able to pray or we don\u2019t know how to pray about the situation. Paul tells us that in those times of weakness, whether it is physical or spiritual, the Holy Spirit of God helps us.<\/p>\n

He starts off this verse with, \u201cLikewise<\/span>.\u201d Now we have to ask ourselves, \u201cLike what?\u201d In order to answer this question we have to go back to verse twenty-three. There Paul was talking about those of us who have the Spirit of God in us groaning under our suffering until we receive our adoption and the redemption of our bodies.<\/p>\n

Now he is telling us that in those times of suffering when we are too weak to pray (physically or spiritually), or when we are in such depression or dejection that we don\u2019t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit steps in, taking our hand, and speaks to the Father for us in a manner that is unspeakable or unutterable for us. When we are groaning in weakness not knowing what to do the Spirit groans and speaks for us.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What a blessed promise! Have you had those times when you didn\u2019t know what or how to pray? <\/span>When we are in that pit of doubt and despair, without us even asking Him, the Holy Spirit steps-in and takes over for us. <\/span>Who could ask for a better prayer partner when we need it the most?<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

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Romans 8:26 – Our Prayer Partner Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Truth to Learn The Holy Spirit knows when we don\u2019t know what or how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[976,977,978,979,123,980,121,981,774],"class_list":["post-1800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-asthenia","tag-groanings","tag-huperentugchano","tag-intercession","tag-pray","tag-prayer-partner","tag-spirit","tag-sunantilambanomai","tag-weakness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-t2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}