Romans 8:26-27, “26 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. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God”
The continuous theme of Romans 8 is presence and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. And while we groan and travail, we see His continuous work in helping our weakness as He also intercedes for us.
Vs. 26, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,…”. This is one of the most comforting verses in my judgment in this chapter having learnt that prayer is the nucleus that holds all things together. James 5:16, tells us “…The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”, this is only possible when the Holy Spirit is present. It’s one thing to pray, it’s another thing to pray effectively. The disciples desired to learn how to pray effectively so the Lord gave them the guideline by which the Holy Spirit would pray effectively through them. The Lord’s prayer puts everything into perspective, covering everything we should cover when we pray. Yet in all these, we are weak without the Holy Spirit to do it. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure”. The will and the ability is of God through His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.
While we are waiting in hope, but suffering, the Spirit is a helper of our weakness. He not only strengthens us, but helps us in prayer. We often do not know in our ignorance how to pray what is best. In this He enables us to pray the will of the Father rather than our own. James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures”. He strips us of anything that takes Christ off our focus and positions the spotlight back on Christ when we pray. This is especially true in the times of the greatest trial, our focus at this time would be woe me and how do I get out. In Matthew 26, three times Jesus prayed that the cup of the wrath of God would pass Him and three times He yielded to God’s perfect will. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost and power, He depended on that power to bring Him through completely yielding to God the Father.
Vs. 26. “…but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” Observe the climax: The creation groans; we ourselves groan; the Spirit himself groans. As Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown writes, “as we struggle to express in articulate language the desires of our hearts and find that our deepest emotions are the most inexpressible, we ‘groan’ under this felt inability. But not in vain are these groanings. For ‘the Spirit Himself’ is in them, giving to the emotions which He Himself has kindled the only language of which they are capable; so that though on our part they are the fruit of impotence to utter what we feel, they are at the same time the intercession of the Spirit Himself in our behalf”. This is all about travailing
Vs. 27, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God”. As the Holy Spirit is groaning for us and in us, He does not distract from the will of the Father. As the Searcher of hearts, He watches the surging emotions of them in prayer, and knows perfectly what the Spirit means by the groanings which He draws forth within us, because that blessed Intercessor pleads by them only for what God Himself designs to bestow. Just like the dock does not move closer to the boat but rather the opposite, so is the Holy Spirit interceding for us moves us closer to the Father’s will. Blessings Ev
He Has Magnified His Word 