It is necessary to recognize the function or office of the Holy Spirit in prayer. Consider the magnitude of the fact that the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost and abides with us forever (John 14:1616And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (John 14:16)). He dwells in the individual believer (1 Cor. 6:19). Such a fact is immensely important. We find that the indwelling Spirit is our Instructor and Guide in prayer, and all true prayer is in the Spirit. “Praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20). “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:1818Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (Ephesians 6:18)).
The Spirit’s Intercession
When Christ was with His disciples, He taught them to pray; John had similarly taught his disciples. But now all that is changed. It was expedient for the disciples that Christ should go away in order that the Holy Spirit should come, and He being here, He takes the office of forming our minds and hearts in prayer. Truly, we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself who dwells in us makes intercession. The words “for us” in Romans 8:2626Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26) are not in the best texts and only mar the sense. They give the idea that the blessed Spirit and the saints are two distinct parties, and that the Spirit externally makes intercession for us. This is not the sense, as is clear from the next words — “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (vs. 27). God, who looks down into the heart, sees what the Spirit has wrought in our desires and prayers. He knows the intercession which the Spirit makes on behalf of the saints, and they are according to God. The structure of this scripture (Rom. 8:2627) is remarkable. As regards ourselves, the Spirit is so identified with us that God, in searching the hearts, finds there the mind of the Spirit, and this is what He graciously takes up, not the workings of the flesh. But as regards God — whatever may be the Spirit’s condescension to us — the Spirit stands in all His own power and dignity as a Person of the Godhead, to plead for the saints. What solemnity, what divine value, clothes the prayer of saints, when the form in which they come before God is that of intercession by the Spirit Himself! On our side the prayer may come down to an inarticulate groan, but to God it rises to the height of the Spirit’s own intercession.
Our Comforter in Prayer
The bearing of this upon prayer is most encouraging. Here we find the Holy Spirit as dwelling in us, graciously identifying Himself in tender sympathy with our weakness, with our infirmities. The church which Christ has purchased with His own blood is so precious that the blessed Spirit must come and dwell there and look after it. Being here, He is our Paraclete, that is, the manager of our affairs. He opposes the flesh in us (Gal. 5:1717For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17)), helps our infirmities, condescends to our ignorance, and enters into our sorrows with groanings which cannot be uttered. We do not think enough of the sympathy of the Spirit of God with us. He is that other Comforter [Paraclete] who, the Lord said, was to replace Himself on earth. Jesus took our infirmities, and the Spirit helps our infirmities; Jesus groaned at Lazarus’s grave, and the Spirit intercedes for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered. How great must be the interest of the Holy Spirit in us when He can come and dwell in us, not discontinuing His stay, although our ways so often grieve Him (Eph. 4:3030And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)).
The Lord, indeed, taught the disciples to pray, and He did so perfectly. But the office of intercessor on earth He has now relinquished to the Holy Spirit, to whose guidance, therefore, we are committed. Let us seek to be “praying in the Holy Ghost”—knowing that the Spirit enters with fullest sympathy into all our infirmities and all our circumstances, and He will give us desires, sentiments and expressions appropriate to every experience, either happy or sad, through which the soul can pass. We have the Holy Spirit Himself now, to indite [compose] our prayers.
Confidence in Prayer
“This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14-1514Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 15The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. (John 5:14‑15)). We know that the formative power in the heart, of the words of Christ dwelling there, and an upright, uncondemning heart with confidence in God are the conditions of successful prayer. In the present verses, all that is assumed. It is supposed that we are asking according to His will, and what we have here is that, so asking, God always hears us. He is not like man, often occupied so that he cannot listen, or careless so that he will not. It is a precious and wonderful thing for the creature, man, notwithstanding the fall, to be so restored to moral harmony with God as to be able, under the guidance of the Spirit, to ask according to His omniscient will. Surely this is a proof of God’s desire that man should enjoy communion with Himself. May we prize this privilege as we should!
Prayer When We Do Not Know God’s Mind
Our spirits are not, however, always up to this level, and Romans 8:2628 recognizes this case. We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit helps our infirmities. And He who searches our hearts knows how to take up all that is of His own Spirit in those hearts. As to the result, “we know” that all things work together for good to them that love God. And this gives peace, whether our requests are granted or not. So we are not to restrain prayer because we are not on the highest plane of communion. On the contrary, it is our privilege—in everything — to let our requests be made known unto God (Phil. 4:66Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (Philippians 4:6)). An instructive example of this is Paul’s prayer about the thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:89). For this thing he besought the Lord that it might depart from him. But his prayer was not in the intelligence of God’s mind, who had a better thing in store for Paul, which Paul would have lost had his request been granted.
The believer may, as a chastisement, receive that which in unbrokenness he clamors for, but the result will not be happiness. We read, “He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Psa. 106:1515And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (Psalm 106:15)). To present our requests, with submission, is, however, always our privilege. The example of Paul shows this. He besought the Lord for his desire not once only, but thrice. In result, such submission was wrought, in his soul, that ultimately he took pleasure in the very infirmities which he had implored the Lord to remove. Now, a discontented and unsubject heart may reproach God for not answering its prayers, but in the retrospect of eternity, how much cause for praise may be discovered in the requests which our gracious God now refuses to grant.
E. J. Thomas, from
Practical Remarks on Prayer