Friday, February 1, 2013

The Groaning of Prayer


How to pray....
Pray to God through Jesus in the indwelling Holy Spirit!
John 17:1-8

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 
6 "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 
8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.


Romans 8:9-11

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:14-17

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" 
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 
17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.



Romans 8:22-26

22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 
24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words


Ephesians 2:18-22

18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 
21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 
22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 


Romans 8:27-30

27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

God's everlasting love....

Romans 8:31-39

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 
33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 
36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.


When it hurts so bad you can't get the words of prayer out, the groans of your soul are known by the Spirit.
Prayer is to help make us more like Jesus.
Prayer should make you dependent on Jesus!
Christ is our mediator!
Christ intercedes for us!

Father God, we wait! Through persecution, through trials, through distress, through danger, we wait upon the Lord! We know without a shadow of doubt, Your Word is truth! While we are here, we are prone to fall into sin, Lord forgive us! When we have lost our way, when we forget to give You praise, when we dishonor You, You show mercy to us! Lord, we really can not grasp who You are, we really can not understand the depth of Your love and we really deserve Your judgement, but You show mercy! Amen


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