Romans 7-8 - 1/22/11

S: (1/22/11-Romans 7-8) “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise 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 8:22-26, KJV.

O: All this groaning—the whole natural creation, we who have the Spirit living in us, and the Spirit groaning within us in ways we can't express. It can't be wrong for us to groan in anticipation if the Spirit Himself groans along with us.

A: How many times have I heard people "groan" in prayer, as if agreeing in wordless passion with what the speaking prayer prays? Is this in line with this passage? I don't think so, exactly. I think what it means is that the Holy Spirit living in us as an additional intelligence empathizes with what we struggle with, but on a higher, perfectly informed level. There's a far bigger picture to our suffering in waiting for exaltation than we can imagine.

P: Father, thank you for the fellowship of the Spirit in our current earthbound groaning. Thank you for the enlightenment that it isn't wrong for us to be dissatisfied with our experience, for it will soon be swallowed up in the final experienced you had planned for us in the very beginning. Thank you that now is not all the story in our walk with you and our redemption.

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