He That Searcheth the Hearts...
"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
8:26 [KJV]
"We
know not what we should pray for as we ought." How often do
we find and feel this to be our case. Darkness covers our mind;
ignorance pervades our soul; unbelief vexes our spirit; guilt
troubles our conscience; a crowd of evil imaginations, or foolish or
worse than foolish wanderings distract our thoughts; Satan hurls in
thick and fast his fiery darts; a dense cloud is spread over the
mercy-seat; infidelity whispers its vile suggestions, till, amidst
all this rabble rout, such confusion and bondage prevail that words
seem idle breath, and prayer to the God of heaven but empty mockery.
In this scene of confusion and distraction, when all seems going to
the wreck, how kind, how gracious is it in the blessed Spirit to
come, as it were, to the rescue of the poor bewildered saint, and to
teach him how to pray and what to pray for.
He is therefore said "to help our infirmities," for these evils of which we have been speaking are not wilful, deliberate sins, but wretched infirmities of the flesh. He helps, then, our infirmities by subduing the power and prevalence of unbelief; by commanding in the mind a solemn calm; by rebuking and chasing away Satan and his fiery darts; by awing the soul with a reverential sense of the power and presence of God; by presenting Jesus before our eyes as the Mediator at the right hand of the Father; by raising up and drawing forth faith upon His Person and work, blood and righteousness; and, above all, by Himself interceding for us and in us "with groanings which cannot be uttered." When the soul is favoured thus to pray, its petitions are a spiritual sacrifice, and its cries enter the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, for "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" (ROMANS 8:27; JAMES 5:4; I PETER 2:5).
He is therefore said "to help our infirmities," for these evils of which we have been speaking are not wilful, deliberate sins, but wretched infirmities of the flesh. He helps, then, our infirmities by subduing the power and prevalence of unbelief; by commanding in the mind a solemn calm; by rebuking and chasing away Satan and his fiery darts; by awing the soul with a reverential sense of the power and presence of God; by presenting Jesus before our eyes as the Mediator at the right hand of the Father; by raising up and drawing forth faith upon His Person and work, blood and righteousness; and, above all, by Himself interceding for us and in us "with groanings which cannot be uttered." When the soul is favoured thus to pray, its petitions are a spiritual sacrifice, and its cries enter the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, for "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" (ROMANS 8:27; JAMES 5:4; I PETER 2:5).
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802–1869 A.D.)
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