By Pastor Beaudry June 23, 2023
Sometimes we are angry with our partner, or just plain sad and disappointed, and we don’t even know why. We want to pray about it, but we don’t know what to ask. That is where the Holy Spirit can help us.
One of the things the Holy Spirit does in our lives is to help us with our prayers. But why? Because there are times when we really don’t know what or how to pray. Perhaps we find ourselves discouraged, depressed, and overwhelmed. That’s when the Holy Spirit will help us. Jesus called the Holy Spirit a “comforter”. In John 14:16 He said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever” (NIV).
The word “comforter” comes from the Greek word “parakletos”, which means “called aside to help”, an intercessor or helper. Some versions translate “parakletos” with the word “advocate,” which is applied to Jesus in 1 John 2:1: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (NIV). The purpose of an advocate is to plead the cause of another, an intercessor. That is part of the work the Holy Spirit has come to do in your life.
We don’t always have to put words to our prayers. Here’s the good news, sometimes a simple sigh or moan will do. The Holy Spirit will do the rest. Believe it, many Christians have done it many times. We don’t know what to say or how to say it. We only know that we are in pain, so we sigh, we moan, and sometimes cry. That is where the Holy Spirit comes in. Romans 8:26-27 tells us: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (NIV).
As human beings, we are always interested in the here and now, which will temporarily benefit us. However, God sees things a little differently. He is as interested in “today” as in eternity. In other words, God has a plan greater than our personal happiness at any given time. He desires our holiness as we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And that is why the following verses are so important. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:28-29 NIV).
We definitely need to read Romans 8:26-29 to get a good overview! Let’s put it all together because it illustrates the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. There are times when we are overwhelmed by the way life is going. We are so distressed that we don’t even know how to pray, so we sigh or groan. But the Holy Spirit takes those groans and sighs and turns them into prayers to the Father. Then no matter what happens, God will take our current situation and bring good out of bad. But His ultimate goal is to take whatever happens, the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, and make us more like Jesus. That is the goal and the endgame for every believer.
Happiness does not come from our search for a partner but from the search for God. If we dedicate our lives to seeking happiness, we are unlikely to ever find it. But if we instead focus on being holy, on being the person God has called us to be, we will find personal happiness as a byproduct of our priorities. When we get to heaven one day, it will all make sense!