11 Sept. The Holy Spirit helps us to pray
"The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us. Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children's glory completely."
"Everything God made was changed to become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it and because all along there was this hope: that everything God made would be set free from ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God's children."
"We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain, like a woman ready to give birth. Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God's promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children, which means our bodies will be made free."
"We were saved, and we have this hope. If we see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People do not hope for something they already have. But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently."
"Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is in people's hearts. and he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way God wants."
"We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people he called, because that was his plan. God knew them before he made the world, and he decided that they would be like his Son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers."
"God planned for them to be like his Son; and those he planned to be like his Son, he also called; and those he called, he also made right with him; and those he made right, he also glorified."
(Romans 8:18-30)
Paul begins this section of his Letter to the Romans by talking about looking forward in hope: "The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us." (Romans 8:18)
He argues that if God had already completed his work in us, hope would be unnecessary. But as "we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children" (Romans 8:23), we can look forward to greater glory as God continues to make us more like Jesus.
In the meantime, the Holy Spirit helps us when we feel weak. If we simply don't know how to pray next, we can use the prayer language God has given us, and pray 'in tongues'. In this way, "the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain." (Romans 8:26)
And we should never despair, because however bad it may seem at the time, "we know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him." (Romans 8:28)
So God continues to help us to be more like Jesus, "so that Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers." (Romans 8:29)
The photo shows Albrecht Dürer's painting 'Praying Hands' (1508).
You can read more from Paul's Letter to the Romans @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/new-life-in-the-power-of…/