A genuine Christian experience in prayer is to come to the edge of the road and to recognize uncharted territory and not know the way \u2014 but, instead of turning back, cutting our way through the thickets and dense grasses in faith through the power of the Spirit. That, I think, is what Romans 8:26-27 speaks of when it speaks of the Spirit interceding on our behalf. Paul defines prayer here brilliantly, and it unlocks much of what we need to learn about prayer. A genuine Christian experience in prayer is to come to the edge of the road and to recognize uncharted territory and not know the way \u2014 but, instead of turning back, cutting our way through the thickets and dense grasses in faith through the power of the Spirit. That, I think, is what Romans 8:26-27 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romans"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe Spirit helps us in our interecessions because we do not know how to pray \u2014 the Spirit\u2019s intercessions takes the form of \u201csighs too deep for words\u201d because God, \u201cwho searches the heart\u201d knows the \u201cmind of the Spirit\u201d \u2014 and the Spirit intercedes in light of the will of God.
\nThere is a lot here, and even some controversies. (Wright doesn\u2019t think this is about tongues, just in case you\u2019re wondering.)
\nWhat the Christian is praying for is redemption of the whole order \u2014 a yearning and longing for God\u2019s future to be brought forward or for the present to be swallowed into God\u2019s grand plan. It is not that we hand on our requests to the Spirit but that the Spirit, in a sense, takes over our longings and, because the Spirit knows God\u2019s will, carries us along to what we can\u2019t articulate.
\nGod is here described, acc. to Wright\u2019s nice phrase, as the \u201cheart-searcher\u201d.
\nNothing less than this is being said: genuine prayer is being caught up by the Spirit into the redemptive will of God<\/em>. I suggest we see that genuine prayer as the Lord\u2019s Prayer itself.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"