Lesson 20: Stand Victorious (3)
Read Romans 8:18-38 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/rom.8

The second source of strength for us is the Holy Spirit who lives in us. We must never underestimate the power He is in us. He is very God in our hearts. In Romans 8:26-27 we have an elegant, exquisite picture of what the Holy Spirit does for us when we pray. If we pray to the best of our ability in God's will, the Holy Spirit takes what we say and turns our prayer into something far more than we could ever imagine or generate in our own hearts. He prays God's true will for us. Our limited minds cannot possibly see God's perfect will but the Holy Spirit, who is God, knows His perfect will intimately and prays for us with His perfection. What a comfort this is as we struggle in prayer, wanting only God's perfect will, knowing our own limitations, our hearts broken knowing we cannot now see clearly, and yet so desperately wanting what God wants. The Holy Spirit prays for us, in our place, our substitute in a heavenly realm we cannot now touch – He lifts our spirit to this place and we can rest assured that our true prayer has been heard.


Such prayer is not about praying in a language we do not understand – for if we do not know what we have prayed for, how can we know when God has answered our prayer? If we do not know when and how He answered our prayer, how can we give Him glory in our thanks and by our witness to others of what He has done? For example, a few weeks ago God brought to my mind a friend I had not talked to for a while. My thoughts about this friend suddenly grew into a burden to pray for strength and encouragement – but I had no idea why. However, this was my earnest prayer for her. Then I wrote her asking what was going on in her life. She told me – and I knew why God had put her into my heart for prayer. Because I knew what the Holy Spirit had prayed through me when I didn’t know what to pray, I was able to exult with my friend for what God had done in her life, and my little part of praying for her in this time.

Another position the Holy Spirit takes in our hearts is Teacher. John 14:26 is Jesus' promise to us that the Holy Spirit will teach us everything we need to know. In the case of the disciples, the last part of the verse – the Holy Spirit would "bring to remembrance" everything Jesus had said – is seen today in the existence of the New Testament. Since the Holy Spirit was instrumental in writing the Bible, what better teacher could we possibly have to help us understand what the Bible says and means?

Some would say, however, that this truth as it is written in 1 John 2:27 means we do not need to go to church, listen to anyone else, or read any other writer’s works to be able to understand the Bible. In a very strict sense that may be thought true, but it is not in agreement with the rest of Scripture. In the lesson about why we should attend church we looked at Hebrews 10:25 to see that God commands us to be a part of a local church.

*How is the Holy Spirit teaching you to pray this week?