We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
Himself makes intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered —Romans 8:26
We
realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what
it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that
the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves.
When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He
expresses for us the unutterable.
“He,”
the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the
will of God” (Romans 8:27).
And God searches your heart, not to know what your
conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.
The
Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His
prayers of intercession. “. . . your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit . . .” (1 Corinthians
6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “. . . He would not
allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16).
The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience.
Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer . . . . But you have made it a ’den
of thieves’ ” (Mark 11:17).
Have
we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We
have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our
total person, is to be regarded by us as a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” He will
be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay
careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost
for His Highest” November 8)