Summary of passage: The Holy Spirit helps us and intercedes for us on this side of heaven.
Questions:
11) Part personal Question. My answer:
Romans 8:26-27: The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, intercedes for us, and guides us in prayer.
Luke 12:12: The Holy Spirit teaches you what to say.
Acts 1:8: The Holy Spirit brings you power and is a witness.
Acts 16:6-10; 20:22: The Holy Spirit protects you in various ways such as guiding your path and in some cases preventing you from going places and re-directing you such as in this case with Paul who was prevented from speaking in Asia (probably because it was too dangerous). The Spirit also compels you to go places as well and warns you of dangers and hardships (Read Acts 20:23) and in Paul’s case, prison.
Ephesians 4:3-4: Be peaceful with others (especially believers) as you all all one like God the Father.
Ephesians 6:17: The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (so a weapon) to defend against evil upon you.
1 Corinthians 2:12: The Spirit imparts God’s wisdom and discernment and knowledge so that we may understand what God has freely given us as well as God’s character, Jesus, the Bible, and all things God desires us to know.
In my life, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent to guide me, protect me, move me from wrongs and nudge me to rights, and comfort me in my daily life. The Holy Spirit offers me understanding and discernment when I pray and events happen in my life. The Holy Spirit is power against the devil and strength and fortitude and perseverance. The Holy Spirit is God within. How amazing!
12a) The key here is the definition of “intercede” which is according to Webster’s Dictionary “to intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences; mediate.” Intercession (the noun form of intercede) means “the act of pleading on behalf of someone else.” God sent the Spirit to plead on behalf of us to Him. Or God Himself (who is the Holy Spirit) helps by making intercession for us. The Holy Spirit searches our hearts and guides our prayers according to God’s will.
b) Personal Question. My answer: Jesus and anyone who prays for you: pastor, friends, family, strangers, etc. I pray chiefly for family, self, friends, kids, neighbors, and strangers and all who are lost and broken and need Jesus.
Conclusions: Good lesson on the importance of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives, what the Spirit does for us and its importance, and how we really couldn’t function without it. I pray quite often when I don’t know what to pray for this: “God you know what I need, the needs of those around me, and others, please do your Will because I don’t know it.”
End Notes: “In the same way” connects verses 25 and 26. As hope sustains believers when they suffer, so the Holy Spirit helps them when they pray.
Verse 23 we saw us groaning. Here it is the Holy Spirit.
Groans with words that cannot express: This help from the Spirit may include praying with the spiritual gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 14:2, 14-15), but it is certainly not limited to praying in an unknown language. Paul could mean unspoken words as well.
The idea is simply of communication beyond our ability to express. The deep groanings within us cannot be articulated apart from the interceding work of the Holy Spirit.
This, of course, is the purpose of the gift of tongues – to enable us to communicate with God in a manner that is not limited to our own knowledge or ability to articulate our heart before God. The purpose of tongues is not to prove that we are “filled with the Spirit” or to prove that we are especially spiritual.
