Romans 8:23-27

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So we are in Romans chapter 8, verses 23 through 27.
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I marked it wrong. We'll start in verse 1.
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We normally do. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own
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Son in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, he condemned sin in flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the
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Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the
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Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the
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Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.
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Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please
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God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the
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Spirit, if, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the
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Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the
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Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised
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Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his
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Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the
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Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the
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Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry,
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Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
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And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we might be glorified with him.
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For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
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For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
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For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage and corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
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For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
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And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the
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Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
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For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?
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But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
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Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray as we ought.
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But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, and he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the
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Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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Last week we talked about creation and how creation groans for the consummation and how we see how it is corrupted from what it was and how it ought to be.
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That creation longs with eagerness for us to be brought to glorification.
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This week we talk about ourselves as saints. We, Paul says in verse 23, and not only creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the
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Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
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We as saints have the first fruits of the adoption in the grace and the glory of the gift of the
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Holy Spirit given to us as a helper. Christ in John 14 verses 16 and 17 says,
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And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the
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Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
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But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
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When Paul talks about waiting for the adoption as sons, what he is referring to is the completion of this adoption that we have.
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It's already begun. We experience many parts of this in this life. But when we are with Christ in heaven, we will experience the full glorification of our spirits.
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And in the consummation, we will experience the full glorification of our bodies. These things aren't realized yet, but they will be.
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And while our adoption has begun already, and we look forward to the completion of it,
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Paul says that we groan inwardly as we wait. The word here in the
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Greek is stenadzo. I believe I'm pronouncing that correctly. It's to groan within oneself or properly to groan because of pressure being exerted forward, similar to how we talked about creation last week, groaning looking forward to feel pressure for what is coming on.
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We wait with the same eagerness for the promise to be fulfilled.
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We groan inwardly because the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to our own wretchedness and to the sin of the world.
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And we see its corruption. We see how our flesh is corrupted. And we see the
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Holy Spirit's work in us and the fruits of the
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Spirit. Because of that, we groan for this world to pass away and for the new one to come.
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As we groan, waiting for the consummation, waiting to be glorified, we endure.
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But what can cause a man or a woman to endure? Why do saints endure the things that they endure?
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I'll give you an example in Paul himself. In 2 Corinthians 11,
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Paul is again dealing with an issue in Corinth. But in speaking of himself, he says this starting in verse 24.
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He says, 5 times I received at the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes less one. 3 times
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I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. 3 times
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I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
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And apart from other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
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Certainly a full life. What Paul is doing is he is talking to Corinth about all of the things that he has endured for the sake of Christ.
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What can cause a man to endure those things? Paul doesn't mention here because he's still alive at this point.
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His own beheading. He tells us many, many times why he endured these things.
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Why James and Peter, John, why saints, period, endure the things that they endure.
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Why they would endure being human torches in Nero's garden. Or being flayed.
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Or many of the other horrific things that were done to the saints. In Philippians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21.
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But our citizenship is in heaven. And from it we wait a
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Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables
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Him even to object all things to Himself. Our King.
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Our God and His promises. That is the only thing that causes us to endure.
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Well, not the only thing, I apologize. The Holy Spirit within us. And the promises.
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The promises of God and the work of the Spirit is what causes us as saints to endure.
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And while we endure these things, Paul is saying that we groan inwardly, waiting for the fulfillment.
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But we do not carry these things alone. Paul did not suffer these things alone. Which is part of the reason why in 2
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Corinthians chapter 11, Paul, as he continues, says that if he was to boast, the only thing worth boasting about is his own weakness.
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Because his weakness and his enduring through all of those things is what glorifies
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God. Because there's no way he himself could have endured them.
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No saint endures the suffering of their life alone. Because we have the
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Holy Spirit. He carries our burden with us.
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Verse 24, it says, For in this hope we were saved.
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Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
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Hope today is talked about in the context of wanting something that is uncertain.
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That's how it's typically used in our culture.
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Well, I don't know, but I'm hoping. Much like the same way we think, or rather our culture thinks about the word faith.
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Being something, believing in something that can't be proved. The issue is that this isn't what either of these words mean.
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Faith, or pistis in Greek, means to trust. And it alludes to a divine persuasion.
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To have faith is to be persuaded by God to the truth. The truth that is backed up with evidence so that you can trust.
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Or another word that we like to use typically is confidence. That carries the correct connotation with it today.
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What most people don't realize is that it's confidence, confide, or with faith.
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In much the same way, Paul uses the word hope here in these passages.
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Not meaning that we want for an uncertainty, but that we can hope because of the objective truth of what
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God says will come to pass just as assuredly as yesterday came to pass.
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We have to remember that we serve a sovereign God, and He is wholly sovereign.
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There is not a stray molecule in all the universe. Not one single thing that He does not control.
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There's nothing that comes to pass that He has not already ordained. Our God cannot lie.
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He is the truth. He spoke creation into existence.
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What He says literally is the truth, objectively.
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Therefore, when He says such and such will take place, it most assuredly will take place.
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This is our hope. And when the world's darkness shakes our faith, that hope steps in.
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The knowledge that we serve a sovereign God who cannot lie, and has promised us that He will finish
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His work, the work He began in us. Paul says, for who hopes for what he sees?
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This is pretty self -explanatory. If I hope for a thing, and I receive that thing,
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I no longer hope for the thing. The receiving of the thing cancels out the hope for it.
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Matthew Henry says on this section, Believers have been brought into a state of safety, but their comfort consists rather in hope than in enjoyment.
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Please think about that for just a moment. He's saying our comfort consists rather in hope for what we know will happen than in enjoyment.
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And also think about the fact of what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians. The main concern of a saint, our comfort is not in happiness.
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It's not in what makes you happy. It is in hope and trust in God, and how
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He can use you for His purpose. He continues, he says,
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From this hope they cannot be turned by vain expectation of finding satisfaction in the things of time and sense.
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That brings to mind the section in the Pilgrim's Progress where they enter this place that is along the path, along the road, called
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Vanity Fair. And everything any person could ever want is in Vanity Fair. They're walking through, and they're looking at things, and they're seeing things, and they keep walking, and people are like, wow, they're just walking through.
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They're not buying anything. They're not doing anything. And eventually, the people in the town become enraged that they're not doing anything.
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They're not buying anything. So they gather around them and say, Why aren't you doing anything?
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Why aren't you buying anything? And Christian says, Because you do not sell what we want. The truth.
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Now, they're immediately locked up, and one of them is killed.
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But this is what Matthew Henry is referencing, the fact that nothing of this world can satisfy that hope that we have.
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None of it. There's nothing that can move us off of that path forward towards the end goal.
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Because the world doesn't sell anything. It doesn't sell the thing that we want.
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We need patience. Matthew Henry says, We need patience.
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Our way is rough, it is long, but he that shall come will come, though he seems to tarry.
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Right now, we hope for the return of our king, and let us be content and have comfort in that hope, but he will not tarry forever.
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In verse 26, Paul says, Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray, well, we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the
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Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the
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Spirit, because the Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to God's will.
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Paul says, Likewise, or just like, the hope that fills us when our faith becomes weary, the
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Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness with very many things, but here, prayer, the
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Holy Spirit intercedes for us in our feebleness, in the feebleness of our prayers.
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Remind you, in Ephesians 2, verse 18, he says,
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For through him we both have access in one
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Spirit to the Father. When we pray, understand that this is a triune activity.
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All three persons of the Godhead participate. We pray in Jesus' name, because he is our high priest, constantly making intercession for us with the
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Father. Just like in the
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Old Testament, the Israelites would bring their sacrifices to the priests, and the priests would present them to God just as they would not deign ever to enter the
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Holy of Holies or the inner sanctum of the temple, we also would not deign to stand before God by ourselves.
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We need our high priest. We must have Christ. It is our privilege as saints that God hears our prayers.
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He doesn't hear everyone's. We pray, and the
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Holy Spirit makes it into a right prayer. It is carried forth through Christ, our priest, heard by the
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Father. And sometimes he says no. Some of the best answers that you can ever get to your prayers are no, or silence.
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But as the Holy Spirit works in us, inform us to the image of Christ, to grow us in our lives, for us to lead
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God -centered lives, as this occurs, so do our prayers reflect that in becoming less self -centered and more
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God -centered. He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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Our prayers will become in line with the will of God. This is
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Christ in the garden. It is not my will, but yours.
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But understand that even when you can't, when you don't know what to say in prayer, the
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Holy Spirit does. He knows exactly what you want to say. He knows the mind of our spirits.
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He knows what we are trying to say, and he intercedes for us.
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He gives us the words to say, helping to express what we cannot.
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Remember, as I said before, in prayer, in your labors, in trials, in tribulation, in your suffering, we endure because we have a helper, and we will never endure anything alone ever again.