“A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client.”

Romans 8:26-39 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; ³⁰ and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; ³⁴ who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 5:14-15 says:   This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.     Jesus taught us to pray saying:  “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”    So, it is important then that when we pray, we pray according to His will. One way that we can be certain that we pray according to the will of God is to pray His word. If we pray scripture, what God has said and what He has promised about things, we can be certain that we are praying in agreement with His will. We then according to 1 John, know that He hears us and we know that we have the requests we asked of Him. Another way that we pray according to the will of the Father is revealed to us by the psalmist, who says:  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)    As we spend time with God, meditating on His goodness, worshiping His holiness and worthiness, as we delight in Him and in His presence, our hearts and our wills become aligned with His. We pray according to His will and so He gives us our hearts desire.

There are times though when it seems we have prayed every scripture and every promise over a situation and still there seems to be no answer. We may have meditated on, worshiped in and delighted in God and His presence, and still the answer to our prayer seems to evade us. In today’s text it says:    The Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.     Whether it is our last resort or our first response, it is vital that we pray in the Spirit. When we are not certain, when we don’t know how or what to pray, the Spirit of God dwells in us. Rather than praying many words of our own, we need to yield to the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 6:7, before giving us the prayer He taught us to pray, Jesus said:  “When you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”   It is not our many words which will convince God to do what we need or want. It is not as though we are an attorney trying to convince God with our eloquent or lengthy dissertation. God knows what we need. In part, He knows what we need because as Romans 8:34 says:  Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.   We are not our own attorney, but as 1 John 2:1 says:  We have an Advocate with the Father.    Christ Jesus is our advocate, He is interceding on our behalf. There is an adage which says:  “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client.”    Why would we make our own case before God, when Jesus Himself  makes it for us?    Lost in the debate over whether speaking in tongues; the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues is still necessary and active in the church today, is the absolute necessity that we pray in the Spirit. God’s Spirit in us will always pray according to the will of God, just as Jesus Himself says He only says what the Father is saying. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are one and we are one with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit, because of Jesus act of intercession on the cross.

In today’s text it says:  We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.     We need to consider that there are times that the answer to our prayer is not what we might think, but rather that we become conformed to the image of Christ. God doesn’t cause the difficulties in our lives. James 1:17 says:   Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.   God causes good. Goodness is His nature. God will though use the difficult things in our lives, He will cause all things, both the good He gives and the bad and difficult things to work together for our good. There is no better answer to our prayer; nothing is more important than that we become like Christ. In yesterday’s text, Romans 8:16-17 said:   The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.    The answer to our prayers, the fullness of the promises of our inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, all of its glory comes as we are conformed to, made in the image of Christ.  The surest and fastest way to receive what we ask is to yield to the one who provides.

Today’s text says:  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen. Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, the three in one God; Your kingdom come, Your will be done, in and through my life. Amen.