In this compelling episode, Dr. Charles Stanley delves into the intricate workings of prayer and the indispensable help of the Holy Spirit. He unpacks the process by which the Spirit guides, reveals, and mediates on our behalf, ensuring our prayers align with the divine will. This enlightening discussion promises to deepen your understanding of prayer’s power and the significant role that the Holy Spirit plays in our spiritual communication.
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, August 21st. Painful moments can leave us unsure of how to pray, but it is in those emotional, overwhelming times that believers can rely on the Holy Spirit, our greatest helper in prayer.
SPEAKER 01 :
One of the most powerful privileges you and I have is the privilege of prayer. That is that we have the privilege of personally talking to the only true living God. And the wonder of it all is this, that God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are all involved every single time we pray. And I’m persuaded that if most of us understood what really takes place, when we pray, we would pray more, more often and see more results. Well, I’m trusting today that this message is going to encourage you in your praying if you understand a little better exactly what happens every single time you and I come to God in prayer. The title of this message is The Holy Spirit, a Helper in Prayer. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Romans chapter 8. And in this familiar passage, Paul gives us an explanation of what really takes place when you and I pray. Beginning in verse 26, and we’ll read the 26 and the 27 verses. He says, And in the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. But 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. My friend, the will of God is the plan of God and the purpose of God for your life and my life. It is the intention of God for us. It is the purpose and plan of God for our life. Next week, next month, next year, our vocation, our marriage, our family, our children, all these things. That is, the Father has a will for all of that. Now, the will of God isn’t some mystery which God withholds from us. That is, God isn’t saying, I know what I want you to do, just try to find out. And so often, young people say, well, you know, God’s not showing me His will. And so we get confused and frustrated. Listen, the will of God is the purpose of God in your life and my life at that very moment for the very thing we are asking Him about. He will show us. And you see, we say the Holy Spirit is our assistant in prayer. He came to help us in prayer. He knows that we have frustrations and we don’t know what to ask for. But the Holy Spirit knows us perfectly. He understands us. He knows the will of the Father and He’s willing to reveal it. It was the Holy Spirit that revealed to the Apostle Paul the truths that he knew. And the same Holy Spirit that revealed those great divine truths to the Apostle Paul will reveal the mind of God to you and me about those things we’re concerned about. He wants us to know. And if we don’t know, it is not God’s fault. Why did he send the Holy Spirit? He sent him as a helper. One of the things God knows that we need is guidance and direction. Look, if you will, in John chapter 16. Look in the 16th chapter and notice what he said to those apostles in the 12th verse. He was telling them things that he wanted them to remember. And he said, verse 12, I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But listen to what he said. But when the spirit of truth comes, he’s been calling him the helper. But the reason he calls him the spirit of truth now is because he wants them to know that whatever he tells them is the truth. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. You want to know the will of God for your life? You want to know the will of God in a given situation? You want to know the will of God about your marriage, about your finances, about your children, about your parents, about your job? You want to know the will of God about those things? You and I have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us who was sent. to you and to me to assist us. He is our in-house helper, our indwelling helper, our in-house assistant. And one of his responsibilities in the area of prayer is to unveil our eyes, to unveil the truth and to show us the mind of God. Now, how does he usually do that? He usually does it in his word. or through circumstances, or through someone else, or it is the witness of the Spirit within our spirit. That is, you and I pray about something and ask the Lord to give us direction and wisdom and divine guidance, and after a period of time, it’s like… We know what to do. And there’s this overwhelming sense of inner quietness and assurance. This is what God wants me to do. That’s the way God intends to lead and guide his children. Through his word, sometimes you’ll be asking the Lord for something and you feel impressed to turn to the scripture and you may be impressed to turn to some particular passage. And you think… That sounds like it’s got my name on it. And it’ll be so crystal clear because it applies so specifically to what you’re praying about. That’s the work of the Spirit. Now people say, isn’t that amazing? Listen. First of all, God saves you and me. And the Bible says He predestined. He has willed that you and I be shaped in the likeness of Christ in our character, conversation, our conduct. So what does He do? He sends the Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us to be our in-house assistant, in-house indweller, and to help us in every area. Then what does He do? He gives us a book. This book is consistent with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. They’re not talking four different things. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in this book all say the same thing. This is God’s book. It’s His instruction book. This is His explanation. So, naturally, the Holy Spirit is going to guide us through the instruction book, listen and remind you, which He, the Holy Spirit, breathed into the minds of those men who penned these pages. If you want to know how familiar the Holy Spirit is with this, He’s the one who gave it to us. This is God’s instruction book. And so it should not be unusual. It should not be mystical. A person doesn’t have to be super spiritual in order to go to the Word of God and have the Spirit of God say something very clear about what they’re to do. All of these fit together. He sent the Holy Spirit to be our helper. And the Holy Spirit helps us how? By showing us the mind of Christ. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he says we have the mind of Christ. How do I have the mind of Christ? When Jesus Christ became our life, we have the mind of Christ. But who is it that interprets the mind of Christ? The Holy Spirit. Who interprets the Word of God to us? The Holy Spirit. Who’s the real teacher? The Holy Spirit. No preacher, no Bible teacher is the real teacher. We are just vessels through whom the Holy Spirit lays out the truth. The Spirit of God is the one who must teach your heart and mind. And if he doesn’t do the teaching, there’s not going to be a teaching going on. The teacher is the Holy Spirit. So what has he done? Look what he’s done for you. He came to indwell you, to assist you in your praying. He’s given you an instruction book, which he himself inspired. He’s the one who gave the message to the men who penned this book. And believe me, he didn’t give them any mistakes. All this stuff about the Bible being full of mistakes is no more than stuff. Almighty God, the sovereign God who keeps every planet in its orbit and who has absolutely nothing beyond his reach can keep a pure instruction book for people whom he declares are to be conformed to the likeness of his son. And so the Holy Spirit who lives within us takes the instruction book and moves and guides and works in our life. Now, notice what he says in verse 26. He says, 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. Now, what does he mean by groanings? This word groanings here means without words. We’re talking about expressing feelings that we can’t express. And the Holy Spirit knows exactly what they are. And he expresses things that we don’t know how to express. Have you ever been so grieved you didn’t know what to say? Have you been so troubled you didn’t know what to tell God? That’s his work. What does he do? He reads the mind and the heart. He reads the spirit of the believer. Intercession means that he goes to him and our behalf. God the Father is seated at his throne in heaven. on his right hand is the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Bible also calls an intercessor and the Father is there to hear our petitions the Lord Jesus Christ who went to the cross and died for our sins, has atoned for our sins, and therefore, when any of his children come to the Father, through him, we have access based not on our performance and our righteousness, but on the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So seated at the Father’s right hand is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, we say, is in heaven preparing a place for us. The Holy Spirit is within us preparing us for heaven. So the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us is doing what? He understands our weaknesses, our frustrations, our fears. He understands that we don’t always know how to pray. We can’t express it. We don’t know what to say. We don’t know the Father’s will. Sometimes we do. And we know the Father’s will and we bring it to Him. So what does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit takes our petitions. and brings them to the lord jesus christ sends them to the lord jesus christ who in turn lays them before the father based on listen based on his shed blood and the father responds to that petition and the lord jesus christ sends it back to the holy spirit and he interprets that prayer for us that is this is the will of god i’m going to do this And that is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are all involved in our prayer. The Father is the one who ultimately answers it. Jesus Christ is our intermediator. That is, He is our intercessor at the Father’s right hand. And the Holy Spirit is the one who is reading our heart right. So therefore, somebody says, but suppose I pray the wrong thing. Listen, the Holy Spirit is the clearinghouse. Don’t worry about it. If you begin to pray something that’s not of God, you can forget that it’s not going to get there. In other words, you don’t have to worry about praying the wrong thing and God heard and answered your prayer and sent you these terrible things that you asked for. No, God doesn’t operate that way. Listen to what he says. He gives us assurance of that. Verse 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. That is, the Holy Spirit always intercedes. That is, he petitions the Father on our behalf in those things that are in keeping with the Father’s will because he knows the Father’s mind. You know what that means? Nobody on the face of this globe or traveling in space is beyond your reach and mine. Nobody. Not a soul. Then why in the world don’t we pray for each other more often? Is it because we don’t think it’s needed? It is desperately needed. Is it because we don’t think God’s listening? He is listening. And I wonder what would happen if every time God brings somebody, some situation in their mind, that we took a moment to lift a prayer on their behalf. I wonder what would happen. You can touch anybody anywhere. That’s the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So if you wait until you always know the will of God, you’ll not always know the will of God. In fact, most of the time you may not when you first begin to pray. That’s what he’s talking about. But let me say one other thing about this. We must cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He helps us in prayer. Now, how is it we’re going to cooperate? Well, I’ll make it brief. First of all, you have to be saved. Now, think about this for a moment. If you nail down the truth of Scripture, you come to some real solid, hard-cold, unquestionable facts. How in the world can a lost person on a day-to-day basis ask God… For their needs to be met when, first of all, they have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, who is their only access to the Father. Secondly, they do not have the Holy Spirit living within them. They have no relationship to the Holy Spirit whatsoever. The one who lifts the prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ, who takes it to the Father, they have skipped two vital parts of the whole network of prayer. And so they say, well, now I don’t believe in Jesus, and I don’t believe in all that Holy Spirit business. I just talk to God. No, you may talk to Him, but it’s not Jehovah God, because He doesn’t hear it. you can’t be heard apart from the atoning death of Christ. Because what that implies is that I am good enough, I am accepted in my own righteousness and goodness, that God up in heaven hears me. My friend, the only way for you to be heard is through the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. His death at Calvary paid your sin debt in full and made you holy in the eyes of God and opened access to the throne room of the Holy of Holies where God is. That’s how you get there. And it is the Holy Spirit that takes the prayer there. Now, I know that upsets some people. You mean to tell me you don’t believe God’s answering my prayer? No, He’s not. You say, what about all these things that happen that I pray for? Well, there’s some things that happen. That is, there’s some things God allows to happen. He allows many things to happen. Some things the devil provides. Listen, the devil do anything in the world to keep you lost, thinking God’s hearing you, answering your prayer, lest you get desperate and trust Jesus as your Savior. Anything he will do. And don’t underestimate the power of the devil. You say, well, there’s some things that I prayed for, God did. Some things you prayed for may have happened, but God didn’t do them in answer to your prayer. Paul says in Romans chapter 2, he says, Don’t you know that the goodness of God is for the purpose of leading you to repentance? God allows good things to happen to lost people for the purpose of getting their attention to remind them how good He is. And listen, all people aren’t saved as a result of God’s wrathful hand of judgment. Sometimes people overwhelm for the mercy of God when they come to Him. So first of all, you’ve got to be saved. Now, if you want God to answer your prayer, that is, if we want the full assistance of the Holy Spirit… then here’s the requirement. Yield. I must yield my will to Him. Lord, whatever you want. Think about this. Do you think the Holy Spirit is going to intercede on your behalf when you’re living in rebellion toward God and you’ve got your own mind made up and you say, this is what I want, this is how I want it, this is what I’m going to do. Now, God, I’m trusting you to answer my prayer. It never gets out of the clearinghouse. That is, the Holy Spirit isn’t going to bring a petition that is not the will of God, that is not in keeping with the will of God, that’s not good for you, and that is a violation of a principle of Scripture. He’s not going to do it. So when we pray for things and we pray wrongly, you don’t have to worry about God answering that in the way you ask. But He will answer your prayer. Now listen, the Father gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want. But sometimes He’ll give us exactly what we ask for, more than we ask for. Now listen, isn’t it amazing how we just praise the Lord? Glory to God! When we get what we want, then when we get what He wants… We have a little different feeling about it. And we get a little disappointed. Here’s what I want you to see. We should rejoice whatever God sends. Amen? Because remember, He has our best interest at heart. And He’s only going to give us what is best for us. When you and I yield our hearts to Him, and our life is clean before Him, we have the presence of the Holy Spirit working in our life, moving in our life in the most fantastic, unbelievable ways. Think about the network. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit inside of us. There’s your friend. Here’s one in need. Here’s a need over here. Here’s a need over here. Here’s a need over here. And think about it. You and I can get in. Listen, we can get in on everybody’s life. Praying for them. Watching God do His wonderful work. Now let me ask you a question. Can you name anything any more powerful than your place in the network of God’s method of answered prayer? Nope. You’re talking to God, personally, involved, intimately involved in your life. Now, then are you going to just keep on praying the way you’ve been praying? Sort of here and there when needs arise? Or is it going to become a daily, moment by moment, way of life with you? Do you realize what access you and I have to the whole world? And the omnipotence behind that access? Somebody, somewhere a long time ago, it’s become a trite saying now, prayer changes things. It changes more than things. It changes things, people, circumstances. Prayer is God’s great privilege for the child of God. And when you surrender your life to the Holy Spirit, there is no limitation to what God will do in your life. Father, we thank you for loving us. When we think about how great you are to us, how wonderfully you provide, there is not a thing in all of this life that could equal or even come anywhere close, even mentionable, that equals the wonderful, personal, intimate relationship we have with you, which you have protected and which you have made so efficient and sufficient in every aspect. I pray the Holy Spirit, We’ll speak to some here today who are lost. But you do hear that cry from a lost person. You always hear that cry from a lost person and respond with forgiveness and cleansing. And we thank you for that. And Father, we pray that you will make all of us more aware personally. of who we have living on the inside of us and the awesome potential we have to be a part of change and good in the lives of others. And we thank you for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Holy Spirit, Our Helper in Prayer. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
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