Hosanna Restoration Church

I love to interact with scripture! If I just read it, I find that my mind wanders, but if I set myself to interact I am never disappointed! When I am interacting, I am expecting truth to jump out at me. As I have meandered through Romans chapter 8, I have probably been through it 20 or more times in the last few weeks. Sometimes I go through fast sometimes it is slow, but it is always good. As I looked at this particular scripture, some exciting things came to my mind.

Have you ever noticed that God will often answer questions about one bit of scripture right away if we will just keep going. Think of the questions this verse answers. Paul has been writing about freedom from sin. In the course of writing about it, he has made it pretty clear that we have some responsibility in keeping ourselves from sinning. He also points out that there is probably some lurking within us that we are not even totally aware of. I can imagine Paul asking how they are going to manage this and God telling him this would be a good time to explain that we have a friend who will help us. Yes, God has given us a secret weapon. The Holy Spirit Himself helps us. He prays according to the will of God. When we pray in the Spirit we turn that weapon loose.

Then another thing hit me! Don’t you think that many people asked the question concerning what the use was of speaking in tongues? All Peter could tell them that day after the Holy Spirit came upon them was that they were not drunk and that this was what Joel had talked about. I am sure he noticed that he was much bolder as well. Still, I can imagine them in the team meeting after things has calmed down, asking among themselves what was going on with all the other languages they spoke.

They knew it was something good and they knew to pray for people to receive the Holy Spirit. Over time, I am sure they began to notice that praying in their heavenly languages seemed to build them up. Then along comes Saul and Jesus transforms him into Paul. Since he was not in with the original group, he probably had a lot more questions! I can also imagine that with all the trouble that was going on in the church at Corinth that there were people thinking they better put a stop to such nonsense!

Fortunately, Paul had enough understanding to spend some time teaching them not to throw out the baby with the bath water! He felt it was so important that He prayed in tongues more than all of them. How can we overcome the sin in our lives? How can we increase in power, wisdom, and understanding? We can allow the Holy Spirit to intercede. Even people, who may not believe in tongues, probably find themselves groaning in despair from time to time! I know I need Him praying for me!