The Groanings of the Spirit

I am home, recuperating from knee replacement surgery, and I want to continue to talk about intercessory prayer. Anyone who has had any kind of surgery knows that the spirit is willing to pray but the flesh is just too tired, too hurting, or sometimes (thanks to pain medication) too much out of it to pray! Last time I talked about the Universal Pain-Assessment Tool that hospitals and doctors use to ascertain your level of pain. This assessment is useful in providing guidance for pain medication doses. A 0 on the chart is no pain, and 10 is unbearable. When you get to #5 on the scale, your pain causes you to be unable to do some activities. It's right about there that the Holy Spirit kicks in with the groanings and utterings mentioned in Rom 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Perhaps you have seen an old western movie where the hero is in a mine and and things start shaking loose and the timbers start to creek and groan. A ship's timbers will do the same thing in stressful seas, always reacting to the stress in such a way as to keep things from falling apart. They take the stress upon themselves in order to prevent a cave in, or a ship that would bust apart at the seams! This is what the Holy Spirit does for you in your stressful situation. You find yourself in such agony or dire straits that you cannot even find the words or the spirit to pray. And the Spirit comes and wells up inside you and makes perfect intercession for your hour of trial. He did it for Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and He will do it for you as you lay in your hospital bed at level 5 or worse of the Pain Assessment Chart! Here's the thing about the groanings of the Holy Spirit. They won't fail! In the movies the mine almost always caves in, but God hasn't lost one yet. Don't bolt. Hang in there. Endure! This trial is only meant to accomplish something in you for your own good. And when the dust settles, you'll be able to say with Paul in Rom 8:28, “All things (even this trial) work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.”