Romans 8:22 says, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. When man sinned, everything in creation was affected by that sin. Genesis says the ground was cursed and man now had to earn his living by the sweat of his brow. Mankind was assigned the task of having dominion over the world, but in sin began to corrupt everything in nature. People today still exploit creation for their own desires. Verse twenty-three adds, And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Paul says that even as followers of Christ, the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves. As we live in this sinful world that only seems to get worse, we cannot help to groan at all that goes own. We await the redemption of the body as well as the spirit, that day when we are fully restored with nothing between us and the Heavenly Father. Verse twenty-four continues, For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? We are saved by hope. We cannot see the outcome of that hope at this present time, and if we could, we would be living by sight and not by faith. There is nothing tangible that we can show people to convince them of the reality of Christ. Only through faith can anyone come to Christ, and only through faith can we live victoriously in this world. As followers of Christ, we do not live in a bubble where the pain and suffering of this world cannot touch us, but we are still subjected to everything the rest of the world is subjected to, but with the knowledge that this one day will pass. Verse twenty-five states, But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. In faith, we wait for that which we cannot see. We do not have the ability to physically see the everlasting outcome of following Christ, but only the faith to be able to await patiently for that day when we will. This does not release us from our responsibility to be working for Christ until that day. We must patiently await until then. Verse twenty-six adds, Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. We may feel that we need beautiful, eloquent prayers to get God's attention, but Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, since we don't even know what to pray for. Public prayers often seem to be addressed more to the audience than to God and private prayers are often more what we want or need than what God wants for us. The Holy Spirit always knows what God wants and what we need though. Verse twenty-seven continues, And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. The Holy Spirit knows the will of God and makes intercession for the saints, the followers of Christ, according to that will. This does not mean that we shouldn't pray, but that we don't have to worry about getting the words exactly right. We simply need to pray in the Spirit of Christ.
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