Useful Bible Studies > Romans Commentary > chapter 8
We desire that our friends should pray intelligently for us. For that reason, we tell them our requests (for example, Romans 15:30-32). When they pray with us, we listen to their prayers. Then we express our agreement with the word ‘Amen’, which means, ‘It is true’.
Jesus taught us that we should pray intelligently. He warned us not to use words that have no real meaning in our prayers (Matthew 6:7). In many wrong religions, people try not to use their mind in their prayers, as a kind of magic. They repeat certain words and phrases; they may allow spirits to control them.
Paul emphasises that the prayers of God’s Holy Spirit are different from the prayers of wrong religions. We may not understand the prayers of the Holy Spirit with our human mind (1 Corinthians 14:13-19), but those prayers are still intelligent prayers.
Of course the thoughts of God’s Spirit are intelligent thoughts. The Holy Spirit alone knows fully what is in the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). We must pray for the things that God wants (Matthew 6:10; 1 John 5:14-15). We may not always know what God wants us to pray; but the Holy Spirit always knows.
Often, we do not even know our own hearts, that is, our true attitudes (Jeremiah 17:9). We do not know what we truly need. We depend too much upon the appearance of things (1 Samuel 16:7). However, God, who examines the heart, knows us completely (Jeremiah 17:10). His Spirit knows what we truly need. Therefore, the Holy Spirit always prays what is right for us.
Next part: God works for good in the lives of his people (Romans 8:28)
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