Romans 8:26 and 27 say, “And in like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness; for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; but He who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the saints according to God.” Many times we do not know how to pray because we are so weak. But the Spirit joins in, comes in, to help us in our weakness. He helps us by interceding for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. When we have a real burden to pray yet we do not know how to utter it, spontaneously we just groan with that burden without any utterable word. This groaning apparently is our groaning, but in our groaning is the groaning of the Spirit. This becomes the best prayer within which the Spirit intercedes for us by groaning together with us.
Verse 27 speaks of the mind of the Spirit. The mind of the Spirit is His thought. The searching God knows the mind of the interceding Spirit. When we are burdened to pray but do not know how to pray, this shows our weakness. At that juncture the interceding Spirit who indwells us joins in to pray for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. This is because we do not know what to utter. The groaning of the Spirit carries His thought, His mind. Gradually, after much of this interceding, we may begin to understand the situation for which we are praying. Actually, the purpose of the Spirit’s groaning is that we may be fully molded and conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29).
The Spirit is the reality of the kingdom of God in righteousness, peace, and joy. God’s kingdom is a life of righteousness with ourselves, peace with others, and joy with God. To be righteous with ourselves, we must be strict in dealing with ourselves. We also must have a peaceful situation with others and remain in a rejoicing joy with God all day. This is the proper kingdom life. None of us in ourselves can live a life of righteousness, peace, and joy. This is why we need the Spirit as the reality of the kingdom of God. The Spirit of God is the reality of righteousness, peace, and joy. When we have the Spirit, we have this reality, and we are really living the life of the kingdom of God.
The Spirit empowers us so that we can abound in hope, resulting in joy and peace through faith (Rom. 15:13). Our human life is not full of hope. People commit suicide because they do not have any hope. Since they have no hope, they feel that there is no need for them to live. Ephesians 2 says that before we were saved, we had no hope (v. 12). Romans 15:13 says, however, that as believers we need to abound in hope. I can testify that I am full of hope that the God-ordained way of meeting and serving for the building up of the Body of Christ will be flourishing and prevailing on earth.
Romans 15:16 speaks of the sanctification in the Holy Spirit. This is not the objective, positional sanctification but the subjective, dispositional sanctification. God has given His Spirit to us to sanctify us, to separate us unto God for His purpose. Thus, the Holy Spirit is moving, working, and acting within us constantly to sanctify us.
Romans 15:19 says that Paul fully preached the gospel of Christ in the power of the Spirit. This shows that the Spirit has the function of empowering us for the preaching of the gospel.
Romans 15:30 refers to “the love of the Spirit.” As Christians we should love others, but not by our natural, human love. We should love by the divine love, the love of the Spirit. Our natural, human love is not universal. However, the Spirit works in us to give us a love for all the different members of the Lord’s Body (Col. 1:4, 8).