Romans 8:26b says, “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.” When we are weak, unable to pray, the Spirit comes in to strengthen us. Then we are able to pray. However, although we may be burdened to pray, we may not know what to say and can only groan. This is the groaning of the Spirit within us. The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings in our manner. This groaning apparently is our groaning, but in our groaning is the groaning of the Spirit. He is in us, and He groans in the same manner as our groaning. He groans together with us. When we have a real burden to pray, yet we do not know how to utter it, then spontaneously we may groan. This is the best prayer within which the Spirit intercedes for us by groaning together with us.
This kind of unutterable prayer is primarily for the growth in life. Concerning our material needs and business affairs we are clear and have the utterance to pray about them. But concerning the matter of our growth in life we are lacking in both understanding and utterance. We do not know the kind of prayer God desires, and we are not clear how to pray, according to the burden we feel, for our being conformed to the image of God’s Son; hence, we groan. In our groaning, the Spirit groans also, interceding for us. His interceding is mainly that we may experience the transformation in life for growth into the maturity of sonship that we may be fully conformed to the image of God’s Son.
As the Spirit works in us by helping us in our weakness and by interceding for us with groanings, He infuses His according-to-God mind into us in our prayer. Romans 8:27 says, “He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to God.” God’s desire is that we may be conformed to the image of His Son and be brought into His glory. As we do not know how to pray concerning the growth in life, we groan in ourselves, eagerly expecting the divine sonship. Then the Spirit not only groans with us in our prayer, interceding for us, but also mingles with us by infusing His according-to-God mind into us in our prayer.
In 2 Timothy 1:14 Paul charged Timothy, saying, “Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” According to the preceding verse, verse 13, the deposit here must refer to the deposit of healthy words, including the riches of life in His word, which the Lord has stored in us. From the time we were saved, we have received many things from God as a deposit, like a deposit in a bank. Within us, and especially within our spirit, we have a divine deposit from the Lord. God’s life, God’s Spirit, and all the precious truths we have seen in the Lord’s recovery have been deposited into our being. How can we guard this deposit? We can guard this deposit only through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. If we act, behave, and have our life in the Spirit, all that has been deposited into us will be guarded. But if we neglect the Spirit and walk in the flesh and according to our mind, there will not be any guarding of the good things that have been deposited into our being. For this reason, we need to exercise our spirit and be preserved in fellowship with the Triune God; then we shall have a care for all the things that have been deposited into our being.
Galatians 6:8 says, “He who sows unto his own flesh will reap corruption of the flesh, but he who sows unto the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life.” To sow unto the flesh is to sow for one’s own flesh, with the desire and purpose of the flesh in view, to fulfill what the flesh covets. To sow unto the Spirit is to sow for the Spirit, with the desire and aim of the Spirit in view, to accomplish what the Spirit desires. To sow for the fulfilling of the purpose of the flesh issues in corruption; to sow for the accomplishing of the aim of the Spirit issues in life, even eternal life. Corruption is of the flesh, indicating that the flesh is corrupted; eternal life is of the Spirit and is the Spirit Himself. Sowing includes the totality of our Christian life. Everything we do is a sowing, either unto our own flesh or unto the Spirit, and our sowing issues in a reaping either of corruption out of the flesh, or of eternal life out of the Spirit.
This verse shows us clearly that the flesh is in contrast to the Spirit, and corruption is in contrast to eternal life. As far as we are concerned, there are only two kinds of sowing and two kinds of reaping. Sowing unto the flesh will always produce a harvest of corruption, whereas sowing unto the Spirit will always produce a harvest of eternal life. This word strongly implies that we need to make a decision with respect to our aim, our goal. To sow unto the flesh is to have the flesh as the goal, but to sow unto the Spirit is to have the Spirit as our goal. Thus, the Spirit should be not only our life and walk but also the goal of our living. Whatever we do, we do with a view toward this goal. We need to take the Spirit as our unique and eternal goal and keep ourselves continually in the fellowship of the Triune God that we may sow unto the Spirit and of the Spirit reap eternal life.
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