Embracing the Hope of Glory

Our prayer this month is that our understanding and our heart might be flooded with light so we can know the hope of God’s calling. Our English word “hope” has been made weak with an element of uncertainty, but Paul held no element of uncertainty when he spoke of hope. To him the word held more the meaning of “certainty.“ Thus, the prayer from him might well become, “I am praying for light to come so you can know the certainty of God's calling upon your life.”

I grew up singing, I’m possessed of a HOPE that is steadfast and sure, since Jesus came into my heart. Well, let me tell you, that hope has remained with me through over sixty years of knowing the Lord. In fact—it’s a more sure hope now than it was when I first believed. And, it’s still growing!

Come with us now and let us see how the hope of us all can become more sure, certain and steadfast when sometimes it must be born out of the rubble of what seems to be hopelessness. The ruin of life out of which this kind of hope is often born will give it a touch of supernatural power. This helps it become a hope that endures to the end.

Whatever the calling of God upon any person's life may be, it is with the Lord’s full knowledge of all that will ever happen in that person’s life. God may place a call upon someone with the knowledge that he or she will be tested beyond human endurance. Often it is this testing that makes one even more useful in interceding for others who are being tested.

Generally, as believers, we know how to address God in prayer. It is often easier to pray for someone else going through a trial than to believe for ones selves. But sometimes the needs of our own souls are so heavy that, before we can truly intercede for others, we must first find help for ourselves. Spiritual weariness often descends on believers, even more so when one seems to have failed. It is here the Holy Spirit helps us by praying on our behalf. Then He continues to help us as we together with Him make intercession for others.

This is because believers whose hope has been damaged and then restored can carry with them a confidence that can serve as a balm for those they see growing weary in their calling. In other words, hope restored can increase the faith, understanding and anointing by which the one restored can minister that same hope to others who are going through their test of faith. Many who have within them a hope that has been restored never realize what a healing balm they can carry with them and minister to others.

Hope literally exuded from Paul as he wrote his Letters to the churches. It was evident that hope had become a source of life and strength that sustained him and enabled him to impart it to us in his Epistles. Hope was empowered in him, of course, by the Holy Spirit. Though the word, hope doesn’t appear in this passage, we can feel it being built up in us just as we spend time with these words.

Sometimes the praying within us, and the intercession, is with groanings, which cannot be uttered. No natural ear can hear the prayer or understand. This is all right, for the supplication is toward the Lord only. And the beauty of this is that out of the circumstances and conditions that leave us wordless in prayer, the most blessed kind of hope is born. Then, from this hope fruit comes forth that could never, it seems, have been known otherwise.

You see, out of the ground that has been plowed with pain and sorrow, a fertile soil is produced that itself bears delicious fruit. It is fruit that may never have grown had not the ground become broken up with hopelessness and there had come a kind of praying that can best be described as groaning.

Perhaps the most important thing any of us can do is to pray, even though it may seem our ability to do so decreases as the demand upon us increases. As the necessity to pray grows, how to pray—and what to pray—often becomes baffling. That’s where the Holy Spirit enters and brings His renewal in us.

It must have been some kind of undue pressure that led Paul to say, We know not what we should pray for as we ought. He could have meant: “Necessity is laid upon us. There is a demand that we have an answer. We’re pressed into a corner without a gleam of hope. Impossibility has closed in and our human wisdom has proved useless. People have failed us, and no matter, for no one held any answers anyway. All that’s left for us to do is pray, and now we don’t even know how to do that.”

This can leave us weak. We hold the knowledge that God can come to our aid, but we don’t know how to bring our petition in unto Him. In was in this state Paul discovered the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities as he wrote in Romans 8:26.We are in the place of discovering this same thing.

The Greek word Paul used for helpeth is awonderfully long and complex word. Look at it with me. It is sunantilambánetai. The first part of the word, sun, means “together with, in the same place.” Its second part is anti, meaning, “against, or, in place of.” The third part is lambánetai. It means, “he takes hold of.”

Putting this all together, it means the Holy Spirit comes exactly where we are, right inside of us to become one with us. From this point He is ready to stand against the infirmities that have robbed us of hope. We can soon learn God’s Spirit is not against us; He is with us, but He is against our weaknesses. In fact, He will lay hold on them to wrestle from them the supremacy they hold in us, and release His supremacy instead—if we but allow Him to do this. And, oh! How ready we are for Him to do this in us! Human weakness combined with the grace and power of God is what hope is made of.

This word infirmities in this scripture, is from the Greek (asqenia) asthénia. It means, lack of strength, weakness, feebleness. It sometimes means, sickness—sickness of the soul or of the body. Isn’t it strange how something that means weakness can have the power to rule us and rob us of our hope?

The Holy Spirit is ready to lay hold on all kinds of infirmity in us. He is ready to take on all our spiritual infirmity, our mental infirmity, our moral infirmity, our motivational infirmity, plus all kinds of physical infirmity. These, then, become the seedbeds from which hope will spring up and grow. And the fact becomes evident that strong roots grow in this kind of soil.

But now, the fact is that what Paul is making reference to in Romans 8:26 is that the Spirit will help our infirmities, particularly our infirmity, or weakness, in praying. He said, We know not what we should pray for as we ought. The Greek word translated we know is (oidamen) oídamen. This is the Perfect form of a Verb that means, to know in a way that is certain. As used here, it means, we have absolutely no idea how to pray about this matter. We are baffled and left without hope in the face of the necessity that is laid upon us, and the possibility of praying, waiting before us. But Paul learned the fundamental and important lesson that the Holy Spirit will come within us, take over the case facing us, join in the fight against what is robbing us of faith and come against it for us— yes, from within us!

Paul passed through the point of holding an attitude that said, “All I’ve been through, all the teaching I’ve had, all my study and searching for truth has brought me only to the point of not knowing how to pray.” He was left hopeless in a situation that demanded an answer. There, the answer came. The Holy Spirit came to do the praying for him. Now, he’s teaching us the same can be true for us.

It is in situations like this that the Holy Spirit comes to help us. He, Himself, stands ready to make intercession for us. This ministry of His reaches in two directions. We need to perceive them both. First, He makes intercession in us for us, and then, He makes intercession in us for others. He does this with groanings which cannot be uttered.

In I Corinthians 14:15 Paul said I will pray with the spirit, and l will pray with the understanding also. The beautiful thing about *praying with the Spirit is that it gives birth to understanding. In fact, it is my conviction that much of the revelation set forth in Paul’s Prison Epistles came to him through much praying with the spirit. Could that not be where the wealth of the revelation presented in Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians came into being?

If our ears are spiritually tuned, we can hear the very groaning of creation. The wars, the rebellions, the anger, the frustration, the grief, the endless search for meaning are all expressions of creation’s groaning. Its hope is dim, but still it longs for deliverance. This groaning will only increase in the days to come. It will become like the labor pains of a mother giving birth. Some of us will hear this groaning and will participate in creation’s deliverance.

There is a crescendo of groaning in Romans 8. See it here, beginning with verse 22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 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. 26 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. All creation groans, we who are believers groan, and the Holy Spirit groans.

But not only is there a groaning in creation, there is a groaning in us, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. It may be with an instinctive knowing that there is something for which we are waiting. It is a hope not yet fulfilled. Paul called it the adoption, to wit the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23). This may be beyond the ability of our mind to grasp, but it is the longing of our spirit. Our bodies, sometimes filled with pain, enter into the groaning, waiting—with hope—for our full deliverance. Into this, comes the Holy Spirit.

Adoption means “son-placement.” Redemption means the “release from a bondage by payment of a ransom.” There yet remains a wall of separation between God and us. Our longing is that this separation will be removed. It is like a travail of birth. Our glory is that our ransom has been paid. Jesus paid it.

Regarding the groaning of the Holy Spirit, He does this within us, not in some place far from us. We participate with Him in His groaning with a burden of intercession that embraces infirmity, need, sin, poverty, ignorance, and hopelessness. With Him, we bring the infirmity, or whatever is the weighty burden of our souls, in before the very Throne of God’s grace. Here we find hope. Here we are able to leave our burden and see God’s powerful hand move. This may be what some believers of old called “praying through.”

I’ve known a little of this. But it was just a beginning. Some years ago, when quite young and “in control” of my life, an older Pastor sat me down on the front row of his empty meeting hall. He had a message for me alone. As he walked up and down in front of the pulpit, he said over and over, “Don’t try, Brother Corley, CRY! Don’t try, Brother Corley, CRY!”

I was a little annoyed, but remained respectful. Part of me thought he was eccentric. But, another part of me heard him.

It was only a matter of before my world crashed down around me. I won’t even try to describe what it was like, except to say that I was left with no hope. There was nothing left for me to try. In desperation, I sprawled on the floor and cried. I could remember only one verse of Scripture. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles—Psalm 34:6. The Holy Spirit kept this alive in me.

Somehow, I think by the mercy of God, the Holy Spirit entered my travail and made intercession for me with groanings, which could not be uttered. I know, in the darkest night I’d ever known, He helped my infirmity.

Now all of us together are facing a dark night more troublesome than any of us have ever known. The Holy Spirit is ready to go with us into it. What a powerful time! All creation groaning, we which have the first fruits of the Spirit groaning, and the Holy Spirit groaning in us! We groan, with a travail like the pains of birth, because the seed of hope has been planted in us.

I hate to admit my weakest point is in praying. My mind is too weak sometimes to come up with the understanding as to what I should pray. My discipline is too unruly to bring me to the point of praying as much as I should. My consciousness of God is too small to keep me in constant communion. My love for Him is too faint to keep me always at His feet and in submission to His will. Therefore, I need the Holy Spirit’s help. The grace revealed in Him is keeping hope alive in me and, thus, drawing me on to pray—and to believe.

I’ve found Him ready for His union with my spirit. You can find the same. From His station in us He is ready to fashion prayers that can’t be grasped by our human understanding, but are immediately adequate before God. I am learning that He—and sometimes, He alone—can handle things that try to keep me from praying and that plunder my hope.

Things like discouragement, anger, resentment, fear, worry, guilt, and so on, often drain any of us of any physical, mental, moral, or spiritual strength. When they come, the first thing they attack is our ability to pray, and, thus, they rob us of hope. It is here we learn the Holy Spirit is not a casual Visitor Who will often go away. He is ready to become a permanent Occupant in us who ask for Him to remain. He is ready to join us against every spiritual invader. Thus, He helpeth our infirmities. Let us come to know this: There is no robber of hope who can stand before Him in overthrowing the hope He stands ready to release in us.

In Romans 8:26 Paul informs us the Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us. Maketh intercession is from another interesting, and long, Greek word—uperentugkánei. It means to go to someone, in behalf of another, for consultation or to bring a petition. It could be the action of a representative of the people coming before a king to speak in behalf of someone who cannot himself approach the king. For instance, a man’s family may face a great need that can only be answered by the king. But, the poor man is unable physically or emotionally to address so eminent a person. So, a representative makes the request for him. In the same manner, the Holy Spirit brings us before the Throne of our King and, from within our own beings, makes our requests for us.

Two more powerful revelations come to us from Romans 8 with regard to intercession made in our behalf. One is that He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God—verse 27. The other is that Christ, Who is even at the right hand of God, also maketh intercession for us—verse 34. For what greater Representation could we ask?

There, waiting to bring our humble needs before the Throne of our Great King are the Holy Spirit and Christ Himself. They both represent us according to the way ordained for us by God.

The Holy Spirit is the very Breath of God that was breathed into the first man Adam. He remains ready to enter us, to enable us, to empower us, to direct us and to bring us into the path God ordained for us. Looking unto Him as He maintains His living in us, keeping us in an unbroken communion with our Heavenly Father, gives us a great source of purpose and hope. Let us know that when we come to the end of our own personal resources, that holy Breath of God is ready to bring hope into our sometimes-pitiful lives, and our situations as well.

Christ Jesus is God’s anointed and appointed One, reigning from the most high position in Zion, and yet, never leaving us. He is opposed by principalities and powers, but never to the point that any one of them can win out against us so long as we walk in the path God has ordained for us. Amazingly, this is so even when we grow old and have no more ability to walk in the paths we have known. To our dying day, because He has conquered death, hope can remain vibrant in our bosom. He never ceases to be our Way, our Truth or our Life.

When I do not know what, or how, to pray, the Holy Spirit does know. And Jesus Who ever lives to make intercession for me abides in me to carry me to the very end of my earthly being with a hope that looms larger on my horizon than ever. This is so for you also.

We will continue our search into the depths of Paul’s Epistles as we move on. For now, we take just one part of a petition from Ephesians 1:18.

The word understanding is in question in some translations. In the Greek text from which the King James Version was translated this word is dianoia, dianoía. This means “the mind as it perceives, pierces through darkness, and understands.” Another word occurs in the text from which some modern translations are taken. It is kardia, kardía. This means “the heart as the inner part of a person that feels, desires, and responds to God and to others.” We see again that little Greek word, ina hína, which in its simplest form, means, " in order that."

So, whether it is the understanding, or the heart, that is to be enlightened, no matter. Both need and can receive God’s light "in order that” hope might bloom wherever darkness has been. Perhaps it is in the heart that the seed of hope first lodges. The Holy Spirit is ready to go there and nurture it with living water that it may burst forth into the heart and, then, on into the understanding. Christ who loves us absolutely, unconditionally... It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.He lifts us to His Throne in Zion, and a hope that remains is born in us (Romans 8:34).