Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. (27) Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
The letter to the Romans was written to the faithful in Rome by the apostle Paul. The Holy Spirit has been the main focus of chapter 8 and today’s verses are not introducing a new subject. The Spirit of God is indwelling in every believer and is the primary agent in our sanctification, our spiritual journey. The Spirit, like hope, sustains and supports the believer for He teaches us how to pray. We don’t know what to pray for as we don’t know what’s best for us. The Spirit gives our desires a language heard and understood by God; He intercedes for us and acts as our advocate. In the indwelling Spirit the believer enjoys some of what they are to receive hereafter.
The Spirit teaches us how to pray and guides us in what to pray for; gives us appropriate desires and works within us to awaken certain desires and feelings in our hearts. It is a joint agency of divine and human, more especially in those emotions and aspirations which we are unable to put into words. Some emotions are too big for words. The desires produced by the Spirit are agreeable to the will of God and Paul is teaching here about the release of the soul from the body in which the sin principle dwells – the release from those attitudes and dispositions that turn us from God – the seeking after desires of flesh and mind; seeking to be great in this world. The Spirit makes intercession for us when we don’t know what or how to pray.
The point of our verses today is we should pray according to God’s will as best we can but if God’s decreed will differs from our prayers, the Spirit will correct our requests. This is exactly in line with step 11 of the 12 steps of Acoholics Anonymous: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.”