This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
It’s also a place to read, post, and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.
In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts, and not by agenda-driven accusations and pronouncements.
We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.
Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure your opinion addresses the issue only, and does not confront or denigrate the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule, insults, baiting, and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.
In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.
Please also consider the Guidelines for posting and discussion printed here:
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/
On this day and every day –
God is in Control
. . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . .
Keep Looking Up
Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.
“This day is holy to the Lord your God;
do not mourn nor weep.” . . .
“Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,
and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared;
for this day is holy to our Lord.
Do not sorrow,
for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Let My Spirit Groan!
Sometimes we find ourselves at a loss for words. Thankfully, when we pray as Christians, we have a helper—the Holy Spirit—who aids in our human weakness whenever words fall short: “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26, ESV), or, as the KJV has it, “with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
In Romans 8:18–27, the apostle Paul encouraged believers to hold on to the hope and assurance of our ultimate adoption, redemption, and glorification even as we patiently endure suffering in this present life. We find strength amidst our human frailty when we depend on the Holy Spirit’s assistance in prayer. When we are unsure how to pray or don’t know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit “groans” within our hearts with words that cannot be uttered or expressed.
The phrase rendered in English “groanings that cannot be uttered” means “indescribable, wordless groans” in the original Greek language. Other things in the same passage also utter “wordless groans”: all creation now groans “as in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22), and believers “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies” (verse 23).
The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit reminds us that our redemption is guaranteed: “We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. . . . While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 5:2–5, NLT).
Most of us have struggled in prayer, wondering whether to pray for deliverance from our suffering, miraculous relief and rescue, or the strength to endure through it. Even Paul the apostle pleaded with the Lord to take away his “thorn in the flesh,” only to be told that God’s “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:7–9). Like Paul, we often think we know what we need, but we’re not always good judges of God’s perfect will. What a relief it is to realize that the effectiveness of our prayers does not depend on us. We don’t have to have the knowledge or the words to express what we need because “the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will” (Romans 8:27, NLT).
Our limited vision is no excuse to abandon prayer altogether, for it is essential to the Christian life. But we must realize that prayer is a trinitarian activity. We pray to the Father. The Holy Spirit is our advocate and intercessor in the process (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). We cannot truly pray without the Holy Spirit’s assistance. Through Jesus Christ, we have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18), who helps and intercedes for us with inarticulate groans. “In language we cannot understand, the Father searches the human heart, the abode of the Spirit, to hear the Spirit’s prayer. When the Father hears his will being prayed by the Spirit (because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will), then the Father and Spirit are in perfect harmony for the purposes of God to be accomplished in the believer through the instrument of prayer” (Boa, K., and Kruidenier, W., Romans, Vol. 6, Broadman & Holman Pub., 2000, p. 259).
The Holy Spirit’s intercession with “groanings that cannot be uttered” ought not to be confused with speaking in tongues. In Scripture, tongues are expressed in audible, uttered words that are meant to be understood and interpreted (Acts 2:4–47; 19:6; 1 Corinthians 14:13–40). In Romans 8:26, Paul referred to unspoken groanings. These wordless, soundless, speechless groanings are spiritual in nature and divinely understood.
We live in a fallen world that is not our permanent home (Hebrews 13:14; Philippians 3:20). We are caught between “our present sufferings” and the future “glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). We are hounded by weaknesses within (Matthew 26:41; 2 Corinthians 12:5–10) and powerful enemies without (Ephesians 6:11–13). We can pray with words using our human understanding, but God has not left us alone in this endeavor. He has given us the ministry of the Holy Spirit who prays on our behalf with groanings that cannot be uttered. We can rely on the Spirit’s divine intellect and infinite vision to pray effectively according to God’s good purpose and will (1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 6:18–20; Jude 1:20).
xhttps://www.gotquestions.org/Spirit-intercedes-with-groanings.html
Post about God – comments or articles
– whenever and wherever you desire.
FEAR NOT. God is with us,
because we make sure He is WELCOME.
At all times, remember.
The QTree is a House of the Lord.
NEVER be afraid to speak His name.
Shalom! May God’s PEACE be upon this House.
