So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children. In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. —Romans 8:12-16, 26-27
‘Come now, My love. My lovely one, come. For you, the winter has passed, the snows are over and gone, the flowers appear in the land, the season of joyful songs has come. The cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land. Come now, My love. My Yolanda, come. Let Me see your face. And let Me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful. Come now, My love, My lovely one, come.’ —Song of Solomon 2:10-13
God longs for us to learn his language.
Not to mention other things…” —2 Corinthians 11:22-28
“In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.” —Romans 8:26
“Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.” (Romans 8:34) “he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7: 25) and “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one.” —1 John 2:1
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.” —John 14:16-17
“The Holy Spirit cares not at all whether we write Him into our creeds in the back our hymnals; He waits for our emphasis. When he gets into the thinking of the teachers, He will get into the expectation of the hearers. When the Holy Spirit ceases to be incidental and again becomes fundamental, the power of the Spirit will be asserted once more among the people called Christians…Lord, deliver me from untrue impressions of the Spirit. May I realize anew that He is a real person, indwelling and empowering me and deserving my worship and obedience.” —A.W. Tozer
The Spirit knows our
“Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” —1 Samuel 16:7
He is God dwelling in us, the holiness of our heart, its secret rejoicing, its strength which is always wonderfully there, even when our own strength fails and we are at our wits’ end. He is in us, giving us faith and inward knowledge…he is all knowing and he is ours.” —Karl Rahner
“And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” —Romans 8:27
“The church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” —1 Corinthians 1:2
“For I am the Lord your God; sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” —Leviticus 11:44
“And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.” —Mark 6:34
It is this compassionate character that an Advocate has and which
We respond with praise in our
We respond also by
We
“Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth. This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things. Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us.” —1 John 3:18-20, 23-24
For further study:
John 14; Isaiah 6:1-8; 2 Cor. 3:1-18
“Gift & Giver” by Craig Keener; “The Epistle to the Romans” by Karl Barth
For next week: Pentecost Sunday—Acts 2:2-13 (The Holy Spirit and the Church)