Now, similarly, the spirit is also aiding in our infirmity, for what we should be praying for, to accord with what must be, we are not aware, but the spirit itself is pleading for us with inarticulate groanings. Now He who is searching the hearts is aware what is the disposition of the spirit, for in accord with God is it pleading for the saints.
Paul to the Romans 8: 26-27: Concordant New Testament
Growing up, I was told that my prayers were anything from a wish list to a last ditch measure. This was all based on the separation theology model which we see in the modern mainstream church. Man, here on earth, "Lifts" his prayers "Up" unto God in heaven. At the heart of this thinking is that, due to the fall of man in the garden, that mankind has been separated from God and will remain that way until the coming of Christ the Savior. Well, forgive me for upsetting the institutional apple cart, but has not Jesus already returned? The obvious answer is that Jesus has returned from tomb in which He was buried after He was crucified. But beyond this, Jesus has also returned and has been witnessed by hundreds of people. The scriptures testify to this {Paul to the Corinthians 15:6}. So, the belief that man will remain separated from the Lord who created us until after Jesus has returned does not hold water in my opinion. Jesus is already here! Not only that, He has proclaimed that we now live in union with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. Can we live separated from God and yet still live union with Him? That's a good story if you can sell it, and the church has been doing a good job of selling such tales over the centuries. The reality is that the Father, through Christ Jesus, has restored His relationship He once shared with His creation in the garden. We now live each and every day in Him {Paul to the Romans 6:5}. So, what does this have to do with our prayers? Why do we continue to offer up prayer to a Father we continue to see as separated from us? In reality, shouldn't we be praying "In union" with the Father? Are not His desires our own? The apostle Paul gives us an indication in Romans that the Father is already keenly aware of what we need to be praying for {Paul to the Romans 8:27}. It is God who is searching our hearts and inviting us into a conversation with Him.
"Father, those whom Thou hast given Me, I will that, where I am, they also may be with Me, that they may be beholding My glory which Thou hast given Me, for Thou lovest Me before the disruption of the world"
Johns Account 17: 24, Concordant New Testament
How is it that Jesus looked at what we refer to as prayer? Weren't the prayers of Jesus simply conversations which he was having with the Father? Why would it be any different, then, for we who live in union with Him daily? Paul speaks to the reality of Christ living in us {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}. Has not God searched our hearts? Has He not already known what it is that we should be talking to Him about? What we see as lifting up prayers is simply our own intimate conversations with the Father. And, if God has indeed searched our hearts, as Paul has declared, does He not know what we need to be speaking to Him about? The author Norman Grubb has described our prayers as an invitation from the Father within us. God already knows our hearts. Grubb describes Jesus as "He in us is the prayer." If Christ lives in us, as Paul states, then it is Christ Jesus who stirs within us what we should be speaking to the Father. It is Jesus in Whom we are living each day. We are Him. So, if He seeks to speak something unto the Father, what better way than to speak that desire unto us? For our part, we are the ones who speak the desires of Christ unto God. Remember, He has already sought what is in our hearts. Our prayers are simply speaking unto the Father the desires of Christ Jesus in us. This is our union life in HIm.
~Scott~
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