Three things you learn about prayer when the going gets tough!
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15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,[g] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Present Suffering and Future Glory
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose.
Introduction
In my work as chaplain I have noticed 3 things about prayer when the going gets tough! 3 things that are instinctive when the way ahead is so hard that you can’t even think to pray when we are in pain or in trauma or distress. In 1979 I was in the bottom of a ravine, off Honister Pass, pinned underneath a car I experienced this instinctive primal prayer crying out (more like a groan) to my Abba to preserve my life, to hold me safe. I heard Abba reply, ‘I am with you always.’ That promise kept me alive from the site of the accident to ITU at Whitehaven Hospital.
If the going is tough, hear this Abba Father is with you, reach out to him, be safe in him, find forgiveness in him and if you don’t know that you are in this Christian family we can sort that out tonight too.
…crying out to God in prayer and it these 3 words ‘cry Abba father’ we learn 3 instinctive things about prayer when the going gets tough.
[1] First - The 1st is we cry.
[2] Second - The 2nd thing is that we cry ABBA.
[3] Thirdly - The 3rd thing is it’s kinship, we cry Abba Father.
[1] We Cry
We cry. This passage mentions cries and groans. Some people think prayer is when we present our list of wants to God. Please Lord I want this for the children and grandchildren, a blessing to Auntie Joan, a mountain to be moved and good health for all the people I know and love. But the message in Romans 8 when it’s tough we CRY Abba father. Not a prayer, not a praise a Cry, a word of emotion. The word Paul uses here is a word usually used by people in distress. No fancy words, no long winded prayers: cry of emotion. Romans 8 mentions groaning 3 times and whats a groan? - cry without words! CRIES AND GROANS are one of the things I see when the going gets tough.
I encourage you the HS intercedes for us in our hour of need with groans (not words). It doesn’t say he takes away our crisis or airlifts us just before our accident. He is with us, yes even to the extent that HS groans for us and instinctively helps us cry out in prayer. Looking to the Father even without words. That’s’ why we give out holding crosses when we visit some people in the hospital. It is a symbol of holding on when the words dry up and all we can do is cry out, I often reassure people of faith and even those seeking that that cry or groan is a prayer and it is enough.
[2] . We cry ABBA
Abba was not a word children of those days used for daddy it is more primal than that. Abba is like the first words of a child like Da or Da Da or Ab Ba. It is primal. [Illustr: baby crawls up to dad & cries Da] its instinctive, primal. It’s not the ‘daddy’ word of a 5 year who could wrap dad round her fingers, jumps on my lap smiles sweetly and says ‘daddy what are you getting me for my birthday?’ That’s a cute kid who knows how to manipulate dad round her fingers. No Abba is not like that, the primal prayer the 1st utterance that says Da, reaches out, she just wants Da, his presence, his touch, comfort, wants to be safe, to be held. To climb up & grab Da’s neck. In this letter Paul is saying when you receive the spirit of being a son or daughter of Yahweh, Abba, you get a primal language that you didn’t have before you invited Christ into your life. Before you became a Christian you could of course pray, and read the bible, go to church, give in the collection… but it’s the language of duty, like my 5year old trying to maximise her birthday prezzie - wrangle a miracle out of God. Something new happens when you become a family member, a Christian, you get an instinctive primal prayer which I see when I am visiting in Hospital a primal prayer like Abba. A child wanting nearness, touch, safety from our heavenly Father.
[3] We cry Abba FATHER
Cry Abba Father. When Jesus taught us to pray ‘Our Father…’ he gave us a language of intimacy because we are God’s children ... Both Kith and Kinship, friends and relations of Jesus, sons and daughter of our Father. Romans 8v15 says we have received a Spirit of sonship/daughter when we cry Abba Father it is that very Spirit bearing witness with ours that we are children of God. So when the going gets tough we have prayer language of intimacy Abba Father, not of Fear. You have a position in the family of God of being known, loved precious, you name is in that book of life (Rev 21v27). Not just a place where we can cry/groan in pain or trauma, it’s also a place of peace & healing and forgiveness
If you have messed up your life hear this, we are not Christian apprentices who can be called into God’s boardroom & fired. You are his own family and you have a language of intimacy that can enter his presence and Cry Abba father, I am sorry for the mess I’ve made. What he says to any prodigal is never, ‘where have you been?’ It’s always ‘welcome back’ & a heavenly embrace.
When the going gets tough these are 3 things I have learnt about prayer. 1.Cry’s & groans and wordless yearnings are enough, 2.it’s primal prayer, instinctive, like an infant reaching out to an almighty father saying pick me up, hold me, I am safe in you (around your neck). And 3. It’s kinship - that place of safety is also a place of forgiveness & healing.
