Daily Devotion – May 19, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison

Romans 8:22-27
8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;
8:23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
8:24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?
8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
8:27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

The Holy Spirit is the person of the Holy Trinity that many people don’t think too much about. But this little passage of Romans surely gives us some wonderful descriptions of what the Spirit does for us.

The Spirit gives us its first fruits – belief in God and Christ Jesus. Without the Spirit giving us those fruits, we wouldn’t be able to believe. Nothing we do or choose or decide creates belief. The Spirit does that.

The Spirit helps us to pray, especially when we don’t know how to pray. It intercedes for us; it speaks to the rest of the Trinity for us, and in sighs too deep for words! And lest we think, well, what good are the Spirit’s sighs, Paul says God knows the mind of the Spirit and what the Spirit means by those sighs.

It is the Holy Spirit who creates space in us to believe in God. Luther said the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies us, as individual believers and as the community of believers, the Church.

So when you are feeling wordless and dismayed, just call on the Spirit, and the Spirit will sigh to God on your behalf. Amazing.

Lord God of all, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for your Holy Spirit and the work that the Spirit has done to give us faith and to pray for us when we cannot.     Amen.