{"id":21465,"date":"2023-12-13T06:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/daily-devotion-wednesday-13-december-2023"},"modified":"2023-12-13T06:15:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T06:15:00","slug":"daily-devotion-wednesday-13-december-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/daily-devotion-wednesday-13-december-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Devotion Wednesday, 13 December 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romans 8:26-27<\/strong><\/p>\n

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. 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.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n

In yesterday\u2019s devotion we explored the difference between God\u2019s judgement and ours; today we will explore the relationship between them. In Christian theology, following strong indications in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is believed to be the divine person who enacts God\u2019s will on Earth. Yet, this enacting seems often to be indirect and hidden. The Holy Spirit, so it seems, chooses to work not independently of but with creatures and events.<\/p>\n

This working-with is evident in the way that the Apostle Paul describes prayer: \u201cwe do not know how to pray as we ought but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.\u201d (Rom. 8:26). A sigh is an unspoken longing. When we don\u2019t know how to pray, or can\u2019t pray, Paul believes that the Spirit searches our hearts, takes those longings, and intercedes for us in accordance with God\u2019s will. This suggests that the Spirit\u2019s role in prayer is to take our inarticulate longings and bring them to reflective alignment with God\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n

Humans can reflect. By contrast with an instinctive reaction, reflection is the ability to look back, ponder, and consider attitudes, actions, and events. Reflection is one of the main functions by which we learn. There may be occasions in life when an instinctive judgement may be required, but hopefully these are few. Mostly, our better judgements are the product of considered reflection. For the Christian, however, our better judgements need to reckon with God\u2019s absolute judgement. Paul\u2019s description of prayer as reflective alignment with God\u2019s purpose is preceded by a prior judgement: \u201call have fallen short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption in Christ Jesus.\u201d (Rom. 3:23-24). The \u201call\u201d (pantes) here is universal. All people, without exception, fall short of God\u2019s glorious purpose and are justified by God\u2019s gracious act of redemption in Christ. Consequently, all our judgments of others ought to reflect this solidarity in sin, justification, and redemption.<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

O God, take my inarticulate longings,
and by your Spirit align them with your good purpose.
Enable me to reflect on the judgments I make,
in solidarity with others,
and in the light of what you have done
to justify and redeem us all
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 8:26-27 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. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Daily Devotion Wednesday, 13 December 2023”<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}