TD Jakes - How to Embrace The Spirit That Helps Us
He’s now showing you the advantage that we, who have had the first fruits of the Spirit, possess. It’s not that we don’t groan; it’s that we’ve grown inwardly while they’ve grown outwardly. We’ve grown inwardly. But he goes on to tell us, in the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. The Spirit helps us in our uncertainty. The Spirit helps us in our ambiguity. The Spirit helps us in our crisis. The Spirit helps us in our pain. The Spirit helps us in our trauma. The Spirit helps us in our depression. The Spirit helps us in our fear. The Spirit helps us in our anxiety. The Spirit helps us in our frustration. The Spirit helps us in our worry. It’s not that we lack it, but the Spirit helps us.
Is there anybody out there that the Spirit has helped? If you’re out there and you’re listening to me, I want you to type right now, «The Spirit helped me.» The Spirit helped me! I would have lost my mind, but the Spirit helped me. I would have thrown in the towel, but the Spirit helped me. I would have committed suicide, but the Spirit helped me! It helped me in my weakness. Oh, bless your name! I’m about to get happy now. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for. We do not know—say that—we do not know! We do not know what we ought to pray for. Everything is so uncertain that we don’t even know what to pray for. We don’t know whether to pray to keep the house or whether it’d be better to let the house go. We don’t know whether to pray to keep the marriage or if it’d be better to let the marriage go. We do not know.
I can’t tell you how many times I’m talking to people right now who don’t even know what to pray for. I don’t know whether to pray for my daughter to come back home or pray for her not to come back home. I don’t know whether to pray for my son to come out or if he might come out here and get killed. I don’t know what to pray for! We do not know; we do not know; we do not know; we do not know. All of this is about information we do not know. It’s funny because in verse 22, the Bible says clearly, «We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of travail.»
So, in verse 22, we’re talking about what we know, but now in verse 26, we’re talking about what we do not know. How do you balance what you know with what you do not know? Every last one of us has things that we know simultaneously with things that we do not know. We know that the whole creation is groaning; we do not know what we are to pray for. But the Spirit itself intercedes for us through wordless groanings. The Spirit intercedes for us. It’s not just your prayer partner. It’s not just your pastor. It’s not just a church mother. The Spirit of God itself intercedes for us in our weakness as we cope with what we do not know. As we lean into uncertainty, we can lean into uncertainty because we have higher intelligence. The Spirit itself intercedes for us.
Why does he intercede for us? Because we do not know. We do not know; we do not know; we do not know. But He knows—He knows! We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groanings. 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, so that the perfect prayer comes from within my soul, not out of my head. When the Spirit takes over, when the language of the Spirit takes over, when the intelligence of the Holy Spirit takes over, the perfect prayer comes from the Spirit because He knows what is the will of God for me—whether this is to be endured or rebuked, whether this is to be suffered or to be stomped on. The Spirit itself knows and makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Are you with me?
Verse 28: «And we know.» Wait a minute! We know in verse 22. In verse 26, we do not know. In verse 28, we know! We know! We do not know; we know! We know that the whole earth grows; we do not know what to pray for. And in verse 28, we know that all things God works for the good of those who love Him. So here we have it: we know that the world is travailing, okay? We do not know what to pray for, as we are, because we’re in our weakness. But we do know that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. When the shaking is over, there’s something coming out of this! There is a reason that Paul says that the whole creation groans like the travail of a woman—that’s pain with purpose. Travail of a woman’s pain with purpose.
That’s not just pain because of brokenness; that’s pain with purpose. We know that the whole creation groans in pain, and we ourselves also, within ourselves, groan, waiting for the adoption of our sonship. We know; we know that they’ve grown outwardly, we’ve grown inwardly, but everybody’s groaning. We do not know what to pray for. We cannot use our prayer life as manipulation. We cannot use it like witchcraft. We cannot use it like name-it-and-claim-it or blab-and-grab. We don’t know now what to ask God to do. We do not know!
So the Spirit itself, praying in the Spirit, lift your hands. You should do it right now! Lift your hands and start just praying in the Spirit. Because when we start praying in the Spirit, we bypass our intelligence, our opinion, our uncertainty, and our ambiguity. The Spirit, who knows what is the will of God, prays for us. If the devil thinks you’re in this by yourself, he’s crazy! Because you have inside intelligence! You have classified information available to you through the Spirit, and the Spirit is praying for the will of God in your life. The Spirit is not praying for you to get a car like your sister. The Spirit is not praying for you to show all your haters how good you are and how God has blessed you.
No! The Spirit is not praying from your perspective and from where you are seated or as a result of your culture or background or even as a result of how you experience God based on your condition—whether you’re the janitor or the president. No! The Spirit doesn’t have to deal with your circumstance; it prays according to your destiny and your purpose because He knows what is the will of God. We know; we do not know; but we know that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and who are called according to His purpose. One more knowing, and I’m done. For those God foreknew, He also predestined. We know that all things work together because God foreknew us.
What does «foreknew» mean? He knew me before the sufferings of this present time. He knew me before I made the mistake I made. He knew me before I got in trouble. He knew me before I got here! He told Jeremiah, «Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee! I ordained thee to be a prophet unto the nations.» I did not ordain you to sit in a state of depression and give up and die! I foreknew you. And here, the Bible says, «For those God foreknew, He also predestined.» Predestined! Pre—destined; predestined! In God’s foreknowledge, He fixed the end before because He foreknew you. «For we know,» «For we know"—not 28, «for we know that all things work together.»
Why do we know it? Because verse 29, «Because He foreknew us.» So we can deal with the uncertainty of the process because we know that He predestined the end from the beginning. And those that He predestined, He did it without them even knowing it! He did it before they ever even got here, and eventually, He called them, made them aware. And those He called, He also justified; made them clean. See, this is Romans 8, where Paul is teaching, «There’s therefore now"—Romans 8:1—"No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.» He had to justify me because I wasn’t even good enough for what He called me to. So those He called, He then turned around and justified. And those He justified, He also glorified.
«For I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.» We started with the hope of the glory, and we ended with, «Those He justified, He also glorified.» If you don’t see glory yet, it ain’t over! If you haven’t gotten to the glory, it’s not over! If you haven’t seen the glory from the suffering, it’s not over. So lean into the uncertainty because you don’t have to make this happen!
It’s okay! It’s okay not to be okay! It’s okay not to be sure! It’s okay in your weakness, because the Spirit itself intercedes for us when we’re worried, when we’re tired, when we’re stressed, when we’re fatigued, when we’re uncertain. He who is certain is praying for me right now! Did you know that? He who is certain—the Holy Spirit—is praying for you right now. And you don’t have to know about tomorrow; He already knows about tomorrow! You don’t have to know about the next child; He already knows about the next child! And you don’t have to know about this and that. I know you want to know; I want to know too. I want to know everything He knows, but nothing before it’s time. He knows how to get me through this uncertainty, so I won’t back down from it!
I’m gonna lean into it because He knows. Somebody, I’m talking to you right now. You’ve got some decisions to make, and you can’t seem to make them to save your life! You’re going back and forth—back and forth, back and forth! Get out of God’s way and let the Holy Spirit make the decision because He knows what you have been predestined to do. And stop making decisions out of discomfort! I’m just uncomfortable. I can’t put up. Shut up! The sufferings of this present time—how about where they to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us? If I would have given up on my life in times of great suffering, I would have never made it to any level of glory that I have gotten to see up to this point!
If I would have believed in the sufferings of my present moment at different stages in my life, I never would have made it to the next glory! Who knows how close you are to the next glory! If you faint right now, you’re going to miss it! So tonight, I talk to you about leaning into uncertainty. And I know it goes against everything you are to lean into not being in control and lean into not having a definite plan and lean into having to depend on the invisible power of God. But isn’t that what being a believer and a Christian is all about? To lean into the cross and believe for the resurrection? Lean in; lean into it! Get comfortable with it! Know that God knows and that’s enough! And those of us who have the Spirit of Christ will guide us into all truth.
«God…» close your eyes right now! Close your eyes right now. Close them and just reach out your fingers and say, «Lord, guide me! I can’t see! I’m blind! I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring.» But you start reaching out with your fingers and say, «Guide me! Guide me, God! My finances! My business! My marriage! My life! I don’t know! I’m through talking like I know! I’m through faking it like I know! I’m through pretending like I know! I’m through trying to manipulate other people’s lives like I know! I’m an imposter! I’m a phony! I’m a fake! I admit it! I’m blind! I can’t see! I don’t know! But I do know that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord! And I do know that He who prays within me knows what I have been predestined to do. And I do know that I don’t want to live my life doing what I wanted to do or what other people assigned for me to do! I want to live and then finally die, knowing that I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, and I have done what You created me to do.»