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 with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.   . . . Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  (Rom.  8:26-27, 34)

There are times in our lives when we are temporarily incapable of speaking.  We’re speechless.  Maybe God has “WOWED” us with an answer to prayer and at the realization of what He did we find ourselves to be speechless.  Or maybe we’ve been rendered speechless by shock or fear.  Grief and loss can also make us unable or unwilling to speak. 

Sometimes we can even be speechless when we’re praying.  We often don’t know what exactly we should be praying for.  We don’t know what is best for us and we don’t know what the future holds.  We know in our hearts that we have questions, burdens, and heartaches for ourselves and our loved ones that are not capable of being expressed in words.  But that’s okay because even though we are speechless the Holy Spirit within us and Jesus in Heaven are effectively communicating with God on our behalf.  Take encouragement from these verses in Romans and be assured that when you’re prayers are speechless just the right words are always being prayed for you. 

O God, too weak and worn for words, I shrink
From trials that deeply wound, and yet to think
Your Holy Spirit helps me as I pray
And gives a voice to what I cannot say! -Gustafson

The Minds Renewed theme encouragement verses are Isaiah 40:28-31. Verse 28 states:

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”

Have you had times in your life when you could not understand “Why” God allowed some circumstance in your life? Or are you asking the “Why” question now? The Bible clearly shows us that God created us and loves us but also often allows things like illness, loss or death that we cannot understand. Throughout the Bible, God teaches us this principle: Although we in our human minds cannot totally understand Him and His ways, God asks us to trust and obey Him for our good and His glory. (Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 41:10, Job 42:1-6, Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:28, 11:33, etc.).

Sometimes it can be very hard to trust and obey God when we are hurting and don’t understand “Why.” Psalm 62:8b states: “Pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. God invites us to ask Him “Why” and share all our feelings with Him. He also promises us to be our strength if we allow Him to be. “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31. 

You are encouraged to take time today to share your heart with the Lord. Remember He knows how you are feeling whether you tell him or not.  Sharing your heart with the Lord as well as asking for His strength is for your benefit.

Does the Lord ever bring to your attention a word or an idea, and you keep being reminded of it?  Sometimes He does that to me. Recently in my devotional time, 1 Samuel 2:2 caught my attention.

“No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.”

What catches your attention in that verse?  For me, it was “nor is there any rock like our God”! Those words are in a worship song that we sing at church but I did not realize that the words were directly from God’s Word! I know that I had read the prayer of Hannah before but did not remember that she used those words.  God kept reminding me of that concept. The children in our Sunday school worship time are also singing the song “Jesus is the Rock”.  God IS our Rock!  David said “the Lord is my rock” (2 Samuel 22:2) and “who is a rock, except our God” (2 Samuel 22:32). There is no Rock except God. 

Can you remember times in your life when it was only the solid rock, Jesus, who kept your feet firm?  Perhaps when your child died; your marriage failed; you suffered from depression; you or a loved one faced imprisonment; your child was born with a disability; even the everyday busyness of life & life with children!

Even when all around us seems to be falling apart, God is the foundation, the rock, that keeps us. At times in my life when I have had struggles, it has only been having Jesus as my solid foundation that has kept me from despair.  In our times today, it may be difficult to wonder what is happening.  But HE IS THE ROCK!   2 Samuel 22:47 “The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted. The Rock of my salvation!”  

Can you think of a time in your life recently when you had struggles?  Did you find Jesus, the Rock, to be helpful to you at that time?  Have you ever depended upon something else or someone else to be your rock?  Did that fail you?

Our God is the creator of diamonds. He puts pressure on carbon for thousands of years, producing this beautiful and valuable stone. Although, we know that the same God who turned water into the best of wines could certainly form a diamond with a word in an instant; yet He continues to use the wonders of His creation to carry out its marvelous workings taking thousands of years to produce one beautiful, incredible stone. And He knows where the richest stores of the most stunning diamonds have yet to come to the surface.
 
He is also the creator of other precious stones like rubies and sapphires and emeralds. He has produced and knows where veins of gold lie that would make the California gold rush look like a monthly gathering of the local library club.
 
And yet this creator, this God of everything, chose to allow Himself to be crowned with a twisted ring of jagged thorns just before His crucifixion. This culminated a lifetime of humility and stark humanness in which the God of the universe voluntarily robed Himself.
 
In wearing this crown of thorns, He proved Himself to be just the kind of king we need. He is a king who is familiar and acquainted with suffering and pain.

“He was despised and rejected by men;
   a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
   he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
 Surely he has borne our griefs
   and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
   smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
   and with his stripes we are healed.”
(Isaiah 53.3-5 ESV)

In wearing this crown of thorns, He proved that He is a king who has come to redeem us from the curse of sin, part of which carries this mandate:  “…cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3.17-19). His wearing this crown of thorns proclaims His reversing this curse.

This harsh coronation ceremony was yet another confirmation of a lifetime of verification that the kingdom of God is nothing like the kingdoms of this world. His kingdom is the antithesis of everything for which the kingdoms to this world stand.

• A crown of thorns replaces a crown of gold and precious stones.
• A cross reveals a suffering savior king, not an aloof tyrant.
• The empty tomb represents a kingdom in which all who enter will never die, for their king is alive forever.
• His soon return is the hope of all who follow this servant king in His self-sacrificial lifestyle. 

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting…But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18.36).

Yet we know that the day is coming soon when our King will be recognized by all as the true King of the universe. In the book of Revelation, we find the apostle John recording his visions of the heavenly realms. Here is one powerful picture he records for us:  “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God” (Revelation 19.11-13 NIV).

He is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords.