Q3. The Holy Spirit as Mediator, Intercessor, Counselor

[ljmnkscart]

The Holy Spirit helps us by leading, guiding us and moving us to pray for what is the will of God. When we are weak, depressed, angry the Holy Spirit can help us because we may not be able to pray ourselves because of the situation. As stated the Holy Spirit sees the big picture. We may be asking for one thing and the Holy Spirit knows that it needs to be another and that is what is requested to God. That is why some of our prayers are answered in different ways than what we expect.

Jesus as our High Priest and advocator does the same work as the Holy Spirit as stated in the verses mentioned. Why shouldn't there be similarities because they both are God. It is for that very reason that we may take the Holy Spirit for granted in that we overlook the Holy Spirit as the third Person in the Trinity and only think of it as an it instead of a Person. We focus on Jesus as it should be but at the same time do not recognize the work that the Holy Spirit is doing. I myself do not always recognize the promptings of the Holy Spirit, something which we need to do at all times.

[Guitar Jim]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27?

The Holy Spirit who lives in us prays on our behalf to God. We don't really know what to pray for (besides our material needs and for the advancement of God's Kingdom, as outlined in The Lord's Prayer) so the Holy Spirit communicates with God the Father on our behalf directly without words. It's Spirit to Spirit communication that we cannot fully understand.

What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)?

Jesus foretold of the Holy Spirit's work in His disciples. At that time they had not yet received the Holy Spirit because Jesus had not ascended to Heaven but was on Earth with them. Jesus was, in effect, the Comforter Counselor and Paraclete for His disciples. After His ascension, the Holy Spirit then came to become the Helper for every Christian.

Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

There are many reasons why we take the Holy Spirit for granted. For one thing, we can't see or hear Him. The intercession the Holy Spirit undertakes on our behalf is a constant and continuing ministry that is beyond our full understanding so we tend to mentally gloss over it. I think we need to meditate more on the Holy Spirit's work in our lives in general. We seem to be hung up on certain minor aspects of His work while not giving enough credence to the big picture. It's the Holy Spirit's indwelling in us that makes us Christians. It's His constant never-ending intercession and prayer to the Father on our behalf that keeps us going. To fix our attention on that miraculous eternal life giving work is far more important than to worry about whether we speak in tongues often enough, for example. Personally I don't believe that speaking in tongues is the Holy Spirit praying out loud to God in the Heavenly language. We're told quite plainly that the Holy Spirit speaks in groans that words cannot express. We should shut up and let Him get on with His work.

[Barbara A. Lee]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

The Holy Spirit, as an intercessor, hears our stumbles through prayers and intercedes for us. He's the Counselor who is with us when we are going through troubling times, and the whisperer when we are going through the good times...He is always present with us just as God said He would be...

The similarities between the Holy Spirit and Jesus is they are both an adversary between us and God the Father. Jesus, Himself, said that He was the advocate between the sinner (us) and the Father (God).

Some people just want to skip the whole Holy Spirit thing and go directly to God, but that is not what God tells us to do...God says for us to pray to him through His Son and the Holy Spirit.

[pastor neal]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

The Holy Spirit acts as a Mediator for us because of our inability to know what we want when we pray. Hence, the Holy Spirit intercedes with groans.

The similarities that are seen between the two are that both speak of the coming of a new counselor (NIV) given by God.

The reason we take the Holy Spirit for granted? Because the world neither sees Him nor knows Him.

[ross_laoshi]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

When we don't know how or what to pray for the Spirit helps us because he is God in us and is our helper. Romans 8:26-27 are a fulfillment of John 14:16 and 15:26. We tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand his ministry when we don't fully surrender our lives and don't spend the time with him in prayer and communion. Familiarity can also cause us to take him for granted to a degree.

[Janissi]

(Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? Since the Holy Spirit lives within us, he knows our heart. Since He's God, he knows the mind of God. He sees what's in our heart and prays according to the will of God. He stands between my heart and God's mind.

What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here, with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? In John 14:16, Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit abiding with them/us forever. He says in 15:26 that the Holy Spirit will be "their Comfortor."

Romans 8:26-27 states the Holy Spirit "searches our hearts" (He abides with us - John 14:16) and He lives within us. John 14:16 says, "that He (the Holy Spirit) may abide with us forever." These are the similarities I see between these scriptures.

Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us? I thinks it's sometimes because our pride might get in the way. Sometimes we think we know what's best. We don't always stop, look, and listen. We tend to be impulsive and do whatever comes to mind. If we are taking the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry, we might want to look at growing up a bit more in the Spirit, taking in the Word of God more, and asking the Lord to help us BE AWARE of Him in our daily lives. He's with us all the time. Maybe we ignore Him and/or His works in and through us.

[awylie1949@yahoo.co.uk]

The Holy Spirit comes to our side to help us fight against sin. Jesus was teaching of the 3rd member of the Trinity. Jesus went out helping whereas the Spirit does the same. Maybe it is because there might not be as much teaching and maybe He is invisible and we concentrate on God and Jesus.

[Debbe]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

The Holy Spirit prays on our behalf. The Spirit leads into all truth and is indeed the Spirit of truth. The disciples had Jesus with them to lead them and tell them truth. Now we have the Holy Spirit who promises to never leave us and to point us to the Father. We often don't "see" the work of the Spirit, but He is faithful.

[lighthouse2014]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

The Holy Spirit who lives in believers helps us in our prayers, when we know not what to pray for, He intercedes for us because he knows our hearts, thus as mediator he pleads for us directly to the Father.

The similarities between the Holy Spirit's ministry and Christ's teachings of the Spirits ministry are that He would intercede for the saints in accordance with God's will. being Christ lives within us he knows the mind of our spirit, the Holy Spirit prays for us and also through us.

We may tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to take his ministry seriously, because many Christians do not understand His place or ministry in our daily lives. We may more than likely fail to even realize He is capable of helping us in our prayers and supplications to the Father.  

[WinstonY]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?  

 

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. Although weakness in prayer seems to be a major portion of the Holy Spirits aiding of us one can see the the Holy Spirit helps us in other fashions as well. The spirit comforts and strengthens us in times of challenge. Often the Spirit will call to us with a suggestion that we do or say something to help and strengthen others. There are many ways in which the spirit abides in us that are not mentioned in 26-27. However the helping of use in our weakness in prayer may be a major part of the Spirit's work.

In the John passage Jesus tells us that the advocate will be with us forever. This seems to be somewhat more all encompassing as compared to the Romans 26-27. we must remember that the self understanding of the Christian movement was still expanding at this time and John being written later than the epistle would probably not have a different understanding but a more developed understanding. Also John is probably from a different tradition than Paul and thus has a different understanding. The author of John seems to have a different understanding of the jesus message than do the other evangelists and Paul. Not contradictory just different.

 

I think that the intuitive way that the Spirit works with many of us causes us to mistake the words, thoughts and suggestions to us as if they came from our own spiritual understanding rarher thhan fom the Spirit.  I think of the person who was lost in the woods. For a long period he wandered in circles and did not know which way to turn. Finally he prayed 'Lord help me find the way!". He walked a short distance and noticed a familar sight and knew where he was and which way to go, "ah! he said "A wasted prayer." We often miss God and we often miss the Holy Spirit. We think that we, ourselves are so clever.

 

[Uncle Dave]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

The Holy Spirit acts as a mediator in that He is always praying to God for us. It could be that He prays to God over something we’re not even sure He’s praying about because we are usually very shallowly informed on what is going on in the spirit world. This is comparable to Jesus because He is also a mediator between us although the Spirit prays over things we know nothing about. I think we fail to understand His ministry, number one because so little is known about Him, like our heart which just keeps ticking and we can go for long periods of time without even thinking about it, but to put in in the truest sense, He is always praying for us. It is hard to tell how many things He has prayed to God on our behalf. Another reason, a very big reason in fact is because He is rarely taught about. I have seen service after service and the names of Jesus and God are always talked about but not the Holy Spirit. I have heard many actually teach that the Bible speaks of how the Holy Spirit and the gifts thereof went out the window after the first century, I am looking forward to the study coming up in a couple weeks on the subject.

[Lottie]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

He intercedes for us and searches our hearts. He helps us know what to pray.

In Romans 8:26-27 and in John 14:16 both talk about the Holy Spirit helping us,

I think that we do not know how to relate to Him as the third person in the trinity. We are used to praying to God or Jesus and forget that He sent the Spirit to help us, I myself do not know how to address Him.

 

[Godswriter]

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

He is able to pray for us on our behalf when we don't know what to pray or how to pray for someone. He will intercede for us  because the Lord will show Him just what we need at that time to pray for that person in that particular prayer. He is our Comforter in the fact He will choose to use the word of God to comfort us and also help us pray for ourselves and others in their hour of need and our own hour of need. Because we believe that His ministry has just one use for us and not many instead.

[Irmela]

(Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27?

The Holy Spirit sees our heart. Sees our yearnings. Sees what we cannot put into words. Sees that we don't know how to pray and He does it for us. He pleads on our behalf. Above all, He does so in harmony with God's will. So all three Helper/Mediator and Intercessor are woven into One. 

What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)?

It is the same. 

Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us?

I guess because we are human and our tendency is to want to use our senses sooner than the still inner voice in our hearts. We tend to be fearful of letting go. Think wé can do it. Letting go is like free-falling and knowing His Everlasting Arms are holding us, nothing else. 

[Krissi]

The Holy Spirit is within us. Deep inside. When I became a Christian, He entered into me and will never leave me. I can let the Spirit guide me in both my everyday and important decisions, or I can push him to the back of my mind to make my own decisions. Suffice it to say that the Spirit doesn't like a lesser role and will manipulate circumstances so I become, once again, aware of His existence.

He helps me with his gentle whispers. Often, I confuse the Spirit with my own conscience which makes sense because the Spirit does infuse my conscience. He's there, too.

He intercedes for me. Most of the time I'm unaware of His pleadings. At times, though, I become highly conscious of His presence. At one point several years ago I was in deep pain, sobbing and crying as I was driving up a steep mountain pass. Suddenly I made a loud moan, unlike any sound I've ever made. I knew it was the Spirit for it was groaning that defied verbal explanation.

But He talks to and through me all the time, not just at the dramatic moments of life.

I don't take the Spirit for granted. I try very hard to be aware of Him all the time ... and fail just as often. My own thoughts crowd out the Spirit's. When I'm suffering, I tend to be aware of His presence -- when things are smoother, I often fail to acknowledge Him. I think the Spirit makes Himself known. We can reject his entreaties or listen to Him, but He makes the first move ... He comes to us.

We merely respond.