Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 22
February 18, 1971
NUMBER 39, PAGE 5-6a

Questions And Answers

Send All Questions To: Eugene Britnell, P. O. Box 3012, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203

(Note: The following letter was addressed to William Wallace. He sent it to me with the request that I answer it in this section of the Guardian. — E. B.)

From Duncan, Oklahoma:

"I have finished reading 'The Mission and Medium of the Holy Spirit' by Foy E. Wallace, Jr. It has left me thoroughly confused. I know that no one is the equal of your father on knowing the truth of the Scriptures. And in his book he thoroughly proves that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit work only through the Word today.

"But the book has left me with an awful problem. I no longer know how to pray. My son is a bum. I have prayed every night for divine help in knowing how to approach him so I can convince him to straighten up and be a Christian. I have also prayed for help in understanding the Scriptures; in having a door opened to me so that I could find an opportunity to do something to further the cause of Christ. But if any of my prayers were to be answered it would necessitate divine help and guidance over and above the Word in the Bible alone. So I am left without knowing how to or what to pray for.

"If you can't take the time to straighten me out, then send this letter to one of your contributors in the Gospel Guardian and perhaps some one will write an article to clarify things for me."

I agree with brother Wallace that the Holy Spirit's influence toward man in revealing God's will and guiding us into paths of righteousness is exercised through the word. the "sword of the Spirit- (Eph. 6:17).

It seems to me that the writer of the letter is confused on direction of communication. The fact that God, through the Spirit, speaks to us through the word has nothing to do with how we speak to God. I think that brother Wallace was showing that God speaks today through His word and not through some direct operation of the Spirit or miraculous manifestation.

We should pray to God for many things and for many reasons. (I Thess. 5:17.) "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). When we pray, we are promised assistance of a divine nature.

Jesus is the one mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5). He is the faithful high priest over the house of God (Heb. 8:1). We are told that "he ever liveth to make intercession" for us (Heb. 7:25). John says that when we sin, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).

The Holy Spirit is also instrumental in our prayers. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26, 27). In commenting upon these verses, R. L. Whiteside said:

"Our unutterable groanings. Hope helps us to endure afflictions, and in like manner the Spirit helps us in our infirmities. Perhaps there is more in this than we know. The infirmity here mentioned is that we know not how to pray as we ought to pray. What we already know about how to pray we learned through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. And there are urgings and longings in the heart of a sincere child of God that he cannot express. He has a feeling of helplessness, or of a deep need, without knowing what that need really is, or what would meet the need. It is what Paul calls 'unutterable groanings.' It is the groaning within ourselves mentioned in verse 23. These groanings are silent groanings — unutterable feelings of need. The Spirit helps us in these groanings, for he understands our needs and longings and can make them known to God . . . All that the gospel contains stirs up in the heart of the honest believer feelings and aspirations that he cannot express in words. But God, the heart searcher, knows the mental disposition, the feelings, and aspirations thus produced by the Spirit. It is easy to understand Paul, if we understand him to mean that God, who searches the hearts, knows the mental disposition produced by the Spirit. It is probable that God searches the heart through the agency of the Holy Spirit; `for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.' (1 Cor. 2:10)."

So let us not confuse God's method of speaking to us with our method of speaking to Him, nor misunderstand the work of the Holy Spirit in each realm of communication.

I feel that many people ask God for guidance which He has already given through His word, and call upon Him to do things which they should do for themselves. In many relationships and responsibilities of life and duty, we cannot act without God, and He will not without us!

Let us continue to study, and with the attitude of the disciples who said, "Lord, teach us to pray." Above all, let us pray.