{"id":43561,"date":"2012-04-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/our-prayers-are-like-paralyzed-mans-groans\/"},"modified":"2012-04-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T00:00:00","slug":"our-prayers-are-like-paralyzed-mans-groans","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/our-prayers-are-like-paralyzed-mans-groans\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Prayers Are like a Paralyzed Man’s Groans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor Sinclair Ferguson offered the following personal story to illustrate the Spirit's involvement in our prayer life:<\/p>\n\n

\n

When I was a little boy, I used to be taken in the summer to the Northern coast of Scotland to see my mother's relatives. My mother had a cousin who had been grievously ill when he was just recently married at the age of 21, and he had become absolutely paralyzed. There was only one thing he could do with his body: he could move his head a bit, and if they put a cup of tea in his hand he could move the tea, and he could sip the tea. He used to sit in a wheelchair and from time to time he would make guttural noises: "Uuuuh … Uuuuh … Uuuuh." And after I got over the fright, the fear of the unknown, and the strange, I began to notice that every time these groans came from him, the woman he had married when he was 21 would appear by some, it seemed, mystical gift of interpretation, and give him exactly what he wanted.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

That's how we are sometimes, we're paralyzed, and we don't know how to pray. And in this world, sometimes to this world, we seem insignificant and unimportant and to be passed by, and to be despised. But the Spirit helps us in our weakness.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3481,4156,4158,4159,4268,4335,4589,4622,4631,5043],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-43561","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-believing-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-holy-spirit","tax_ctp_tags-holy-spirit-indwelling-of","tax_ctp_tags-holy-week","tax_ctp_tags-intercessory-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-lamentation","tax_ctp_tags-paraclete","tax_ctp_tags-pentecost","tax_ctp_tags-persistence-in-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-discipline"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nOur Prayers Are like a Paralyzed Man's Groans - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/our-prayers-are-like-paralyzed-mans-groans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Prayers Are like a Paralyzed Man's Groans - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pastor Sinclair Ferguson offered the following personal story to illustrate the Spirit's involvement in our prayer life: When I was a little boy, I used to be taken in the summer to the Northern coast of Scotland to see my mother's relatives. 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