Section 9
know how to pray. You groan with hardly any purpose, but the Spirit groans in your groaning with a definite purpose. This purpose cannot be uttered by you, but it can be uttered by the Spirit. He "intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
The Holy Spirit groans in your groaning in order that you may be fully molded and con formed to the image of God's firstborn Son. When many saints encounter hardship they say, "I just don't know why this happens to me." I believe that we have all said this many times. Even you who have recently been saved perhaps have already spoken in this way. Why do certain things happen to you? Because the groaning Spirit prayed for them. Although you do not know the purpose, He knows, and He prays according to God. Christ is the pattern, and the Spirit prays that everything which happens to you will mold you into this pattern, into the image of the firstborn Son.
It is much easier to speak about sanctifica tion in life. However, accompanying sanctifi cation is the matter of conformation. We not only need to be sanctified, to be saturated with what God is, but also to be molded. We may be sepa rated from everything common and saturated