By David ReayWednesday 4 Nov 2015LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Romans 8:26-27
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. (NLT)
Let’s face it, there are times when we drop our bundles. Our regular prayer life, our genuine if not spectacular trust in God, our belief in his love, all go out the window. Something happens that causes us to lose our bearings for a while. Often it means that we lose the capacity to pray as we once did.
At times like these, passages such as this are a great comfort. We just can’t seem to sit down in our familiar chair and express in words our thoughts and hurts and longings. Words fail us. Our minds are just too overwhelmed to give a framework for any words. Our feelings are either jumbled or numb and any sort of prayer quickly becomes a tangle of mixed thoughts and distracting emotions.
Thank God that just because our words fail our prayers do not fail. Thank God that he is able to get deep inside us and understand what is going on: even if we do not. Thank God that we don’t have to have clear minds or positive feelings in order to pray. Our very groans and sighs become prayers in the hands of the Spirit who comes alongside to help us.
When panic strikes, don’t make it worse by panicking about not being able to pray!
Blessings
David Reay