24 For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. 27 And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
REFLECTIONS
Written by Paul Bogg
Sometimes when I get my daughters to pray, they know what to pray for, but other times they don’t have the words. So I’ll try help them out, talk through what they are thinking about praying, and once in a while they’ll just turn and ask me to pray for them. I’m more than happy to oblige: I count it a real privilege to bring the concerns of my kids before the almighty God and creator of the universe.
I’m not so different to them. There have been times when I have struggled to find the right words to pray – especially when there are crises with no obvious solution, or when people we know have suffered tragedies. In those times, I feel a bit lost. I know I desperately want God to work through the circumstances, but I don’t know what to ask him for.
As Romans has been teaching us, God calls us into a loving relationship with himself as our Father, by adopting us as his children through faith in his Son Jesus. We are weak – we often struggle to find words, we struggle to know how to pray. And as our loving Father, God doesn’t leave us alone in our weakness. He gives us help: his Holy Spirit.
As I reflect on this, there are two ways I realise the Spirit helps me with intercession. First, he reminds me of Scripture and puts Scripture in my mouth as I pray. Sometimes I’ll find myself praying through verses I read earlier, and somehow they fit the types of things I should be praying for at that moment, according to God’s will. One time, after reading James 1:5 on a Thursday morning, I prayed for our senior minister Stephen, that God would give him wisdom to prepare well for Saturday. After I finished praying, I had no idea why I had prayed that – I didn’t even know what Stephen was doing on Saturday. But as I found out later, he was officiating a wedding that day!
Secondly, there have been times I have said to God, “Father, I have no idea what to pray for. But please work in this situation.”
In both cases, today’s passage makes me so thankful that I can trust that the Spirit intercedes, and I can trust that he turns a fumbling, confused set of words into something that brings God glory and benefits his church and his kingdom. All I need to do is make the time and … pray. Let’s do that now.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul is a member of our Bossley Park Morning congregation.