When We Don’t Know What to Pray...
Romans 8:26-27
November 13, 2004
Introduction
Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t know how to pray? Something’s going on, and you don’t know what to ask God?
You think that maybe you should pray for one thing, but then you think it should be something else. You just don’t know.
The Bible addresses that dilemma in yet another example of how God’s Word speaks to the every day life of people.
I’m continually amazed at how practical and down to earth the Bible is. How about you?
Today we see that God knows just what’s going on in our lives, and He moves to act, to help us in our times of greatest need.
Let’s look at our passage for today, Romans 8:26-27, and I would like you to read this aloud with me, okay?
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
Let’s look at some ways the Holy Spirit helps when we don’t know what to pray. And my hope is that you will leave here encouraged by the fact that God doesn’t leave us alone when we don’t know what to pray. He steps in to help.
HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US:
The Holy Spirit comes alongside us.
Our passage says that He helps us in our weakness.
Just before Jesus went to be arrested, He sat down with His disciples and told them all sorts of stuff about what to expect and what would happen to Him. After He told them He would die, He also told them that His going away would actually be a benefit to them.
Why, because when He was gone, the Holy Spirit could come and do His job.
And what is the job of the Spirit? He will convict people of their need for a Savior, guide the disciples into all truth, help them remember everything Jesus said, and he would comfort them.
In other words, He would step in to fill in the steps of Jesus.
One of the names Jesus used for the Holy Spirit was "Comforter." The Greek word for that is "parakletos," which has a couple of meanings that fit with our passage today.
The first meaning is, "comforter," or someone who comes alongside someone. This is Jesus’ description of the Spirit - someone who is there for us.
God the Father didn’t abandon us when Jesus left the earth - we have His presence through the Holy Spirit.
One Sunday after church, a Mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about. The daughter answered, "Don’t be scared, you’ll get your quilt." Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed.
Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning’s Sunday school lesson was about. He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming." (SermonCentral.com - Contributed by: Evelyn Weston)
And He’s right there to comfort us. There have been times in my own life when even in the midst of heartache I have felt an unexplainable presence and comfort. Unexplainable, that is, except by the fact that the Holy Spirit was there, doing the job He was commissioned to do by the Father.
Anyone else been there? You were in the midst of something hard, crying out to God, and all of a sudden you sense His loving arms around you?
I know I’m not the only one. The first way the Holy Spirit helps us is to come alongside us. The second way He helps is that...
The Holy Spirit prays with us.
There are two types of "Oh, God," prayers. The first type is when we say things like, "Oh, God, You are the mighty King of Kings and Lords, awesome is Your majesty, and we praise Your name."
And we need to pray that kind of "Oh, God," kinds of prayers on a frequent basis. If this kind of prayer doesn’t happen on a pretty regular basis, then allow me to suggest that you should spend the next few weeks just reading the Psalms. Seriously!
The second type of "Oh, God," prayer is the kind of prayer we pray when we are overwhelmed, or just at the end of our ropes emotionally, spiritually or physically exhausted, or circumstances threaten to just finally do us in.
This is when all we can do is say, Oh GOD!!!! And we don’t know what else to say.
Have you ever been there? It’s okay to admit it - God wouldn’t have talked about it in the Bible if He didn’t plan for it to happen among His people.
I’ve been there, let me tell you. There have been times when all I could do was say, "God, I’m just not sure how to pray about this. I don’t know what to ask for. I don’t even know IF I should ask for anything here. I just don’t know."
So what happens? Well, it’s safe to say from our passage today that God is not powerless when we can’t get our minds and spirits around the situation or circumstance enough to formulate the "right" words.
Because our passage says that...
the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
What does that mean, exactly?
I generally think it means that the Spirit acts as an interpreter, if you will, of the pain in our heart.
He hears our crying heart, and vocalizes our heart-cry in ways that our human limitations can’t.
We go..."(BLANK....)" and the Spirit says, "Hey - I’ve got it covered. Father, what Brian’s trying to say is this..." and He speaks what our heart is aching to say but just can’t push through our brains and lips.
Some of my charismatic and Pentecostal brothers and sisters say that this is an instance where the Spirit speaks through us by speaking in tongues.
However, I believe that this passage is saying that the groans of the Spirit are beyond anything capable of coming from our mouths. It is the Spirit, not the Spirit-empowered believer who is doing the communicating.
So is this just some brainless activity on our part? Hardly. We actively admit our inability to pray, asking the Holy Spirit to speak on our behalf.
And He comes alongside us, giving holy voice to our heart’s cry. Isn’t it great that God is not limited by our feeble human vocabularies? I think so.
The second way the Holy Spirit helps us when we don’t know what to pray is to speak for us. The third way He helps us is that...
The Holy Spirit prays for us.
Verse 27 says Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
Verse 26 talks about how the Spirit prays with us, giving voice to our prayer. This verse talks about how the Spirit offers His prayer to the Father on our behalf.
Now how’s that for cool? I know that many of you pray for me and my family on a regular basis, and I appreciate that. Really.
But I hate to tell you this - I’m REALLY glad the Spirit prays for me! Really, really, really, really glad. Really glad.
Folks, the Spirit knows things about you that even YOU don’t know about yourself. So who better to come to the Father and pray for you?
I said back in the first section that the word Jesus used for the Holy Spirit, "parakletos," means "comforter." Well, it also means "advocate." An advocate is someone who pleads the case of another.
The Holy Spirit is also your holy advocate, pleading for your good to the Father.
And He’s in good company! Jesus does the same thing for us! Look at Hebrews 7:25, printed in your note-taking guide:
Hebrews 7:25 -
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Circle the phrase, "lives to intercede." Jesus lives to intercede for us. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.
Man, how’s that for double-coverage? I’m glad you pray for me. I’m really really glad the Spirit prays for me. Guess how glad I am that Jesus prays for me? Infinitely glad. I’m actually infinitely glad the Spirit prays for me - you get the picture.
But let me tie this in with something else real quick here. Please read aloud with me this passage from 1 John 5 -
1 John 5:14-15
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.
Question: are you always confident that you are praying according to God’s will? No? At least you’re honest! Alright!
Here’s another question: what are the chances that the Holy Spirit and Jesus pray according to the Father’s will?
I’ve heard it said that the chances of winning the Powerball lottery is about the same as getting hit by lightning - twice. According to the SD Lottery Commission, the chances of hitting all the numbers with the Powerball is 1 in 121,000,000! Not very good odds, which is why the states make so much money on it.
But the chances of the Holy Spirit and Jesus praying according to the will of the Father are 1 to 1. They hit it every time.
Now that’s encouraging, don’t you think?
The Holy Spirit is actively praying for me. and He’s actively praying for you. Thanks be to God.
Conclusion
I don’t know about you, but I’m grateful for the Holy Spirit. And I’m grateful that He is part of the mighty God, who actively seeks to be part of my life.
He comes along side me, He prays with me, and He prays for me. He’s always got the ear of the Father.
But before we wrap this up, I want to give you two prayers that you can pray, even when you don’t know how to pray specifically about a given situation and circumstance.
Even when we have no clue about something, we can pray these two things. Ready?
Two prayers to pray when you don’t know what to pray for, in joining the Holy Spirit:
* "Your will be done..."
Matthew 6:10
"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
This is a prayer of surrender. You may not understand everything that’s going on, but you want God to have His way.
And so you vocalize in your heart, and even through your mouth, "Your will be done, Oh God. Whatever that means, whatever you need to do, Your will be done."
The second prayer is this:
* "Your good be done..."
Romans 8:28 -
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
You’ve no doubt figured out by now that this verse immediately follows the passage we’ve been looking at today.
Another translation puts it this way:
...all things work together for good to them that love God...
I prefer how the New International Version says it - the way it’s printed in your note-taking guide.
I’m of the opinion that it’s not the things that work for our good, but God, who uses those things - good, bad, and in between - for our good, and for His glory.
The next verse tells us that God uses these things to make us more like Christ.
Can you pray this? Can you say, "Oh God, take this situation, and make some good out of it? Your GOOD be done?"
That’s not always easy, is it? But it can be done.
And you know what else? Both of these prayers fit the criteria of the verses we looked at in 1 John. They both are examples of praying according to God’s will. And when we do that, what happens? God hears and He moves.
So let me ask you: what are you facing right now. Are you facing something so overwhelming that you don’t even know how to pray about it?
Let me tell you that I am right now. I generally like attention. But not the kind I’m getting since the election season. I suppose if I didn’t feel as strongly as I did about the moral direction of our country, I could have just kept my mouth shut.
Most of the reactions have been very positive, and even the negative ones haven’t been overly harsh.
But I don’t want to be known for my views during the election season. I want to be known as a guy trying to lead as many people to Jesus as possible. I want to help this church make a difference for Jesus.
But the publicity has given me opportunities to speak Biblical truth on a national forum.
So I’m just praying what I’m inviting you to pray - "Your will be done, and Your good be done with whatever comes."
I’m going to ask Lorri to come back to the piano, and just play, "I Surrender All." And as she’s playing, I want to open the altar to anyone here today who has something going on in their life that’s just beyond regular praying.
If that’s you, then you come and kneel, and we’ll pray, okay?
