Our church prayer chain circulated a request to pray for Steven and his wife. Steven went to the hospital for severe stomach pain. How should the church pray for this couple?
The easiest thing to say is, “God, bless Steven and his wife.” We have done our duty to pray and can get back to our chores or entertainment. But any real request would be more specific. What kind of a blessing am I seeking for these friends? The chores will have to wait; I owe it to my friend and to the God I am addressing to think a little bit. A boy once said, “sometimes I pray, and sometimes I just say my prayers.” We need to enter into a real conversation with God, not just fall back on memorized or vague platitudes.
Romans 8:26-28 gives us four important truths about prayer. First, We do not know how to pray as we should. We are self centered and short sighted, therefore we don’t know what is really in our own best interest. I know someone who prayed frequently for his troubled son, that the boy might stay on the right side of the law. Finally, the son was arrested and spent a night in a holding cell in a big city jail, in the company of several hardened criminals. He appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit and was remanded to the custody of his parents. And that night he spent on the wrong side of the law was so frightening that he changed immediately for the better. The father’s mistaken, shortsighted prayer was graciously ignored by God.
The Spirit Himself intercedes for us according to God’s will. The same God who is above us running the universe is within us, through the Holy Spirit. God Almighty is able and willing to enter a human heart and change it. He is in two places at once; within you and above and beyond you. Effective prayer happens when God who has made Himself at home in your heart prays to God the Ruler of all. The Holy Spirit forms our prayers and presents them to the Father who can act on them. This is the effective prayer of a righteous person that avails much discussed in James 5:16-18.
Elijah, James tells us, was a man like us; an ordinary, short sighted man subject to the depression that can lead to foolish prayers (I Kings 19:4). How did he pray so powerfully and effectively when he prayed for a three and a half year drought to be followed by a mighty downpour of rain? He prayed what God told him to pray. We can do this too, as the Holy Spirit (God within us) guides us in how to seek the will of God above us.
Pray in the certainty that God’s plan for you is good. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God. His will is better than whatever we could substitute for it. Your heavenly Father loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Prayer is confidently taking hold of His goodness, not trying to persuade Him to reluctantly bless you a little.
A vibrant prayer life comes the same way as every blessing in Romans 8 comes: Everything from God; nothing from you. Remember, God is forming your prayer; you aren’t. How did you escape God’s condemnation? Through the indwelling Holy Spirit (8:1-4). How did you come to have a mind set on the things of the Spirit? That was God’s doing also (8:5-9). How do you have the physical strength and stamina to do God’s will? The Spirit gives life to your mortal body (8:10-13). We could go on and on. Consistently, your new life in Christ is not the result of self effort, it is the gift of God through the indwelling Spirit.
A poor washer woman was carrying a heavy load of laundry when a kind man stopped his wagon and offered her a ride. She gladly accepted. As they travelled on, she kept the heavy basket in her lap. The man invited her to set it down on the floor of the wagon. “O no,” she said, “I don’t want to overburden the horse.” We carry loads that we can and should lay on our Lord. The Holy Spirit can do all the carrying.
“In the same way” the Holy Spirit heals our weak prayer life. God can be in two places at once. He dwells inside you as the Holy Spirit. He is also the transcendent God above and beyond you, ruling the universe as God the Father. Thel same God who controls your destiny is living in your heart. Prayer is God talking to Himself.We are bewildered, ignorant, and selfish. We don’t know what is best for us and those we love. But the God who has a perfect plan for our lives forms the right prayer in us. So our first thought as we pray should be, “God, what do You want me to pray?” A prayer God forms will be a prayer God answers. “Delight thyself in the Lord”; let Him pray His will, “and He will grant you the desires of your heart” He will answer that prayer with a resounding ‘Yes’! So says Psalm 37:4.
God has His own ways of doing His wonderful will. He sees all the possibilities, and He knows how to combine them to get the outcome He desires. We don’t know how to pray. We may have the right hopes but the totally wrong way of making them happen. God the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. He leads us to pray for the will of God to be done. He groans and reaches out for a result that we only dimly foresee. He perfectly forms our prayers if we listen to Him as we pray.
Want to see your prayers powerfully answered? Wait for God’s Spirit- led guidance as you start to pray. God answers the prayers He Himself prays.