Romans 8:26 (NIV)
There was a good reason why my daughter did not talk until she was 2 years old. She didn’t need to. She had an older brother who took it upon himself to speak for her. She struggled with her words as she tried to explain what she wanted but her brother was able to tell by her few syllables and her gestures what she was trying to say – even when I could not.
The word “Mommy” was clear to me but the rest of her words did not sound remotely like any language I was familiar with and daughter and parents were all frustrated on a regular basis. Until her brother took over.
Not only did he understand and interpret what his little sister was saying, but he also had a special name for her: “your baby.” He would come to me and say “your baby” and then finish the sentence with whatever he believed she wanted or needed. In other words, he interceded for “your baby.”
The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, too. Look at Romans 8:26. “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.” How amazing is that!
We’ve all been there: the heartache, the grief, the weight of a situation in our lives that is almost more than we can bear and we reach a point where we don’t even know what to pray. It is at that exact moment that the Spirit steps in and lovingly says “Let me take it from here.” He lifts our tears, jumbled thoughts, and aching hearts into a beautiful prayer before our Father on our behalf. And our special name? “Children of God.” (I John 3:1)
I pray that you are encouraged and renewed with hope by realizing that when we come to the place of not knowing what to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us, the Children of God. I must repeat: how amazing is that!
Father, thank you for allowing the Holy Spirit to intercede for me, lifting up my jumbled thoughts to you when I don’t know what or how to pray. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
R.A.P. it up . . .
Reflect
Have you ever reached a point where you didn’t know what or how to pray for a person or situation?
What was your first response? Give up? Frustration? Keep praying?
Apply
When you do not know what to pray in a situation or for a loved one, turn to Romans 8:26 in your Bible.
Read it aloud and then ask the Holy Spirit to intercede and speak for you to God the Father.
Power
Romans 8:26 (NIV) “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.”
John 14:16 (NIV) “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever . . .”
John 14:26 (NIV) “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
(For more of Nancy Hughes' writing, check out her blog, Encouragement from the War Room.)
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