Inside Information

Inside Information

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26, ESV

IMAGINE ASKING GOD WHAT HE WANTS TO DO, hearing his voice with precision, and then praying perfectly in accordance with his will. How many of your prayers do you think he might answer with that approach? All of them. Sometimes the only gap between what he wants to do and what he actually does is a prayer that hasn’t invited him to do it yet.

In our limited vision, we don’t always know what to pray for. But the Holy Spirit who intercedes in heaven, along with the interceding Son and the Father who expresses his will, knows divine intentions. This heavenly conversation completely captures God’s purposes and invites us into the discussion. Though we don’t know how to pray as we ought, we can find out. The Holy Spirit can impress it on our hearts when we ask to see his purposes. Even when our words and longings don’t come out the right way, he knows how to take them and adapt them to his purposes. We are not alone in our requests. We are given an opportunity to cooperate with God to bring his purposes into our situations on earth.

The Holy Spirit knows what he wants to do for us, and he prays it. He doesn’t just pray for us; he helps us pray the right things. He turns our groans into prayers, he fills our mouths with words that hit the mark. Instead of our searching for an answer, he is putting the answer within us to pray it back to the Father. In this process, we aren’t trying to get God to do something he doesn’t want to do. We are agreeing with him on what he does want to do.

That’s a different approach to prayer for many, and it requires us to develop some listening skills. But Jesus promised that we can hear his voice (John 10:27), he gave the Spirit to guide us (John 14:26), and he resides within us (Galatians 2:20). If we ask to hear, he will teach us. And his Spirit will transform our disoriented prayers into precise requests that God wants to fulfill.

The best prayers have often more groans than words.