God Understands Your Struggle - The Truth About Prayer

Since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

WHEN I LOOK BACK ON WHAT PRAYER HAS BEEN IN MY LIFE, IT HAS OFTEN BECOME A PLACE TO PERFORM. Somewhere along the line I came to believe that what God wanted from me was to be good at prayer. So when I fail—when my mind wanders or I just fall asleep—I feel guilty for not being better, and I feel a bit ashamed at myself.

It is precisely in our struggles where we need to discover the good news about prayer. Paul proclaims this in Romans 8:26: “the Spirit prays for our weaknesses, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit prays for us with groanings too deep for words” (emphasis mine). We don’t know how to pray as we ought. Think about that. When God thinks about you and your ability to pray, God recognizes that you don’t know how to pray. He knows. He understands.

If we left it there, that might seem a bit depressing. It is encouraging, perhaps, that God confirms that we don’t know how to pray. I find comfort in the truth that God knows and understands. But God doesn’t stop at mere understanding. God has done something about it! In Hebrews 4:14-16 we are told that we have a great high priest in Jesus who understands our temptations—who has been tempted as we are but without sin—and who passed through the heavens. Our high priest has gone to the very right hand of God, “beyond the veil” as the “anchor of our soul” (Hebrews 6:19). This is why we have confidence to “draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV).

Our boldness is not grounded in how good we are at praying. Our confidence does not rest on the foundation of our ability, our savvy, our knowledge, or our goodness. We can draw near to the Father because of what Jesus has achieved for us. Christ has achieved all for us. Christ rescued us, not in our goodness, but in our sin (Romans 5:8).

What do you do when you experience your “badness” at prayer? Do you get frustrated? Make promises to God to try harder? Grit your teeth only to fail again? How might your prayers change if you took your failures to God in prayer—seeking the God who knows you don’t know how to pray and who has taken care of even that for you?