Day 19: The Spirit Will Help You to Pray

Prayer is a vital part of Christian life, but you may have experienced yourself that it can be hard at the same time. Therefore, let’s look at the role the Holy Spirit plays in your prayer life.

Actually, the Holy Spirit is the only source of effective prayer. Any prayer that does not come by the Holy Spirit is not an effective prayer. It will not accomplish anything and it is not acceptable to God. Paul makes this very clear in Romans 8:26–27. He says this:

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul points out that as sons of Adam, in our fallen nature, we all have one innate, universal weakness. It’s not a physical weakness, but a weakness of our understanding. It is this: that we do not know what to pray for, or how to pray for it.

I have spoken to very large audiences and challenged them and said, “Is there anybody here who always knows what to pray for and how to pray for it?” Never has one person ever challenged the truth of Paul’s statements. It is a universal problem for all of us.

Paul explains that that’s one of the main purposes for which God has placed the Holy Spirit within us — to guide us in prayer, to show us how to pray. When we do not know what we should pray for the Spirit Himself—and notice again the emphasis on His personality—“the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” – they are simply too deep for words. Sometimes no human words can express the kind of prayer that we need to pray but the Holy Spirit gives us the appropriate prayer. The Holy Spirit is an eternal intercessor and when we give Him liberty, He’s interceding within us day and night.

Reflect: One of the main purposes for which God has placed the Holy Spirit within me, is to help me pray. Am I paying attention to Him in my prayers?