“But I have prayed for you…”
A young man once came forward after a church service seeking prayer. I spent a little time with him, and what poured out of him was a mixture of despair and hopelessness.
He said, "I have so much going on in my life right now. I don't even know what to pray for. There's too much pain, too much distraction, too much uncertainty. I'm just surrounded by fear and anxiety to the point where I just sit there, just silent. I want to pray, but I don't know what to say anymore."
There was so much going on in his life that it had crowded out his voice, his ability to pray, and he also believed that it had silenced God.
I have heard this many times, but the reality is this: God is always speaking, and when you don't know what God is saying, you can always go back to what he has already said! If you feel like you don't know what to pray right now, I want to encourage you with two simple truths.
The first one is that even when you don't know what to pray, the Spirit can pray on your behalf. Romans 8:26-27 says, "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 through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God." (Romans 8:26-27, NIV)
If your life, and the pain of your life, has stolen your words, you need to know that it has not stolen the words of the Spirit of God who prays on your behalf!
I also want you to know that Romans 8:34 says, "Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." (Romans 8:34, NIV)
Not only is the Spirit giving words to your prayers when you are wordless, right now, Jesus is praying for you!
As I stood at the front of the church with that young man that day, I said, “I want to tell you a simple Bible story. Simon Peter was being challenged in so many different ways. His life was overwhelming, and yet Jesus spoke to him and said that all that he was facing was actually part of a greater process.”
The Bible says, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you've turned back, strengthen your brothers." (Luke 22:31-32, NIV)
Did you see those words? But I have prayed for you.
If words escape you right now, they have not escaped God the Spirit or God the Son, and God the Father is anxiously listening to both of them right now, praying on your behalf!
Over the next number of days, we're going to learn how to pray when we have no words. In every moment without words, God has given us a PRAYER TO PRAY!
In the meantime, I want to remind you that you are a miracle.
