We know Not what We should Pray For

Tip! The person who prays, has a belief that they will receive an answer. The prayer is intended to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, rather than to influence the recipient.

We are able to profit from the Holy Scriptures when we are made to feel that we know not how to pray. Paul writes in Romans 8:26 "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."

Only a very few professing Christians really believe this! The idea that is generally entertained is that people know well enough what they should pray for. The only problem is that we are careless and wicked, and end up failing to pray for what we are fully confident is our duty. But such a conception is at direct disagreement with this inspired statement in Romans 8:26.

It is to be observed that this flesh-humbling statement is not made simply about people in general, but for the Christians, children of God in particular, this is why the Apostle Paul did not hesitate to include himself: "For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought." If this is the condition of the Christian, how much more so of the non-Christian or unsaved!

Yet it is one thing to read and mentally agree to what this verse says, but it is quite another to have a new realization of it, for the heart to be made to feel that what God requires from us He must Himself work in and through us.

"I often say my prayers,

But do I ever pray?

And do the wishes of my heart

Go with the words I say?

I may as well kneel down

And worship gods of stone,

As offer to the living God

A prayer of words alone"

It is many years since the I heard this poem from a friend that was taught these lines by his mother - now "present with the Lord" - but their searching message still comes home with force to me. The Christian can no more pray without the direct enabling of the Holy Spirit than we can create a world.

Tip! Praise and thanksgiving - This is the earnest, heartfelt prayer where we come before the Lord thanking and praising him for his mighty power and love. We may praise him in both our earthly and spiritual language.

This must be so, for real prayer is a felt need awakened within us by the Holy Spirit, so that we ask God our Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, for that which is in agreement with His holy will. 1 John 5:14 says "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." But to ask something which is not according to God's will is not praying, but presuming.

True, God's revealed will is made known in His Word the Holy Bible, yet not in such a way as a cook book contains recipes and directions for preparing various dishes. The Holy Scriptures frequently detail principles that require a continuous exercise of heart and Divine help to show us their application to different cases and circumstances. Consequently we are profiting from the Holy Scriptures when we are taught our deep need of crying "Lord, teach us to pray" Luke 11:1, and are actually forced to beg Him for the spirit of prayer.

Are you sure you know what to pray for? I don't!