Are You Confused About Prayer?

“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” (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit has come to lead us into a life of prayer.

We can get so confused about prayer, making it seem so complicated. There are multitudes of theories that bring confusion and raise all kinds of questions: “When does prayer become intercession? Is intercession measured by fervency, or loudness, or the amount of time spent on my knees? How will I know I am praying in God’s will? Do mental prayers count? What, exactly, do I pray for?”

Such confusion can be overwhelming and might actually keep people from praying. Yet there has never been a time when the prayers of God’s people were more needed. Even in his ancient time, Paul said of the earth, “The whole creation groans” (Romans 8:22). Reports of devastation and impending doom come at us from all sides and such reports are overwhelming people worldwide. Christians are not exempt from the stress of what is happening in our world.

As global events worsen, conspiring to rob people of peace, societies everywhere are looking for a source of comfort. But they are not finding it in psychotherapy, in dead religion, in causes, even in charity. Our only resource for such a time is the prayer of faith.

Here are just a few powerful ways the Holy Spirit plays a role in our prayers:

• It is in prayer that the Holy Spirit manifests the presence of Christ in us.
• It is in prayer that the Spirit seals God’s promises in our hearts.
• It is in prayer that the Comforter speaks hope to us.
• It is in prayer that the Spirit releases his rivers of comfort, peace and rest in our souls.

Pray this prayer: “Holy Spirit, keep me in close communion with Jesus. Do not let me neglect my time alone with the One my soul loves. Keep me on my knees, then I will know your comfort.”