“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate
to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.” – Jesus
(John 14:16-17 NIV)
Ever feel lonely? Ever need help?
Yeah, me, too.
That part of why Jesus – who is “Emmanuel,” God With Us, – sent the Holy Spirit to us, the Believers. Holy Spirit comes to HELP us.
What do you do when you don’t know how to pray?
Ask Holy Spirit.
Really. That’s all.
He will let us “do it all alone,” but then he doesn’t get to do what he was sent to do. Holy Spirit is a leader, a guide, a teacher to help us understand what’s in the Book. Romans 8:26 (NIV) says, “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.” He is our helper who helps us to pray as we ought to. In fact, “the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:27 NIV) When we ask Holy Spirit for help praying, we can’t pray incorrectly. He will help us to pray beyond what we know and show us how to pray for specifics.
Sometimes he will urge us to pray even if we don’t know why at the time. I have heard two stories of people who were awakened in the middle of the night and had a huge urge to pray for a specific person. In fact, they travailed in prayer for an hour, two hours – interceding without knowing for what they were interceding. Later they learned the reasons that God needed them to be awake and praying at that hour, even if they didn’t have the specifics at the time. Holy Spirit woke them up and helped them and guided them to know when and what to pray.
Holy Spirit wants to be the help for us and sometimes he wants to be the help within us for others. Either way, Holy Spirit has come to each Believer to guide, to teach, to advocate, and to help us. May he help you, guide you, and lead you today and forever.
Holy Spirit, you are our Rock and Fortress and today we simply ask that you would lead us and guide us. Help us to know your voice and to listen and obey what you call us to be and do. May your presence in our lives not only help us, but help us to be a blessing to others. We ask this in Jesus’s name, Amen.
“Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.” (Psalm 31:3 NIV)
h/t Tim Cross