Romans 8:26-27
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.
One of the greatest advantages of being filled with the Holy Spirit is to engage in what can be termed “Pneumatic Prayer”. That happens when believers choose to be led, inspired and empowered by the Spirit in our prayers. It’s the opposite of carnal prayer.
To be honest, we all often feel just like the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane whose spirits were willing but their flesh was weak (Matthew 26:14). Thank God for the Holy Spirit, our Helper, who assists us in our weakness. Given that in the natural we are weak, let us be intentional about depending on the Spirit in our prayers. Let us invite Him to pray in and through us always. Then our results will be out of this world.
Now, Scripture not only teaches that we’re all quite weak, but also that we don’t know what to pray for as we ought. It follows that beside the problem of INFIRMITY, we also have a problem of IGNORANCE. Our victory in prayer begins when we acknowledge these twin problems. Even the most discerning among us only perceive dimly and know in part (1 Corinthians 13:12).
For example, we may have an idea about our current needs, but still be clueless about the hidden traps and threats around us and in future. In the natural, we know next to nothing about present and future opportunities. We have no idea regarding what priorities matter in any given season. So, we can easily be irrelevant in our prayers. We can easily find ourselves going through the motions without gaining any traction in our prayers. That is not your portion in the mighty name of Jesus!
You see, praying “as we ought” is totally different from religious eloquence or poetic fluency. It has very little, if any, to do with the right jargon or tone. Portent prayer is Pneumatic Prayer. That’s because only the Holy Spirit can integrate our needs and the will of God at the same time. The Spirit searches human hearts and knows the mind and will of God. So He can deal with the desires of our hearts while simultaneously aligning with the will of God. Why is thy important?
Pneumatic Prayer is vitally important because, without the Spirit’s help we can easily “ask amiss” (James 4:3). How so? You see, not all desires in our human hearts are worthy. Some are influenced by the corrupt world we live in. Some are demonically induced. Not every human desire is in our best interests. So, although our loving God can give us the desires of our hearts (Psalms 37:4), His love and wisdom dictate that He will only give us things that accord with His will and are in our best interests. And only the Holy Spirit is smart enough to balance all that, all the time and in every season. Let us intentionally surrender to the Holy Spirit in all our prayers henceforth.
Pastor Josh