Turning Groans into Prayers

Romans 8.26-30

The Spirit helps us by exposing the mistakes and the ignorance that undermine our prayers. James said, You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.(James 4.2,3). The Holy Spirit helps us by challenging our unwillingness to ask God for what he knows we need. He challenges our wrong asking; the self-centred motives that want God to give us what will satisfy our world-centred wants. This is very valuable help! What if we kept on with our ignorant attitude to prayer? What if we never asked for the very things that would satisfy us beyond measure, and so missed out on them? What if we kept hammering away in our prayers pleading for wrong things, unwise things, shallow dying things, things that would ultimately damage our own lives and others? The Spirit works in believers to avert us from insulting God by using prayer as if it were a lucky dip in which we kept plunging our hands until we pulled out the thing we really wanted.

The Holy Spirit helps us to know how to pray for the right things. We frequently find ourselves in situations where we do not know how to pray or what to ask God for. We cannot clearly see what the right course of action is. We do not know what to pray for. Paul was in this situation in jail. He wrote to the Philippians about his dilemma: It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honoured in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. (Philippians 1.20-26). When Paul began to pray about his situation, he wasn’t sure whether it would bring more glory to Christ for him to give up his life for the gospel, or live on and suffer the opposition. He was hard pressed between the two ideas. The Holy Spirit helped him in his praying. Perhaps at times he was unable to put into meaningful words what he felt. But the Holy Spirit helped him by praying to the Father for him; turning his groaning into prayers that matched God’s will for him.

The Holy Spirit helps us by taking our inarticulate deep-seated longings and turning them into prayers that match the Father’s will for us. It is encouraging to consider that the sighs and groans we feel within us when we are faced with hard choices and impossible circumstances are inhabited by the Holy Spirit. He takes them over and expresses what we need to ask. He does so in the intimate language that the Father and the Spirit share. The Father knows what the mind of the Spirit is (27).Are you offering your groanings to God, or are you turning your groanings into moanings and complaining to others – perhaps your wife, or kids, or workmates. Are you angry at your confusion and becoming a cynical and grumpy influence on others, instead of offering your groanings humbly to God by the Spirit?

In summary, you and I can rely on the Holy Spirit to stir up a need to pray; avert us from self-centred praying; and overcome the deep-seated ignorance we have about what to ask for. We need to pray but we are crippled by weakness went we try. So we depend on our Helper to support our prayers. And even when we cannot find any words to describe or express the longings we feel, our Helper is right there to convert these sighs and groans into words that are perfectly in tune with the will of God. Therefore, we should no longer excuse ourselves for not praying, nor should we blame our uncertainty about what to ask for. We should put words to what we can and offer up our sighs and groans when we cannot find the right words. Our Helper will do the rest.