What If We Don’t Have the Words to Pray?

The Trinity, by Andrei Rublev

I admire people who speak more than one language. Some days, when I try to pray, I can barely speak one!  

It makes it pretty hard to have a conversation with God.  I can't even say how I feel, let alone what I might need.  And then there are all the shoulds heaped on me over the years - I should begin with thanks, I should not treat God like a vending machine, etc., etc.  All those rules can make things more difficult.

One day this week I had no words, only sighs too deep for words. I sat, read some scripture and sat some more, now feeling that I was sitting in God's presence..feeling his love.  

God's Spirit, who knows us better than we know ourselves, knows what you and I need, keeps us present before God, and prays for us.  That is pretty amazing. 

This Spirit is who Jesus referred to when he said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.” (John 14:16 NIV)

I can only thank God for this advocate, this friend, who does all this for me when I can't. God loves us so much that he did this for us. And Jesus asked God to do that.  That’s amazing too!

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, when we focus on the mystery of this three-in-one God, and his great love for us.  Here are our readings for this week: 

Acts 2. 43-45  MSG

Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common.  They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.

 

John 17. 20-23  MSG

I’m praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them
In the same way you’ve loved me.

  

Romans 8:26-27 (NRSV)

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

I hope to see you on Sunday.

The power of God’s words works as leaven in the heart, awakening us to a personal experience of the presence of God that Scripture reveals. The Scriptures are one long love letter from God. Each verse tells the story of the love that perpetually calls us to itself….  James Finley