Our Daily Bread: Peace to YouSample

Prayer Without Words

And the Father who knows all hearts knows that the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. -Romans 8:27

I asked the young man who was dying in a hospital bed if he had any prayer requests. After he rattled off a litany of names and concerns, he sheepishly looked at me and said, “I was taught not to pray for myself.”

He was dying. He was on pain medication to make him comfortable in his last days, yet he didn’t believe it was right to ask for prayer for himself. I reminded him that God’s Spirit could intervene for him even if he didn’t know how to put his requests into words.

God knows our hearts and minds. He knows what we need and promises to give it to us according to “God’s own will” (Romans 8:27). Sometimes life makes it tough to put into words what we need from God and we may not know how to pray. Perhaps we can utter only “groanings that cannot be expressed in words” (v. 26). But Paul’s words provide comfort and assurance that we have a great intercessor in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit actually talks to God for us on our behalf (v. 26). God knows. God hears. God’s will—His perfect plans—will be done.

Rest in this assurance as you wait on God for whatever your request may be—whether uttered audibly or only in your heart or mind.

By Katara Patton

What unuttered prayers have been answered in your life? How can you thank God for interceding on your behalf?

Father in Heaven, thank You for Your Spirit that intercedes on my behalf even when I’m uncertain of what to pray or how to pray.