Some
mornings start when your eyes flicker open to a warm sun through the window and
thoughts jump to the exciting possibilities of the day. Other mornings begin
when your eyes are pried forcefully open to the abrasive sound of an alarm and
thoughts of the challenges ahead bombard the peaceful morning hours. Your shaky
feet hit the floor and drag into the shower. The steam helps clear the heavy
sleep haze. Prayer? Yes! Good idea. But then then there are no words, no clear
thoughts to define the overall uneasiness holding back your heart. Panic sets
in as you try with all your might to muster up the right combination of words
to express what you need. You then realize you don't even know what it is that
you need, you just need help. You need to be heard. You need to know you're not
alone.
"...the
Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but
the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And
He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit..." Rom. 8:26-27
When
you don't know what to pray, remember who it is that you seek. Say His name.
Not only do you pray to a Diety, an all-knowing, powerful, Almighty God, you
come before a compassionate companion. One who knows you, who yearns to
communicate with you. Even uttering the name of Jesus acknowledges
that you understand that you are limited and He is able. He delights in hearing
His name on the lips of those He loves and is eager to listen. Invite Him into
your tangled mess of thoughts. Say His name.
When
you don't know what to pray, cry out. Say what you feel. Allow the current of
emotions to pour out of you and don't worry about what it looks like. Your
intercessor cares much more about a heart that is genuine than a polished,
eloquent soliloquy. Hannah models this well in 1 Samuel 1 when she "cried
and cried- inconsolably...her lips moved but no sound was heard". Even a
priest could not understand the depth of her emotion, accusing her of drunkenness,
but God was honored by her earnesty and granted the desire of her heart to be a
mother. Just let it out. Don't worry about holding it all in. Your feelings
don't scare your Father. The Spirit interprets the aching groans and
translates to God the Father, while knowing the mind of God. Cry out.
When
you don't know what to pray, go back to the basics. Tell Him what you know is
true about His character and what His Word says about you. Stating the truth
reaffirms what you believe and solidifies trust. If you don't know where to
start, pray Scripture, those God-breathed, truth-filled, living words. Tell Him
that you believe that He's God. That He is able to make all things work
together for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).
That there is nothing that can separate you from His love (Rom. 8:38).
That you are created purposefully and intimately known (Psalm 139). That if you
cast your anxieties on Him, He cares and will sustain. (1 Peter 5:7). And say
these things with thankfulness. A grateful perspective is the hearty antidote
for any kind of bitter, melancholic, resentful, anxious mood. These reminders
seem so simple, but maybe it is the simple things that unclutter the
complicated ways of the heart. Go back to the basics.
On
those mornings, those shaky weak-hearted mornings when you don't know what to
pray, here's a few good places to start. What a relief to know that prayer is
not as much a recipe as it is an open dialogue. An invitation to come without
walls, to shake your fist at perfection, to express and receive, to be heard.
All because of the loving, all-knowing heart of your Intercessor.
"If
God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but
gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give
us all things?...Christ Jesus, who died- more than that, who was raised to
life- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."
Rom. 8: 31-34
