Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Dependent Upon God
Saint Augustine once wrote that we are to “pray as though everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.” That’s a great philosophy to live by. When we can do nothing, we can at least pray. One person told me that a friend of his was in prison and that the least he could do was pray, but that is actually the most he could do. When we can do nothing but pray, we can do nothing without praying. We should pray every single day as if everything depended upon God because it does. In fact, we have our living, moving, and very being in Him (Acts 17:29). So how much more dependent can you be? Prayer is not only for emergencies but for all things in life. I was asked if something was too small to pray about, but isn’t everything small to God? I said pray and let God determine if it’s too small or not. We won’t receive if we don’t ask, but we might not receive if we are asking for the wrong reasons (James 4:3). I know I have. How about you?
Dependent Upon the Spirit
I don’t know about you, but I need the help of the Holy Spirit to know what to pray for because He searches my heart and intercedes for me to pray according to God’s will (Rom. 8:27). I can easily get into a rut and be praying using the same words over and over again, and Jesus instructed us to not pray using repetitious words (Matt. 6:7). One of the keys to prayer is that we must ask in Jesus’ name (John 15:16) and that we should be abiding in Jesus’ words (John 15:7). If we’re doing neither, then we are praying for our will to be done and not God’s will, as we ought to be (Matt. 6:10). That’s why the Spirit helps. He can show us what God’s will is and what to pray for (Rom. 8:26). I don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get when praying. Do you pray as if everything depended on God?
Dependent Upon Others’ Prayers
Countless times we are told to pray for one another. It must be important if we are commanded to do this so often, and many of these are in the Old Testament, too. James writes that we are to confess our faults or sins to one another (James 5:16) and to be devoted to prayer (1 Cor. 7:5). Paul sought the prayers of the church (1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess. 3:1) while constantly praying for them (1 Thess. 1:2; 2 Thess. 1:11) but petitioned them to also be praying for one another (1 Tim. 2:1). If you asked Paul whether he prayed as if everything depended on God, his answer would be yes because he prayed so often for the church and sought their prayers so frequently. By the number of times prayer is mentioned, is there any doubt that everything depends on praying to the God, on Whom we also depend for everything.
A Closing Prayer
Father, I know I need to be more of a prayer warrior, but it is so hard to pray sometimes with all the world’s distractions and the enemy not wanting me to access the throne of grace. So please help me to see the critical need for praying as if everything depended on it because it does, and in Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen
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