Dr. Dan Hayden •
It was John Wesley who said, “God does everything by prayer, and He does nothing without it.” Prayer is absolutely vital to the Christian life. So, why don’t we pray more? Probably a good question!
Today I want to share a thought from one of the great Bible texts on prayer. The text is Romans 8:26, which says,
“And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Has there ever been a time when you have said, “I don’t understand prayer!”? Now I know what I want, and so I pray that way. But so often He doesn’t answer my prayer—at least in the way that I have expressed it to Him. Well, even though there may be things we don’t understand about prayer, there is something here to encourage us. This text says that the Spirit of God helps us as we pray. Now that is encouraging to know!
This word “pray” here is the word that has the idea of expressing a desire toward God. So, the first thing to understand about prayer is that God really does want you to express the desires of your heart to Him, and His Holy Spirit will help you when you do that. So remember—to pray, is to express the desire of your heart to God.
Now you know the real meaning of the word. This is Dan Hayden, suggesting that you make God your first choice, not your last chance!
For further study, see The Prayer Puzzle.