You may feel you have only touched the surface of prayer.
If so, that's good. Join the crowd.
The Holy Spirit is in us to help us pray. He will only help if we turn to him in dependence.
Andrew Murray, a great man of prayer, wrote in one of his many books on prayer The Master's Indwelling: "Now if we are to have the praying of the Holy Ghost in us one thing is needed - we must begin by feeling, 'I cannot pray.'"
Murray points to the apostle Paul's words in Romans 8:26:
"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words."
Paul goes on to say the Father hears what the Spirit is saying because the Spirit is praying in harmony with God's will.
If the Spirit prays for us, does that mean we don't have to pray ourselves?
In my view, the answer is "No. God wants a relationship with you and me and he wants us to pray in tune with his will. He wants the best for us and his way is the best for us."
Clearly, we can do things that God does not want us to do, even though the Spirit is praying according to his will. In fact, it could well be that the Spirit is praying for ways to bring us back to God's path.
So, as other writers on prayer have said, we need to admit our ignorance - our inability to understand what God wants in our lives.
We need to turn to the Spirit and ask him to teach us to pray.
Yet, we cannot expect the Spirit to teach us if we are unwilling to be taught. We must begin by saying as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Not my will but yours be done."
Being willing to do what God wants is a major step. It is a question I wrestle with often.
Once we have taken that step, we can look forward to the Spirit teaching us how to pray.
The Spirit is a great teacher - he just needs willing hearts.
If so, that's good. Join the crowd.
The Holy Spirit is in us to help us pray. He will only help if we turn to him in dependence.
Andrew Murray, a great man of prayer, wrote in one of his many books on prayer The Master's Indwelling: "Now if we are to have the praying of the Holy Ghost in us one thing is needed - we must begin by feeling, 'I cannot pray.'"
Murray points to the apostle Paul's words in Romans 8:26:
"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words."
Paul goes on to say the Father hears what the Spirit is saying because the Spirit is praying in harmony with God's will.
If the Spirit prays for us, does that mean we don't have to pray ourselves?
In my view, the answer is "No. God wants a relationship with you and me and he wants us to pray in tune with his will. He wants the best for us and his way is the best for us."
Clearly, we can do things that God does not want us to do, even though the Spirit is praying according to his will. In fact, it could well be that the Spirit is praying for ways to bring us back to God's path.
So, as other writers on prayer have said, we need to admit our ignorance - our inability to understand what God wants in our lives.
We need to turn to the Spirit and ask him to teach us to pray.
Yet, we cannot expect the Spirit to teach us if we are unwilling to be taught. We must begin by saying as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Not my will but yours be done."
Being willing to do what God wants is a major step. It is a question I wrestle with often.
Once we have taken that step, we can look forward to the Spirit teaching us how to pray.
The Spirit is a great teacher - he just needs willing hearts.
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