The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day seven)

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good. Romans 8:28a

Have you realized how closely connected these passages are? I have typically separated these verses in my mind as two separate acts, but that is not the case. The Holy Spirit is interceding in your prayer life to help get your prayers into God’s good plan.

Has God ever answered your prayer in a completely different way than you originally prayed for? In those moments the Holy Spirit shows you how God’s good plan working in and through your prayers. Could it be that the “we do not know how to pray as we should” statement could also be in reference to when our prayers are not in line with the will of God? Even then, the Holy Spirit intercedes and molds those prayers so that all things work for our good within His plan.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27(day six)

For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Psalm 103:14

We tend to suffer disappointment on our worst days. We wish we could be more hopeful. We think if only I had more faith, I wouldn’t be so anxious or discouraged. Most often, we don’t stop there but project that disappointment onto others and even God. We can’t imagine him being anything but disappointed in our lack of faith.

BUT instead of disappointment from God, we receive help from him on those worst days.

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. Jude 24

 

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27(day five) “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.”
The human heart can be so prideful. We don’t like to admit or even recognize our own weakness. Ever have a hard time saying any of the following: “I was wrong”, “I don’t know”, “I am scared”, “I don’t understand”?  The effects of living in a broken creation cause all kinds of circumstances (physical, emotional, social) that bring fear, anxiety, doubt, and disappointment to name a few. Make no mistake, suffering can bring a feeling of weakness to us. And with all these feelings and emotions, sometimes words can’t or don’t come. I like the ESV translation. “Spirit helps us IN our weakness”. In the very midst of the sufferings and struggles (weakness) the Spirit helps us by directing and connecting  the deepest places of our troubled hearts to the Lord through prayer. Isn’t that remarkable? Praise God for His perfect love and care for us, especially in our weakness!!

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day four)

There are moments in life that are simply too big to fit into language. Sometimes our circumstances are so heavy, so agonizing that all we can do is fall at the Lord’s feet and groan. Other times, our joy is so great and overwhelming that the only sensical thing to do is shout and dance. Then there are times where we simply can’t find where to start. Language is amazing, but it is still limited. We know that there is no word uttered on this earth that can adequately describe God – because he is bigger than language too.

So if the God to whom we pray is bigger than language, and we experience moments in life bigger than language, then it must be so that prayer can happen without uttering a word. Sometimes our most meaningful moments of prayer are when we simply hold up our hearts before the Lord with shaking hands. We can do this because the Spirit that dwells in us and intercedes for us is the very Spirit of God himself. He is both that intimate and that cosmic. I am so glad that words can’t contain our God.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day three)

“He intercedes for the saints…”

Paul’s words are a straight line from Jesus’s promise to send a comforter, his promise never to leave or forsake. Paul is not restating Jesus’s promise here. He’s not saying, “Remember what Jesus said.” Rather, he’s telling you in this passage that he has experienced what Jesus promised. He couldn’t have written these words with such clarity and such a sense of actuality unless he had witnessed such intervention from heaven firsthand. And in the way he phrases his words, you can hear that Paul isn’t claiming that his experience is an outlier. Paul often takes pains to communicate that he faces life’s drudgeries and pains just as you do. If somebody like him has known the Spirit’s presence when he hadn’t a clue how to proceed, you will too.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day two) 

for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; vs. 26b

Places where we are weak are often areas where we simply don’t know how to advance, grow, or get better. Where we lack a vision to move beyond weakness, we become stuck. If we are faithful to pray, even in our lack of clarity and understanding, the Spirit begins to provide to traction to move. We begin, because we were faithful, to grow out of complacency or despondency. Our words begin to grasp our situation and we understand our dependency on the power of the Spirit. What begins with confusion will produce spiritual fruit if we will commit to pray…even when we don’t know the words.

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:42-47 (day seven)

Last week I asked you to pray for camp. Your prayers were felt! We had an awesome week, but as I read this week’s passage every day, it felt like I was reading about Impact Camp. I had a first hand look into the New Testament church. For those who have been to Impact Camp before, does reading this scripture give you a mental image from camp? Even for those who grew up in other churches, does that bring you back to moments of joy from your camp experiences? Maybe it was Glorieta, Alto Frio, or a beach camp where you felt the Spirit moving in a mighty way. Something interesting happens when you bring hundreds of teenagers together to worship King Jesus. The power. The emotion. The energy. The presence of the Holy Spirit is visibly evident and active. Camp is a picture of the New Testament church, which I would also say, is a little taste of Heaven here on earth.

And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:47

Just like the New Testament church, the Lord added to our number this week. We will tell their stories soon and we will fill the baptistry with students! Praise Jesus!

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:42-47 (day six)

“They devoted themselves to…the prayers.” Acts 2:42 (ESV).

Most other translations drop the article, “They devoted themselves… to prayer.” That’s okay, but the most literal translation is “the prayers.” The more literal translation gives us a better idea of how they were praying. Jewish tradition provided the earliest Jewish Christians with daily formal prayers, along with many other formal prayers for special occasions. It is almost certain that it was these formal prayers that they were praying together during their fellowship. Most, if not all, the earliest Christians had been faithfully praying these prayers all their lives, every day.

It is encouraging to me that these early Christians did not abandon their Jewish faith and practice but recognized Jesus as the fulfillment of their faith. Their prayers were part of a deep and old tradition from a people trusting God would fulfill his promise of sending a messiah.

BUT while “the prayers” were deep and old, they had to have resonated with new and glorious meaning. Imagining their fellowship and their praying “the prayers” renews and strengthens my own faith as we await his return.