In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Romans 8:26 NIV
Don’t Know How to Pray
The first Book of Common Prayer for the Anglican Church of Canada (then known officially as “The Church of England in the Dominion of Canada”) was published in 1918; prior to this the 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England was used. It is generally a very conservative revision of the 1662 edition. Very little was changed in the main services (Morning and Evening Prayer, the Litany, and Holy Communion), although a number of occasional services were added.
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I remember a time back in my teens, when a friend of mine became a follower of Jesus. We were together one day, and he said to me “I don’t know how to pray.” So, we spoke about prayer, and he prayed for the first time. When he was done, I told him it was beautiful. And it was. Even those of us who have been Christians for a long time have times in our lives when we are going through such pain-filled times that we find it hard to put into words what we want to tell Jesus. The apostle Paul understood this, and wrote, in Romans 8:26: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” This is one of the most precious verses in the Bible. When we are going through challenges so difficult we can’t even put things into words, Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit takes the deep pain, the wordless groans, and carries them as prayer into the heart of God. God hears your deepest groans.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley