Help for Struggling Prayer

(Normally I write these in an hour or so.  This one I have been working on for 3 or 4 days.  It is long.  I considered breaking it into two or three posts but decided against it.  I think that would have diminished the message.)

Full Disclosure
I struggle with prayer.  I can study the Bible for hours, but I will fall asleep, like the disciples, when I try to pray for thirty minutes.  I share that as a preface to what I have been challenged with in the Word over the past few days.  I share it because I do not want you to think that what I am about to write about prayer, is in any way a declaration that I have this figured out or am doing well with this spiritual discipline.

Source of This Post
For some context, I am working through Revelation (here @ Bible Gateway) in three Bible studies: one on Monday morning, and two on Tuesday morning.  So, I am working through the book verse by verse three different times.  Most of what follows is a result of those studies.  

The Importance of Prayer to God
In Revelation 8:3 – 5 (here @ Bible Gateway) there is a picture of the importance and effectiveness of prayer that overwhelms me.  What John sees is an altar, a golden alter, before the throne of God.  We see in verse 5 (here @ Bible Gateway) that the altar has fire.  In verse 3 (here @ Bible Gateway) we find that the prayers of all of the saints are on that altar.  Think of that.  Your prayer, my prayer, are on the altar before God.  

If your experience is like mine, sometimes it feels as if my feeble prayer does not get past the ceiling of my office.  Yet here we find that these prayers, feeble as they may be, are on the altar, seemingly as a burnt offering to our God.  

But that is not all.  In Revelation 8 (here @ Bible Gateway), the angel comes to the altar and adds much incense to the prayer on the altar.  I understand that this is after the seventh seal, so, we cannot assume that this happens now.  However, the altar seems to be there now.  Regardless, the actions of the angel with the incense, the fire from the altar, and the censer, seem to underline and emphasize the effect of our prayer.

Hope In My Feeble Prayer
It has been of help to me to consider what John saw and recorded in Revelation 8 (here @ Bible Gateway) as I begin to pray.  To understand that my prayer will be on the altar before God, gives me hope.  Hope even though I am so weak in my prayer.

But there is more hope.

In Romans 8:26 – 27 (here @ Bible Gateway) I am greatly comforted about my feeble prayer life.  There we read that – but wait, the first words we read are, “In the same way”, that makes us look at the previous context to see what that “same way” could be, we see, among other things, the ministry of the Spirit in our lives assures us of our adoption and gives us hope.  That hope is a direct reflection of Paul’s point in Romans 5:1 – 11 (here @ Bible Gateway) where, as we exult in our tribulation, the Spirit produces love in our hearts, as we persevere, we develop proven character in and through that perseverance, and that results in hope.  

So as the ministry of the Spirit helps us to walk in Christ, assures us of our adoption, and gives us hope, “in the same way” He helps our weakness.  He helps in one of the areas in which I need great help, prayer.  The text says that we do not know how to pray.  This “we” includes the author, Paul.  Paul, like me, like us, struggled with prayer.  But here the Spirit inspires him to encourage “we”.  We are helped because the Spirit takes our weak, feeble prayer, and intercedes for us.  

The Full Engagement of the Trinity in Our Prayer
However, it gets even better.  Look at the last clause of Romans 8:27 (here @ Bible Gateway):

“because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God,” (NASB95).  

Note that the words “the will of” are in italics which indicates those words were added by the committee to make the translation “make more sense”.  Regardless of which version or translation you consider those words are added.  The Greek literally says:

“because according to God He intercedes on behalf of the saints”.  

While I understand the addition of “the will of”, from my perspective the addition significantly diminishes the point Paul is making.  The Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to God.  While the will of God is certainly in mind, I believe that “according to God” indicates all of God’s nature and character, all His glory and excellence.  Paul’s Holy Spirit inspired choice of vocabulary, highlights and underscores the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s participation with the Father and the Son as God, bringing that participation fully into His intercession for us.

This is not a minor point.  You will note that Romans 8:2 – 39 (here @ Bible Gateway) is the explanation of and support for Romans 8:1 (here @ Bible Gateway) (notice all of the verses in your Bible that begin with “for,” “for” is a structural marker (click here for more on structure in the Bible or search this blog for the word "structure") that indicates support for or result of something that has been stated.  Throughout this chapter Paul is substantiating what he has declared in 8:1 (here @ Bible Gateway)).  For those of us who are in Christ, there is no condemnation.  

Part of the reality that we are under no condemnation is what we are considering here.  We are still weak.  We are still needy.  Even though it is declared that we are in Christ in 8:1 (here @ Bible Gateway) and that the Spirit (8:9 (here @ Bible Gateway)) and Christ (8:10 (here @ Bible Gateway)) dwell in us.  In 8:26 – 27 (here @ Bible Gateway) we are told that “He who searches the hearts” knows the mind of the Spirit.  It is the Father that searches the hearts (consider: 1 Samuel 16:7 (here @ Bible Gateway); 1 Chronicles 28:9 (here @ Bible Gateway); Proverbs 17:3 (here @ Bible Gateway); Jeremiah 11:20 (here @ Bible Gateway); 17:10 (here @ Bible Gateway); 20:12 (here @ Bible Gateway); Revelation 2:23 (here @ Bible Gateway)).  The Father searches the heart of the believer, the Spirit prays for the believer and the Father and the Spirit are completely in sync, which brings the full force of the nature of God into that prayer.  To cap all of that off, we read in 8:34 (here @ Bible Gateway) that the Son is also interceding for us at the right hand of God.

Summary
So as we struggle with prayer, it helps me to remember, that my feeble attempts of coming to my Lord in prayer, are absorbed by the Holy Spirit, compared with the actual needs that I have, the Spirits understanding is completely understood by the Father, who has searched my heart and understands my needs, then the Spirit prays for me to the Father with groanings too deep for words – He is pouring His soul out for us – while at the same time the Son is at the right hand of the Father also praying for us, and all of this time, our feeble prayer is on the golden altar that stands before the throne of the Father.

Conclusion
That is help.  That truth has helped me rest as I pray.  It has taken away some of the struggle.  It has caused me to rejoice and praise Him who has engaged so completely in my efforts to come to Him.  It is an overwhelming picture of God’s love and effective working of His grace in our lives.