Prayer: Comfort for the convicted

This is the fifth article in our series on prayer. Each day we are looking at a particular aspect of prayer and examining what the Bible has to say about it. Today we will talk about what comfort we can take when we are convicted that our prayer lives are not what they need to be.

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

Romans 8:26-27 tells us, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do knot know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will."

Also Jesus intercedes for us.

Hebrews 7:25 says, "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he [Jesus] always lives to intercede for them."

Look at how the Bible describes prayer. Does this sound like it’s supposed to be easy?

Ephesians 6 lists it as part of the armor of God used to do battle! Colossians 4:12 describes it as wrestling. "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."

So if we struggle, we can take comfort in the fact that that’s normal! Also, we can find comfort knowing that Jesus and the Holy Spirit aid in our intercession.

Tomorrow we will wrap up our series with the answer to: then why should I work on my prayer life? We will also look at a few closing practical suggestions.