Sometimes, we are simply lost for words when we come to God in prayer. We find ourselves sitting in His presence with no idea how to proceed. We know that Jesus intercedes for us before the Father, but how do Christ’s unseen prayers help us in our time of need when we feel at loss for how to pray?
In this article, Bethany Broderick shares her own experience with a moment like this, and how she learned that when our words fail, we can trust in Christ’s intercession for us and the Spirit’s power within us to help us reach the Father in prayer.
I was on my knees in tears, but I didn’t know what to pray. Moments ago I had received some of the worst news I could think of, and yet words failed me as I held my hands outstretched.
This isn’t the first time I’ve felt at a loss in prayer, not knowing how to pray for myself or someone else—feeling so hopeless I couldn’t find the words to fit the situation; believing my heart was so sinful I couldn’t separate my selfish motivations from a prayer request; wondering if my desires were in line with God’s will, or if He would even hear or answer my prayers.
Yet as I kneeled in the corner of my bedroom, a song began playing on the speaker. The words reminded me that like everything else in my faith journey, my prayers don’t depend on my own ability to pray.
Leaning on the Prayers of Another
“Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great High Priest whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.”
Those words pointed me to the truth—that I was not on my own in trying to reach out to God. They reminded me that since creation, God has been pursuing me.
THE GOD WHO SPEAKS
From the moment He created man in the garden, God was communicating. Even after sin entered the world, we see God seeking out a relationship with His people. A covering for the ashamed Adam and Eve. The sign of a rainbow to Noah. Angels to Abraham. A burning bush to Moses.
Not only do we see God speaking to His people. We also see His followers praying to Him—interceding on behalf of others. Richard Foster defines intercessory prayer as “selfless prayer, even self-giving prayer. As priests, appointed and anointed by God, we have the honor of going before the Most High on behalf of others.”
Examples of Intercession
Abraham prayed for the righteous in Sodom. Joseph prayed for his guilty brothers. Moses demonstrated this intercession repeatedly in his leadership over the people of Israel. After God miraculously delivered the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery and through the parted Red Sea, God communicated how they should live as His people under His blessing. Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the freshly inscribed Ten Commandments, only to find the people worshipping a golden calf. God, righteously angry at the egregious sin of the people, told Moses to stand back so He could consume them.
In response to God’s pronouncement of judgment, Moses pleaded: “Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever’” (Exodus 32:12-13).
Moses interceded for the rebellious people of God—confessing their corporate sin and asking God to fulfill His promise to make them His people in His Promised Land. For reasons that are both beautiful and mysterious, God answered Moses’ prayer and relented from His wrath. This wasn’t the last time Moses interceded on behalf of the sinful Israelites to a holy God (Numbers 11:1-2, 14:11-19, 16:20-23). God sovereignly ordained His servant Moses to be the means by which God saved His wayward people.
We have the freedom to bring every care and concern, every need and desire, before God the Father—trusting that the Holy Spirit is communicating for us better than we ever could.
THE WORD MADE FLESH
One application of the story in Exodus 32 could be the power of a righteous person’s prayer (James 5:16). But the writer of Hebrews says Moses’ role as Israel’s intercessor points toward Jesus Christ, our superior intercessor. “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son” (Hebrews 3:5-6).
Moses interceded for Israel as a servant. Christ intercedes for all believers as the Son. God’s greatest effort to communicate with sinful man came at the birth of Christ Jesus. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). But we don’t have to rely on religious leaders or wait for an angel to hear from God. We can now talk with God Himself through the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.
Our Sin-Prone Hearts
Yet while we now have unfettered access to God the Father, we still choose to seek comfort and counsel from other places—from our phones, from influencers, from the latest self-help trend. We forget the God who saved us out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). Over and over again we worship the good gifts He has given us instead of the Giver. We’re like the stubborn Israelites, prone to forget the faithfulness of God. Continually we disobey the good commands He has given us.
Even though we are often faithless, Jesus Christ intercedes for us. Our security of salvation is not because of our own ability to obey. Rather it’s because Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension has earned Him a seat next to the Father on high. When we suffer trials and temptations, God the Son intercedes on our behalf before the Father. “Consequently, [Jesus] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
THE HOLY SPIRIT’S GROANINGS
Because Jesus Christ prays for us, we have confidence to bring our prayers before the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16). But how does Christ’s unseen prayer help us in our time of need when we feel at loss for how to pray? How can He help when He isn’t here in the flesh to tell us what to pray? Jesus promised that when He left this earth to reign in Heaven, He would send us something even better than the Son in the flesh—the Spirit in us. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:16).
While Christ’s intercession allows our prayers to reach God, the Holy Spirit helps us in our prayers. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).
Looking to our Helper
When we don’t have the words to pray, when our hearts are burdened, when our motivations are muddied, the Spirit intercedes for us. God isn’t seeking a perfect prayer performance, but humble reliance on the Spirit to bring our requests before God.
The Spirit not only helps us know what to pray, but also prays for us Himself. “And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). When our prayers are frustrated by our limited understanding and fickle emotions, He is praying on our behalf. He takes the anxieties in our mind and the troubles in our hearts to the Father for us. We have the freedom to bring every care and concern, every need and desire, before God the Father. Humbly, we can trust that the Holy Spirit is communicating for us better than we ever could.
CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER
“Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great High Priest whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.”
As I kneeled in the corner of my bedroom, the words of this hymn reminded me of Christ. I remembered the High Priest before me, and I was able to exhale my fear and pain. I still didn’t have the words to communicate my sorrow or form a petition. But I trusted that the same Jesus who saved me through His death was now holding me in His life. I can approach God with full assurance of faith because Jesus was faithful for me (Hebrews 10:22-23). I can also believe that even when I can’t understand what is going on in my heart and mind, the Holy Spirit is speaking on my behalf. He is asking for what I truly need according to God’s will.
Christ’s Prayers for Us
The next time you don’t know what to pray, I encourage you to read one of Christ’s prayers for you, specifically His High Priestly prayer in John 17. This is a record of Christ’s prayer not only for His disciples then but also for His Church today. When you are at a loss for words, remind yourself that the Word of God made flesh prays for you to grow in knowledge of God, to feel the assurance of your faith, to be unified with other believers, to have the fullness of His joy, to be protected from the enemy’s schemes, and to be sanctified according to His Word.
Finally, He prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). The God who spoke to Adam in the garden, to Moses in the bush, to Elijah in the cave, to David through the psalms, to Mary through an angel, and to His people through His Son, will one day speak to each of us face to face. The struggle we feel in prayer will be no more as we experience unhindered communication and enjoyment with God forever.
Our Example
There is no magic formula for Christians to pray. We have examples in Scripture—from the prayers of the psalmists and the prophets in the Old Testament to those of the apostles and the early Church in the New Testament. The Gospels record a few of Jesus’ own prayers, including the Lord’s Prayer. But more than these words, we have the Spirit inside us and Christ before us. When our words fail, we can trust in Christ’s intercession for us and the Spirit’s power within us to help us continue pursuing our relationship with God until we reach eternity with Him.
How does understanding Christ’s intercession change how you bring your requests and petitions before God? Knowing Christ’s intercessory work on your behalf and the Spirit’s power in you, how might you pray with more boldness, humility, and faith?
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5 comments
Thanks, Bethany, for this shot of prayer reassurance. I am working through Romans 8 and just this morning read the beautiful promise of the Spirit helping us in our weakness, interceding for us—and prayer definitely qualifies as my weakness.
So true! Memorized this verse and has brought immense comfort ❤️
What a great verse to hide in our hearts!
How sweet that the Lord reminded you of his help in our weakness!
Thank you for taking us through scripture to help us understand Jesus as High Priest, and how He and Holy Spirit work together in our most vulnerable moments in prayer. In love and kindness. And power. It astounds me still.