10/31/2022
Have you ever been in prayer and found yourself unable to express yourself to God in words? In that moment did the Holy Spirit well up in you, and with a moan, a groan, a sigh, or even in a deep tearful silence, did you feel a connection with the Lord that was far beyond your ability to express in words, or even understand the depth of? This is prayer at its very foundation. This is the language of the soul. Have you experienced it?
“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. 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 8:26-27 ESV
Then, when at last your prayer was finished, did you also experience a feeling of joy, or great sense of having stood before the throne of God? This is a mystery of prayer that can’t be explained fully, but which is felt by all believers who, in fervent prayer, find that their request, or need for comfort, exceeds their ability to speak. It is the stripping away of our intellect, and physical self, to reveal the spiritual connection with our Heavenly Father that is deeper than words, or reasoned thought… it is the divine language that underpins every prayer, spoken, or groaned.
“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 ESV
This is what we call a heart to heart talk with the Lord, or a spirit to spirit conversation, that only occurs when our humanity gives way to our spirituality. It comes in the best and worst of times when our spirit needs yo communicate something too complex for speech. Jesus felt this when He wept before raising Lazarus from the dead, and again in the Garden of Gethsemane when his prayers became sweat and blood.
“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.”
John 11:33-35 ESV
“So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.””
John 11:41-42 ESV
The prayer that raised Lazarus came in the tears that Jesus wept. The words He spoke were for those who were watching…
“When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.””
John 11:43-44 ESV
Sometimes, even in the life of Jesus, there are moments when we need to have a conversation with God that transcends our ability to converse in words. In these times we need the Holy Spirit to take control, strip away our intellect, and physical selves, and pray for us in the divine language of the soul. Has this happened in your prayer life? Have you been heartbroken before the Lord, or your heartache become so overwhelmingly burdensome that you had no words to express it? Perhaps it wasn’t heartbreak at all, but an overwhelming joy as you thanked God, and all you could do in prayer was laugh, dance, or make strange utterances with your hands lifted high.
Lettie Burd Cowman, an 1800s author of devotionals, and a cofounder of the Oriental Missionary Society, said it in this way:
“This is a deep mystery of prayer. It is a delicate, divine, tool that words cannot express and theology cannot explain, but the humblest believer knows, even when he does not understand.” - L.B. Cowman
So, do you give the Holy Spirit the freedom to speak through you when you are at a loss for words in prayer? Do you release your own spirit in these moments when human language and intellect fail you? If you will do this then you will experience prayer as you have never done so before, and you will find yourself standing as if a bystander, and hear yourself groaning, or laughing with God… then feel the presence, and answer of the Lord within you… in His comfort, and joy.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit that gives us remembrance, understanding, and who bridges our inadequate language as we are unable to express our desires to you in prayer as we must. Help us Father to release our spirits to Him so that he can pray for us, and we can hear our spirits moan, and even laugh in conversation with you. In this way you not only know our hearts, but we can speak from them in our prayers. Hear our hearts, hear our souls, hear the divine language of our spirits as we cry out to you in both the deep despair of heartbreak, and the heights of intense joy in our thanksgiving. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who knows our hearts and gives our spirits utterance as we stand before you. Praised be your name for every moan of our broken hearts, and every cheerful praise that bubbles forth from within us. Wash us clean in the blood of your Son Jesus, that we can come before you in the fullness of the Spirit. Hear our prayers as our spirit speaks through yours, and seat us with you in eternal bliss, and joy as we speak in divine conversation now, and forevermore.
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:25 ESV
Rich Forbes