WEEK 5:  DEVOTIONAL ON PRAYER

“And he who searches out hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Romans 8:27

The all-knowing omnipotent God is our analyst in prayer. We cannot fake it with God in prayer. There are no hidden secrets in the praying heart.  God is a God of details and knows every detail of our lives. He searches the depths of our heart and understands what we are unable to put into words or express.  Though it is inarticulate in our heart, there is a meaning and intent that cannot escape the omniscient eye of God, as it is wholly intelligible to Him. He translates the unknown tongue of the soul, communicating what we cannot communicate.  He sees the things that are unseen to us. God keeps prayer from being shallow or surface level. Spiritual prayer probes into the depths of the oceans of our souls exposing everything that is there as well as absent.

Awareness that God is a heart-searching God keeps me open and tender in His presence. Integrity in prayer requires total honesty before the God that knows the total truth of my heart. Prayer is an act of trust, knowing that God can deal with all He finds in the heart. Trust of our Father must be greater than our fears of what He will find in the heart.

God also knows the whole object of the Spirit’s endeavor, for He knows the mind of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit that is at work in our prayers is always able to put prayer in the context of God’s will and constructive purpose for our lives.

The Holy Spirit is at work in every prayer, interceding on your behalf.  Prayer is participation in a divine conversation. Prayer is a divine work. Spiritual prayer cannot happen without the working of the Holy Spirit. In true prayer, the Spirit of God is always at work. I am never alone or on my own in prayer. It is the Holy Spirit that makes prayer successful and fruitful.

The Holy Spirit keeps the saint on the track of God’s perfect will. Prayer does not get man’s will done in heaven, but rather gets God’s will done on earth. In my humanness, I may not always know God’s will, but the Holy Spirit does. The will of God is clearly understood by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is working out God’s will in my life, bringing my mind and heart in line with the mind and will of God. The prayer must be according to the will of God and the pray-er must be on track with the will of God. If the pray-er is wrong, even the Holy Spirit cannot make me an intercessor. Robert Murray McCheyene said, “What a man is in his prayer-closet is what he is.” No Christian is greater than his prayer life, and his prayer life can be no greater than his personal life. Our living cannot be divorced from our praying. Spirit-led prayer enables us to keep on the track of God’s will.