We’ve all been in the situation when worries torment us, fear weighs us down, stress presses in, and thoughts race. We go to pray, but no words come. With each effort to stop and call out to God, our minds start replaying the burdens that we don’t know how we are going to work through.
We are discouraged because we end up feeling like our prayer life has turned into fruitless cries cast out into empty, indifferent space.
We are reminded today that we can cast our cares upon the Lord, and that He cares for us. Jesus tells us in Matthew that He wants us to trade our heavy burden of anxieties for His gentle yoke of peace. In Matthew 11:28-30, He comforts us:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30, ESV
But to the worried, restless mind, even this task can seem impossible.
Romans 8:26-27 reminds us that when we are unable to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us,
“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
The Holy Spirit is our comforter, and in His great love for us, He trades our racing thoughts and frustrated cries for effective prayers lifted before the throne of God.
How do we know that the Holy Spirit will do this for us? Who are we to deserve this great gift?
We are children of God, and it is His great pleasure to give us the marvelous gift of the Holy Spirit, just as any good father seeks to meet the needs of his children!
In Luke 11:11-13, Jesus states:
“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Luke 11:11-13
Turn to God in prayer, and ask Him to teach you to pray. Trust the Holy Spirit to intercede even when you don’t have words. Ask Jesus to carry your burdens and lift them from your mind. Thank God for His promises, and thank Him in advance that things will work out according to His will in ways that you cannot foresee. Thank Him for calling you His child!
I am really struggling right now. How do you turn your life around and serve the lord? It might sound like a stupid question but I just dont know what needs to be done every day of my life. I know I’m a sinner and if I ask for forgiveness and really mean it, but then do the same sin over and over. I do need God in my life badly, I believe in him, i have faith and i talk to him alot. But i think that i am not doing something right. The last 8 years I have had alot of heartache, my parents and my siblings have died not all together but through the years the deaths were kinda close to each other. I have 5 grandkids and the mothers of them wont let me or my family see them. I’ve gone to court for grandparent rights, but I have gotten denied. My heart has a hole in it, it is broken I feel all alone. I dont know why the majority of people dont like me. I want to serve the lord, I dont want to be left behind, but I dont know how. Can you help and let me know how and what I am doing wrong.
JoAnn, I am so sorry to hear about your struggles. It sounds like you have been through a lot, and your heart to know the Lord and to grow in your faith is such a blessing. Do you have a church that you go to regularly? It can really help if you’re in a community where you feel comfortable sharing your struggles and can have people around you who will help you grow in faith and walk the Christian walk. Going to church on Sunday is a good start, but joining a small group where you can get to know other Christians well can be life-changing. Some churches may offer a mentor program as well, or even Christian counseling that can help you get on track. If you need help finding a church, here’s a website where you type in your zip code and it gives you nearby churches: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/churches/ Also, there is a Christian 12-step program called Celebrate Recovery that can help if you are dealing with addiction or hard-to-break habits. You can find a meeting near you here: https://locator.crgroups.info/ In the meantime, keep praying and reading the Bible daily. That personal relationship with the Lord is the most important thing…and the rest will come. It’s not easy, and it really helps when you have others in your life who can help you as you grow. Praying for you!
Hello from England. I’m moved to amplify a little the comment from Christ Revealed above that “It’s [living life as a serious Christian is] not easy”. This has been my experience — I could almost say it has been the hardest thing I have ever done, so counter is it to my surrounding secular, academic, highly competitive culture. I began going to church with my children, and about five years in, and a member of a house group and our church choir, I am beginning to ‘find my feet’ — but only beginning. The comment is also made above: “…It really helps when you have others in your life who can help you as you grow.” How true that is. One needs people to encourage, join in with one and sometimes dampen one down when one is going off on a tangent that they, with more experience than oneself, can see is an unhelpful tangent. It has really helped me also to have certain persons I know I can go to to pray into a matter with — people who will just instantly respond: ‘Yes, let’s pray about/into this’, and just get straight to it. After some years this is now a quite natural thing to do, and I wonder at the decades of life I have spent ‘in the wilderness’ when I tried to do everything ‘in my own strength — so bravely and so earnestly, but truly not always very well. I could almost say I have lived two lives — one before, and one after I became confirmed (in my fifties). Yes, I was christened as an infant, in high church style, but never pursued life as a dedicated Christian. Most of my older friends would still now consider my Christian life as weird and to be tut-tutted over. But they have no idea of what life as a Christian is actually like — all the immense hard personal work involved (the struggle of faith in something that cannot be seen in any ordinary way but which one must and can learn to trust). The rewards are a life that starts to feel it really has value; much better or more open and kinder relations with others; one is not lonely any more. But still, there are crises, and crises I am not sure I could get through very well without God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I think life has become wonderful now — even if still with all sorts of challenges and difficulties, wonderful nonetheless. This is a genuine discovery, and I urge JoAnn to do what is recommended here — find a church where you can become a living part of a community of faith, and a smaller group within or alongside that community. I am sure God will be more than pleased to open all sorts of doors to you. You just need to take the first step and persist in staying open to Him and His promptings. I suspect that before long you will feel for yourself that your life is changing and feels different — try it and see what happens. Oh! And pray for others! People you read about in the newspapers or see in the street. After a while this becomes a new life habit too. I have been taught to use verses of the Bible, New and Old Testament, to give form to my prayers — this also is something to practise [English spelling!] doing. A discovery, unexpectedly helpful Essentially a very different life. I hope you, JoAnn, in time find it an engaging and really meaningful new life.