You Have a Heavenly Prayer Companion!

9th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/6/17
Romans 8:26-27


You Have a Heavenly Prayer Companion!
I. He knows what you need.
II. He has a direct link to God.


Some time ago I ran across one of those new gadgets that turns out to be completely useless. Some British manufacturer came up with the idea. It was the result of some research which concluded that a majority of British women did not like to drive their vehicles alone, particularly at night. They felt far more comfortable having a man travel with them. So, this British company designed an inflatable male to occupy the passenger seat. Needless to say, the company didn’t sell many units.

But that situation does speak a truth with which we’d all agree—we don’t like to be alone. In fact, some psychologists will tell you that loneliness is one of the greatest factors causing a decline in health.

Our text this morning from Paul’s Letter to the Romans speaks about a spiritual loneliness that we all feel from time to time. In fact, it’s a very specific spiritual loneliness. It’s the loneliness that we feel in our prayer life. Have you ever felt it? There are times when being alone with God in prayer can be very comforting. But there are other times when the prospect of praying to God all alone is so daunting that it paralyzes your prayer life. That’s why we often include our members and friends specifically in our prayers here at church. Having someone pray with you and for you is extremely comforting.

Paul informs us this morning that you don’t have to wait until Sunday morning to have others pray with you. In fact, day or night, you have someone to pray with you—a prayer companion, if you will. And it probably isn’t someone you expected. It’s none other than the Holy Spirit. You have a heavenly prayer companion. May the Holy Spirit deepen our prayer life and prayer joy as we come to a deeper understanding of his prayer companionship with us this morning!

Part I.

If you’re like most people, you probably don’t relish the idea of discussing your prayer life. That’s because only the pompously proud person enjoys letting others know just what a good “pray-er” he is. The rest of us know that our prayer life is inherently weak. That weakness shows itself in a number of ways, one of them being frequency. It’s been said that Martin Luther began his day with an hour of prayer. I don’t know about you, but I fall far short of that. There are days in which our prayer lives seem to be limited to praying before our meals, if we remember to pray at all. Pretty sad, isn’t it? God wants us to be in constant conversation with him, but we find it almost impossible to spend a few minutes with him.

The weakness of our prayer life also shows itself in the substance of our prayers. Do many of your impromptu prayers sound like this: “Lord, help me get through this day, “or, “Help me with this problem, Lord”? Don’t get me wrong. Those are valid prayers. If that’s what’s on your mind and heart, then that’s what God wants to hear. But wouldn’t you agree that such prayers are a little shallow? God doesn’t want us to use prayer simply as a request line. We should also speak to him our prayers of thanks and confession and intercessions for others. But we often don’t give our prayers enough thought. Our prayer life is inherently weak.

And the particular weakness Paul mentions is a lack of knowledge for what to pray. He says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for.” Have you ever been in that situation? We all have. We have a huge decision in life to make. Should we accept the new position or stay in the old one? Should we attend this school or that one? Should we get married or stay single? Should we ask the Lord to bless us with another child? How do we best care for our young ones or old ones who need our help? Those are all good questions. I don’t know the answers. Neither do you. And we’re tempted to pray for what we think is best but, when pressed, we have to admit that we really don’t know what’s best. Our prayer life is inherently weak because we lack sufficient knowledge.

But that’s no reason not to pray. In fact, the contrary is true. The contrary is true because you have a heavenly prayer companion. He’s none other than the Holy Spirit and he knows your needs. One of the weaknesses in our prayer life is the infrequency of our prayers. Paul says the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. He does that perfectly because he is the holy God. That means he does it at all the right times. He’s never too tired to say his prayers. He’s never too busy to take the time to pray. When we need him to be our prayer companion, he’s there for us.

And also since he is true God he prays about the perfect things. Do you at times forget to thank God? The Holy Spirit doesn’t. He speaks perfect prayers of thanks. Do you forget to make confession a part of your prayer life? The Holy Spirit doesn’t. He makes it a part of his prayers for you. Do you find that you remember to pray for yourself but forget to pray for others? The Holy Spirit as your prayer companion remembers all your loved ones in his prayers.

In fact, when the Holy Spirit prays for you he prays with a perfect knowledge of what you need. As true God he has a perfect knowledge of the future. He has a perfect knowledge of your current situation. He knows your past perfectly. That knowledge enables him to pray for you with perfect knowledge. That’s what makes him your perfect prayer companion.

I once had a friend who thought that prayer was a waste of time. He rationalized that the likelihood of prayer being answered is directly proportional to the odds that your desires will be fulfilled completely on their own. In other words, it’s much more likely that God will answer my prayer for daily bread than for a million dollars.

I’m sure he wasn’t alone in thinking that prayer is useless. In fact, given the weakness of our prayer lives at times, others might conclude that we think prayer is useless as well. What’s more, it would be easy to misuse the words of this text to rationalize, “If the Holy Spirit prays for me, why should I pray at all?” But notice that our text doesn’t say that’s what he does. Literally, it says that the Holy Spirit lends us a hand in our prayers. He doesn’t do it all for us. He helps us. We need to realize that prayer is a privilege for us who trust in Jesus as our Savior. It’s God’s gift to us, made possible because of Jesus’ perfect life and innocent death for us. Because Jesus won my forgiveness, I now have access to God in prayer. Prayer is also your privilege. In that privilege you have a heavenly companion—the Holy Spirit. He knows what you need.

Part II.

Some of you are aware that I’ve been having trouble with the church office phone line the past few weeks. To request phone service, I had to press six different numbers on my keypad with a wait between each one. Annoying! On the other hand, when I needed service on my car, I had a direct line to the auto service department and a human being actually answered the call. What a concept! Direct access was my relief and joy.

It’s that way with your prayers and your prayer companion as well. The Holy Spirit isn’t one of a series of access points to God; he’s direct access to God because he is God.

Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit “intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” The Holy Spirit isn’t some grunting baboon, incapable of intelligent communication. Paul informs us that, the Holy Spirit, as true God, communicates with the Father in a way beyond human comprehension. He isn’t limited to human modes of communication; his divine communication with the Father goes far beyond our own.

And in doing so, we can be sure that he communicates our needs in a divinely complete way. Sometimes our lack of intellect hinders our prayers. That doesn’t happen with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes our emotions get in the way of what we’re praying for. That doesn’t happen with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes our prayers are tainted with our sinful worries and doubts. That doesn’t happen with the Holy Spirit.

And even before he speaks for us, the Father already knows how he will reply to the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “He who searches our hearts [meaning, the Father], knows the mind of the Spirit.” As we confess in our creeds, the Father and the Holy Spirit are equally God. They each know perfectly what the other is thinking and desires.

In fact, to increase our confidence and comfort, Paul tells us that the Father searches the mind of the Spirit. Could there be something in the corner of the Spirit’s mind of which the Father is unaware? Absolutely not! The Father makes a careful search on our behalf and finds it. Just as the Spirit knows what we need, so also the Father knows what we need. Your heavenly prayer companion has a direct link to God.

All this almost sounds silly, doesn’t it? If both the Father and the Holy Spirit are God, and if they both know all things, then why this description about communicating and searching? Isn’t it totally unnecessary? For them, yes. For you and me, no. You see, our fears, our problems and our concerns are real. We need the assurance from our God that he fully knows and comprehends our situation. So he gives us that assurance. He does so right here in his word. You don’t have a God that is disconnected to your life; he is deeply connected to you. He sacrificed your Brother, his Son, for your sins and for your eternal l life. He has guaranteed you eternity with him. And now, he’s so connected to you, that he is your heavenly prayer companion.

Your heavenly prayer companion is waiting to hear from you. Don’t make him wait too long! Amen.