When There Are No Words...

Do you ever feel like you can't find the right words to pray? That there just aren't words to express what's going on in your soul? At times like these, take comfort in the words of Romans 8:26-27:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. 

The Holy Spirit, our Advocate before the Father, pleads for us! What a solace for our souls!

Sometimes, when words won't come, reading "borrowed words" – otherwise known as written prayers – can help transform our state of chaos into a state of prayer. Here's a beautifully honest prayer of confession that spoke to my heart: 

You asked for my hands
that you might use them for your purposes
I gave them for a moment then withdrew them
for the work was hard.

You asked for my mouth
to speak out against injustice.
I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.

You asked for my eyes
to see the pain of poverty.
I closed them for I did not want to see.

You asked for my life
that you might work through me .
I gave you a small part that I might not get “too involved.”

Lord, forgive me for calculated efforts to serve you
only when it is convenient for me to do so, and
only in those places where it is safe to do so,
and only with those who make it easy to do so.

Father, forgive me
renew me
send me out
as a usable instrument,
that I may take seriously the meaning of your cross.

(by Joe Seramane, South Africa, from Lifelines, Christian Aid, 1987)
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