When I can't pray
When I can’t pray I often turn to the end of Romans 8. Here Paul pulls back the velvet curtain of revelation. What we see is amazing: a never-ending festivity where there sounds a strained, melodious, mysterious prayer that all the suffering in this present world cannot drown out. At the heart of the festivity is the Triune God praying for us.
The Trinity is the grammar of prayer: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit praying in harmony on our behalf. Our prayer life is effective not because we are praying, but because God is listening to the prayers of Jesus through the witness of the Spirit. Think of it!
As a pastor there are days I don’t have the words, and situations when the best I can offer is a sigh of disbelief. I am learning that’s OK. Paul offers a vision of prayer that does not begin and end with me, but with the Triune God: with Jesus, through the Sprit, praying for us, according to the will of the Father.
