Romans 8:26- “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.”
Can I just say if you have been a part of this 21 days or even if you have had the slightest desire to start spending daily or even weekly time with God, YOU are growing! Some of you have put action to those desires to draw closer to God and have been able to see your growth.
Others of you may not have started yet, but your heart is soft and you are listening to that still small voice calling you deeper. All it takes to start is one small step at a time to grow in your relationship with God.
But have you ever felt like you couldn’t even try? You couldn’t even take a small step? It’s as if you are laying on the floor and the strength to get yourself up is draining from you. I have felt this way about my future, my mental health, my relationships, things I have to do, and Yes… my relationship and time with Jesus. Maybe you have felt this way? Everything in you and around you feels so heavy that opening the Bible or intentionally praying feels like a weight more than relief. Or even if you have never felt this way, did you know you can help others that you may not even know take that small step?
I have had several times in my life where my weakness is more real than my strength. I have felt such grief over the loss of my son that I didn’t even know what words to say in prayer. I once was in such a deep depression I couldn’t see any sign of hope, much less turn down the sound of the enemy to hear God’s voice. I have even had times where I was distant from God and had no idea how to begin again. But when I felt an overwhelming wave of grief I had someone message me on Facebook from NEW ZEALAND saying they were praying for me years after the loss. In the darkness of my depression I had friends and family that in their words said, “We are here to pray for you and believe for you when you can’t.” When I have felt distant I received words from the Lord through letters and Facebook messages.
A couple of months back I was having nightmares and unable to sleep. Then after a long night I woke up to a message from someone in our church saying they were up around 1am (so was I from a nightmare) praying for me. I have not had a nightmare since! So, how does people praying for me help you? When we are weak the Spirit himself intercedes for us! This can be through you praying to the Lord in your prayer language, it could be through you crying before the Lord (I have been there time and time again), or it could be through the Lord placing you on someone’s heart to pray for you. The flip-side to that is the Lord can also put others on your heart to be praying for them.
We are not meant to do life alone. Isn’t life so much easier when we have help? We have our creator who understands all we are going through even more than we do. He wants to hear from us about those things and speak to us. We have family and friends who God has brought into our life as support. We have a church full of people who hear from the Lord and want to help build you up when you feel torn down, beaten down, knocked down, or stuck in any sort of weakness.
My encouragement to you is when you feel weak let God and other know that. Surround yourself with people who will pray for you. My challenge to you is to be that for others. I would not have had any glimmer of light in my darkest times if my friends didn’t come in and open the curtain through prayer. When we are weak, that is okay. Little by little let’s build that strength. Let’s pray for others and have people pray for us, allowing the Spirit to intercede.
Kisha Dover