When You Don’t Have the Words To Pray

I was talking to a friend of mine recently. He told me about a time in his life when he was so distraught that he couldn’t even find the words to pray.

As I thought back over my life, I’ve had a few times when I found myself in that position. Once was when we were waiting on a diagnosis of a loved one and the situation looked grim. Another was when I felt so overwhelmed with everything happening around me that I didn’t know where to turn. And another was when I was waiting for the test results to find out if I had ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

There will be times in our lives when we just don’t have the words to pray. Sometimes all you can eke out is “Help me”.

In those instances, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf. He prays the words we’re incapable of saying ourselves.

No one knew about the Holy Spirit until Jesus told his disciples that He would be sending the Holy Spirit to live inside us. The Holy Spirit would not only help guide us through life, but He would also give us strength, watch over us, protect us, and intercede for us when we were incapable of functioning on our own.

Sometimes with Myasthenia Gravis, you feel helpless and hopeless. There are times when you can no longer function in the way you’d like, and there will probably be things you may no longer be able to do. There are times when you become depressed. There are times when you no longer have the strength to fight. That’s when the Holy Spirit takes over for us. He provides us strength. He lifts those feelings of helplessness. He brings hope when things look hopeless. And, yes, He prays for us when we don’t have the words to pray on our own.

Getting the Holy Spirit to live inside you is easy. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would live within us as long as we believed in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

Our responsibility is to call on Him in times of trouble and trust in Him when things are beyond our control.

When you get down or depressed, prayer is your best remedy. God hears our prayers. A solution doesn’t always appear right away, but when you think back through your life, a solution always came. It may not have come as quickly as we would have liked. It may not have been the solution we were looking for. But God brought us out of trouble and despair. 

And sometimes, instead of removing the problem, He taught us how to live with it.

God could cure Myasthenia Gravis for us, but I for one, have gotten closer to God because of my diagnosis and I’m doing things I otherwise would have never done. I write this blog. That’s something I would never have thought of doing. I share tips and thoughts, I encourage hope, and I stress that God is our best medicine. Those are the gifts God has given me to share with you.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And when you can go no further, pray, even if you don’t have the words. “Help me” is enough. The Holy Spirit will take over and intercede on your behalf. You don’t always need the right words; you just need the right heart.

We’re never alone.