My heart overflows when I present my prayer requests to the Lord. My list includes people for whom I care most deeply. I carry them on my heart and in my mind, yet most often I do not know exactly how to pray for them. Their lives at times are marked with staggering needs and complex problems. Honestly, sometimes I do not know how to pray about the situations I am facing in my own life. Words simply fall short.
In those times, I cry out, “Lord, do whatever will accomplish your good purposes,” or “Pour out your love, your wisdom, and your resources,” or “Please glorify your name in this desperate circumstance.”
If that seems like a rather vague version of “presenting your requests to God,” I would agree. Often the needs are so bewildering that we do not even know what to pray for. We are too nearsighted and earthbound to fathom how God would work in the difficulties of our lives. But the Holy Spirit is right there to meet us, listening to the groaning of our hearts and making sense of it all before the Lord.