Just When I Thought I Knew How to Pray - Rev. Donald Wachenschwanz - July 26, 2026

The righteous writer of Romans says plainly that God’s children do not know how to pray as they ought, and then Romans makes that almost wonderfully unthreatening. The passage does not leave prayer hanging on perfect words, proper technique, or some impressive religious performance. God is like a perfectly loving parent, and God wants to hear what concerns the children of God.

The Spirit intercedes when words run out, when memory fails, and when the heart can only manage a groan. The Spirit’s prayer is “too deep for words,” so silence itself becomes a holy place where the soul can speak to God without the rational mind having to organize everything. The heart knows things reason cannot understand, and silence gives that deeper knowing room to turn toward God.

Romans says that God searches the heart, and in that world the heart meant the place of reason, choice, and decision. God searches what matters most, what a person has chosen, what a person is becoming. At the same time, the Spirit intercedes according to the will of God, so prayer is not finally held together by human wisdom.

The strange promise that “all things work together for good” rests on the wideness of God’s love. God foreknows, predestines, and calls the world God loves. Human beings cannot see how rain may help one person and ruin another’s picnic, or how sunshine may bless one garden and harm another, but God knows how to work toward the good of all. The child asking for ice cream cannot always understand the parent’s answer, but the loving parent understands more than the child can see.

Romans then turns prayer into hope and trust. God is for God’s children, Christ intercedes for them, and no accusation can finally condemn them. Faith is carried by Jesus, and human response is trust in him. Prayer is not a doctrinal exam. Prayer is hope leaning toward God and trust resting in Christ.

The passage rises into joy, gratitude, and love. Neither death nor life, angels nor rulers, present nor future, height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate God’s children from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Prayer can be silence, groaning, waiting, hoping, trusting, thanking, and loving. A life lived in the way of Jesus becomes a walking, breathing prayer, because prayer finally comes down to love.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Prayer need not be perfect. God is not looking for a polished religious performance or the right set of words. God receives the concerns of God’s children the way a loving parent receives the honest speech of a child. Prayer matters because relationship matters, not because the prayer sounds impressive. [26:09]
• 2. Groaning can become prayer. The Spirit intercedes too deep for words, which means wordlessness is not failure. A groan can carry grief, exhaustion, longing, and faith all at once. When language breaks down, God is not absent from the silence, because the Spirit is already praying there. [27:24]
• 3. God works beyond human sight. Human beings cannot always know how one request may affect another person’s life. The prayer for rain, sunshine, healing, timing, or provision may be tangled in ways no person can fully understand. God’s wisdom is not the child’s wisdom, and that gap calls for trust rather than anxiety. [34:55]
• 4. Christ carries the faith. Prayer does not rest on a person’s ability to master every doctrine or feel every belief strongly enough. Jesus carries the faith, and the human response is trust. Christ’s intercession means accusation and condemnation do not get the final word. [36:32]
• 5. Love becomes living prayer. Prayer does not end when words stop. A life of love becomes prayer in motion, a walking and breathing communion with God. “Pray without ceasing” becomes possible when prayer is understood as the way of Jesus taking shape in ordinary life.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [25:30] - Romans and Not Knowing How to Pray
• [26:09] - God Listens Like a Loving Parent
• [26:58] - The Spirit Intercedes Beyond Words
• [28:31] - Practicing One Minute of Silence
• [30:38] - The Soul Speaks in Stillness
• [31:09] - God Searches the Heart
• [32:20] - All Things Work Together for Good
• [32:55] - Ice Cream and Childlike Understanding
• [35:13] - Prayer as Hope
• [35:54] - Christ Intercedes and Trust Holds
• [38:48] - Nothing Can Separate From God’s Love
• [40:34] - A Life of Love Becomes Prayer

Bible Reading

Romans 8:26-39
“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. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [24:54] [32:20] [35:13] [35:54] [36:00] [36:11] [38:48] [39:49]

1 Thessalonians 5:17
“pray continually,”

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” [32:29]

Observation questions

1. In Romans 8:26-27, what does the Spirit do when God’s people do not know what they ought to pray for? [26:58]
2. What different forms of prayer show up in Romans 8:26-39 besides spoken words? Think about groaning, silence, hope, trust, joy, gratitude, and love. [39:34]
3. In Romans 8:31-39, what reasons are given for confidence that God is for his people and that no accusation or condemnation has the final word? [35:54]
4. What everyday examples were used to show why people cannot always see how God may work something for the good of all? [34:55]

Interpretation questions

1. Romans says the Spirit intercedes with wordless groans. How does that shape the meaning of prayer for someone who feels tired, distracted, or unable to find the right words? [27:24]
2. Romans says that God searches the heart and that the Spirit intercedes according to the will of God. How do those two truths help explain why prayer does not depend on getting everything exactly right? [31:19]
3. Romans 8:28 says that in all things God works for good. How should that promise be understood when one person’s answered prayer might seem to make life harder for someone else? [34:59]
4. Romans says that Christ intercedes for God’s people and that nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ. How does that move prayer away from fear and toward trust? [36:11]

Application questions

1. When prayer has felt hard lately, what has made it hard: lack of words, tiredness, doubt, pain, distraction, or something else? What would it look like this week to come to God honestly instead of waiting until the prayer feels polished? [37:59]
2. A groan can become prayer. When was a recent moment when the heart could barely manage more than a sigh? What might it mean to offer that moment to God instead of hiding it or trying to fix it first? [27:24]
3. Silence can be a real place of prayer. Would it help to set aside even one quiet minute each day this week with no phone, music, or talking? What makes silence difficult, and what good might come from it? [28:31]
4. God searches the heart, including choices and decisions. Is there a decision, habit, or desire that feels especially important right now? How might bringing that honestly before God change the way it is handled? [31:47]
5. Prayer is an expression of hope and trust, not a doctrinal exam. In what area of life is trust in Christ needed most right now: family, health, money, grief, guilt, or something else? What would trusting him there actually look like this week? [36:32]
6. Nothing in all creation can separate God’s people from the love of God in Christ. Is there any accusation, regret, or fear that keeps trying to speak louder than that love? How could that promise be remembered in a practical way this week? [39:07]
7. A life of love becomes a walking, breathing prayer. Who is one person that could be loved more intentionally this week, and what is one simple act that could make that love visible? [40:52]