Romans 8:26-27 – “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

We should never worry that our prayers are not good enough… not because they are somehow sufficient, but because they are indeed insufficient and God is merciful. In fact, it is my contention that our insuffiency has some cause for rejoicing.

First, for those of us that struggle with honest prayer due to fear that we’re not praying “well enough”, or asking for the right things, we should instead ask ourselves: Can we ever pray well enough? Are our prayers ever sufficient?

Is this not why we so desperately need the Spirit’s interpretation? Are we not easily susceptible to sin and deception? I could pray for a better job, yet in my heart it is because my pride is not being fed enough at my current job. I could ask for God to remove me from a situation, but in reality it is because I don’t truly believe in God’s promises that all things will work out for my good. With so many possibilities for sin and deception, how can I truly know what I should pray… and that I’m not dishonoring Him? It does not take long for me to find myself in a sort of “prayer paralyzation” because I can’t know for sure if I am pleasing God with my prayers.

In light of such things, this passage, which guarantees that we will never pray perfectly, should be gloriously liberating to us. It should have a relieving effect, for we are insufficient, but God Himself makes up for our insufficiencies by interpreting our prayers for Himself. We are freed of the burden of perfection, and safe to express our hearts to God in honesty with full confidence that He is merciful and will answer our prayers according to what our ideal prayer would have been if we were perfect.

In addition, this passage should cause love for Him to well up more in our souls. For He is not a harsh God who demands perfect prayers or else becomes angry or discounts them. He does not write us off or hold it against us when we pray imperfectly. No, He seeks only that we bring Him our hearts in sincerity. What a merciful God, who would hear imperfect and even unintentionally offensive prayers and responds in love and kindness rather than wrath!

Finally, there is an oft-unseen benefit of our insufficiency. You see, the enemy plays a subtle trick on us when he convinces us to avoid prayer due to insufficiency… but his goal is not just lack of prayer in that moment. No, he is playing a much deeper game. Convincing you to abstain from prayer due to insufficiency accomplishes two things: makes it unlikely that you will pray very often, and then when you feel confident to pray, it breeds pride. Then, if God answers our prayers, we credit ourselves for our abillity to pray rightly rather than His mercy and love. It is only through a deep realization of our insufficiency that we can truly appreciate just how much love and mercy it takes to hear and answer our prayers. This sort of realization leads us to approach prayer with humility and thankfulness, and leads us to depend on Him rather than ourselves.

We should thank God that He delights in insufficient prayers, and stand in awe of how He uses them to build faith, character, love, and humility. So when you feel insufficient or not “together enough” to bring your prayers to Him, thank Him for that realization. If we did not have it, we would be arrogant enough to think that we do not need Him to pray well. Indeed: we pray because we cannot pray well.