With You and For You, Always
We’ve been talking about the command to “love the LORD your God with all your… mind.” (Mark 12:30)
But what do we do when our mind is just, like, toast? Overstimulated? Overwhelmed?
We all feel this way from time to time (or more often). This is a feature of the modern world. Too much information about too many options, layered by too many opinions and too many reviews, all just one part of a day with too many decisions to make… and not enough time or energy.
Here's a word of grace for days like that.
There are a few passages of Scripture that tell us something about the otherwise invisible operations of God on our behalf. These describe what is always the context in which we experience the “overwhelm.” So they reframe our experience—like, this is the whole picture, rather than just the way we feel right now.
Here are a two such passages and truths that mean a lot to me personally.
First, Jesus Himself is praying for us:
“Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb 7:25; see also Rom 8:34)
When you don’t know how to pray, when your mind is just too chaotic, the Lord, your shepherd, is with you, watching over you, praying to God the Father for you. We are always being prayed for by Jesus. We are always on His mind, in His heart. “He will hold me fast.”
If things are too much for you today, take comfort knowing that Jesus is praying for you as you turn your heart to God.
Second, Holy Spirit is praying with us:
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for when we do not know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Rom 8:26)
Separate from our ability to self-analyze, organize our thoughts, and articulate our requests to God, Holy Spirit is praying with us. Notice what Holy Spirit is praying: those things in us that we do not know how to articulate to God because we are too weak. So, precisely where there are subjects too sensitive for us to touch, or when there are things too complex for us to know where to start, Holy Spirit is there, already holding us in prayer.
When things get to be too much for you, take comfort knowing that Holy Spirit is praying with you as you turn your heart to God.
God the Spirit is praying with you.
God the Son is praying for you.
And God the Father hears this, always.
Always God is with you, praying for you, praying with you, and hearing prayers on your behalf.
God can be relied on even when we feel that our mental faculties are unreliable. He is with us in the inarticulate overwhelm of grief, pressure, confusion, frustration, and all the weaknesses that afflict us. He is with us.
We are not required to be able to describe our hearts in order for God to hear our hearts’ cry. He is with us, in the deeps, in the storm, in the night. God gathers up the scattered prayers, supplications, and requests, spoken or silenced. He hears. He loves. He blesses.
Thanks be to God. Such a God—we may rest in Him.
I often begin my time of prayer in this way:
Holy Spirit, please pray with me now.
Lord Jesus, please pray for me.
Father God, thank You for hearing my prayer…
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