Romans 8:26 “… the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Prayer changes things. If it didn’t, then Jesus wouldn’t have asked us to pray and to believe for results. However, we don’t always know how we should pray. Romans 8:26 tells us that we are limited in what we know, so the Holy Spirit, who knows the mind of God, helps us to pray beyond our understanding (I Corinthians 2:11).
The Holy Spirit does this in a couple of different ways. There are times when He reveals to us what we are to pray. There are other times when we don’t need to know, so He can help us bypass our understanding. He does this by giving us the ability to pray out words in another language that we don’t know. It is referred to as “speaking in tongues” or “praying in the Spirit.” We read about this in the book of Acts and in other New Testament books.
I Corinthians 14:14 “For if a pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.”
I Corinthians 14:2 “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.”
The purpose for praying beyond our understanding is to operate in a grace to go beyond what we know. Our prayers are effective because of the grace the Holy Spirit supplies to us to pray the purpose of God as we yield to Him. When we pray out God’s purpose, breakthroughs happen, situations change and lives are transformed!
There are also times in prayer when we might feel that we’ve run out of words to say to express how we feel. It seems as if our tongue is tied. When we yield to the Holy Spirit, we can pray or sing in worship to the Lord in an unknown language. He gives our heart expression and we experience a marvelous encounter with God!
Application: There are two ways to speak in tongues mentioned in I Corinthians 14. One is public and one is private. Not everyone experiences giving a message in tongues publicly, but the private and personal use of tongues is for every believer. If you have not had this experience, ask the Lord to give you the grace to pray beyond your understanding.