Thank you for the good question. We will be looking at two passages (from the NKJV) which should help us to understand the Holy Spirit’s part in our prayers to God.

In Jude 1:20 we read, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.” First of all, we are told to “build ourselves up on our most holy faith,” which simply means we are to be reading and studying our Bibles and obeying the truth that we learn. As we read the Word of God, God is SPEAKING TO US! But He does not want a one-sided conversation; He wants us to SPEAK TO HIM in prayer. Yet we must be “guided by the Holy Spirit” as we pray to our heavenly Father. I believe these two “go together.” As we study the Word of God it is the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth to us. The Lord Jesus said He would in John 16:13, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.” The Apostle Paul taught the same thing in 1st Corinthians 2:9-10, 12: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God…Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” As we learn the truth of God’s Word by the Spirit, we will be prepared to “pray as guided by the Holy Spirit.” Why? Because our prayers will then be “according to the will of God” which has been revealed to us. This will give us boldness and confidence when we approach the Throne of Grace in prayer and our prayers WILL BE ANSWERED. We are assured of this in 1st John 5:14-15, “Now this is the confidence we have in Him, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” Verse 15 is so important, for it teaches us that the Holy Spirit will guide our hearts in prayer by giving us the petitions (requests) that are in accordance with God’s Word and God the Father gladly “hears those petitions” and will answer them in His own time and way. I would not be too concerned about the exact words you say in prayer, for God is not expecting an eloquent prayer, He simply wants to hear honest prayers coming from our heart.

You said, “At times I don’t get my request which makes me want to keep praying for it.” If we are “praying in the Holy Spirit” God will, as I stated above, “answer them in His own time and way.” We may need to learn patience but rest assured God the Father loves to bless us by answering our prayers. If we are “NOT praying in the Holy Spirit,” God will not answer our prayers. At those times, we are praying for things that are not according to “God’s will,” but according to “our will.” We read about this in James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” But take heart, if you are truly “praying in the Holy Spirit,” KEEP PRAYING FOR IT.

The second passage I had in mind was Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit also helps us 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. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” We saw earlier that the Holy Spirit will guide us in our prayers after He reveals the truth of God’s Word to us, giving us words that are according to the will of God. Here we learn there are times when WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY, but the Spirit realizes our weakness at those times and He “intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” We may be praying for a loved one that is gravely ill and we are so burdened that we are at a loss for words when we pray. At the same time, we do not know if it is God’s

will to heal them so that prevents us from praying intelligently. How good to know that the indwelling Holy Spirit, who always knows the will of God, comes to our aid, and prays for us! It won’t be with “audible words” but with “groanings” that only God may hear and yet He is touched knowing they reflect the burden of our hearts at that time.  (DO)  (596.3)