If prayer is opening the door of our hearts and lives to Jesus in the Everyday, and coming in His name before the throne of God the Father, it shouldn’t be surprising to discover that the third member of the Trinity is involved in prayer as well. It is while Jesus is talking to His followers about praying in His name that He first brings up the Spirit-Helper that He is sending to us. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive….You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17) Could there be any better way for us to get to know God than by having His Spirit as Ezer, or “helper suitable”? Jesus goes on to explain that after He returns to Heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand, this Helper will stay to communicate God’s heart, His will, His mind to our spirits, so that we can understand Him and live as His children. From the beginning then, it was understood that we would need help in praying to God, that this communication was more than our human hearts could manage. The nineteenth century world-renowned preacher, Charles Spurgeon, who was also famous for his dedication to prayer, pointed out that if prayer is just saying the right things anyone with a mouth can accomplish it; if prayer is about desiring the right things, many hearts are able to aspire to great things; but because prayer is of the human spirit and reaches up to our Creator whose Breath we were born of, we need His spiritual help to reach across the infinite distance between.
Paul says plainly that the Spirit’s purpose is to help us to pray to our heavenly Father: “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.” (Romans 8:26) How else could the limitations of human speech and mind address the Almighty, without the help of a Divine Translator to fill in the gaps? The prophet Isaiah felt his own spiritual inability keenly when he recorded his vision of the heavenly throne: “‘Woe to me!…I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’” (Isaiah 6:5) An angel helped the prophet, cleansing his lips with fire, but in our own time of need, God Himself makes up for our weakness, cleansing us with Christ’s blood and putting acceptable words to our heart-cries. “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.” (Romans 8:27)
We could not ask for a more loving, patient, constant Helper, and lest we slide into picturing Him as some sort of live-in companion for the elderly, let’s remember that the word Ezer comes from root words that mean “to save, come to one’s aid, to make strong” and is generally used in a military setting. The word picture is of a battle comrade who fights alongside and has your back. Appropriate, when we think of how often Paul described the Christian life in just that way, saying“…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) And just a few sentences later, after detailing the armor we need for the battle, he reiterates the necessity of constant vigilant prayer for ourselves and others. There is a reason we refer to those with a powerful prayer life as Prayer Warriors. It is because of the Ezer, who is strengthening and protecting us in every moment, helping us to “live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God….” (Colossians 1:10)
Our part in prayer is to open the door and give all our hearts to Him, but it is the Ezer‘s presence and power that makes prayer something more than words.
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“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” (Psalm 139:1-4)
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“He will direct your desires to the things that you ought to seek for. He will teach you your real needs, though as yet you do not know them. He will suggest to you His promises that you may be able to plead them. In fact, He will be the Alpha and Omega to your prayer, just as He is to your salvation.” (Charles Spurgeon, The Power of Prayer in A Believer’s Life)