David prayed in Psalm 5:1-3 “Oh Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but You. Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.”

One of the privileges of being God’s children is that He hears us when we pray. We are encouraged by Scripture and by our previous experiences of answered prayer to continue to make our requests known unto God. He is our source of help in any time of trouble, the supplier of all needs we may encounter, the One from whom all the riches of His glory are wonderfully distributed, and our lonely hearts’ greatest solace. He offers all of Himself to those who seek Him, and prayer is the avenue by which we are to come before Him, bringing our requests.

Prayer is a huge subject with many different tangents from which to teach, but for this article, I want to speak to the topic of the words of our mouth. Simply put, to pray is to speak words to God, though to know what to speak can be challenging at times.

Romans 8:26 says “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.” Times when words fail us need not hinder our prayers to God, for the Spirit of God who knows all things will “advocate our cause” (Matthew Henry) with His own unction.

Allow the Holy Spirit to pray His words through you in those moments of speechlessness. You can be assured that these prayers are heard by the Father – for “God knows the meaning of what His own Spirit has inspired.” (Pulpit Commentary) Andrew Murray said “Prayer is just the breathing of the Spirit in us.”

So we are to pray with our spirit, but also we are to pray with our understanding (1 Cor. 14:15). To pray with our understanding we use the words of the moment, words of praise or pain, words of peace or fear, words of supplication, appealing to God on behalf of self or others. It is perfectly appropriate to pour out our hearts to God in all sincerity and honesty with respect.

Pouring out our heart to God doesn’t mean that we make ourselves a captive of pain or fear, but we do communicate openly and honestly with Him. For example, in Psalm 56:3, David was transparent with God and said, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.” Apparently, this helped David, because just a few verses later (Psalm 56:11), he expressed, “In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

As we grow in our prayer life, our goal becomes what we find in Psalm 19:14 (ESV). “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” We begin to deeply desire to pray fervent and effectual prayers that the Father is delighted to answer.

One way to do this is to begin to believe that God is putting His words in our mouths, much in the same way as described in Romans 8:26, using our understanding. In Isaiah 51:16 (ESV) the Bible says speaking of God, “And I have put My words in your mouth.” Another verse to add your faith to is “The Lord has given me the tongue of those who are taught…He awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord has opened my ear… (Isa. 50:4-5)

Jesus gives us an example as well in John 12:49 when He says “I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.” (NLT) When Jesus prayed, I believe He knew what to say and how to say it directly from the Father back to the Father.

The Lord will give us words to pray over our situations so that His will on earth can be accomplished. This is truly the goal of every prayer. When we know the will of God, we can have confidence that He hears us when we pray, and that we have what we asked Him for (1 John 5:14-15).

“I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live” (Ps. 116:1-2).

“Oh God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth” (Ps. 54:2).