This is wonderful good news, but it is also perplexing news.  If the Spirit always prays for us when we pray, and his prayers are always heard, why is it that our prayers seem sometimes not to be heard or answered?

And why should I pray at all?  Matthew 6:8 says that "your Father knows what you need before you ask him."  I'm not informing the omniscient Lord of the universe when I pray to him.  Why pray, then?

Does my prayer motivate God to do something he would not have?  If so, am I talking God into doing the right thing?  If not, what is the point of praying?

And what about intercessory prayer and free will?  Why should I pray for people to become Christians or make good decisions, if God honors their freedom and is not going to force them to trust or obey him?  Let's take our questions in order.

First, why are our prayers sometimes not answered as we pray them?  Because God will always give us what we ask for or whatever is best. 

Jesus taught us to pray to "our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:9).  He is the Father--we are the children.  And as our text states, we don't always know what is best for us.  Billy Graham writes in his autobiography that he was devastated when the girl he loved rejected his proposal of marriage, and couldn't understand why God hadn't answered his prayers.  Then he met Ruth Bell and the rest is history.

Why does God sometimes heal people when we pray for them and sometimes not?  The Spirit helps us pray by interceding for us in accordance with God's will.  If it is best that people be healed, they will be.  If it's best that they go to heaven rather than staying on earth, one second on the other side they'll be forever glad God answered our prayer as he did. 

That's incredibly hard for us to understand or appreciate, but it results from the fact that God always gives us what we ask or whatever is best.  One day we'll understand why this was for his greatest glory and our greatest good.

Remember when Paul prayed three times that God would remove his "thorn in the flesh," but was refused three times.  God gave him what was even better, teaching him the critical truth that his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).  God always gives us what we ask or whatever is best.

And know that he has all of eternity to hear and answer your prayers.  He is not bound by time as we are.  Six billion people could be praying to him at this moment, but he has forever to hear and respond to each and every request.  So "pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and know that God will always answer your prayer in whatever way is best.  Always.

Second, why work at praying?  If Jesus is praying for me all the time, and if the Spirit prays whenever I pray, why work at prayer myself?  Why not pray generically and routinely and trust the Spirit to do all the heavy lifting?

Because prayer positions me to receive what God's grace wants to give but cannot unless I'll receive it.  We didn't build this sanctuary, and most of us had nothing to do with paying for it.  But we must come inside it to receive the benefits it provides.  God will honor our freedom, and will not force his grace into our lives.  Presents must be opened.  God wants to lead us, forgive us, and use us, but we must receive such mercy.  We do so in prayer.

And prayer is the way God shapes our souls.  When we pray the Spirit works on us, molding us into the image of Jesus.  He transforms us, but only when we are connected with him in prayer.

We do not pray to inform God but to receive from God and to be with God.  These reasons are enough to call us all to a life of prayer.

Third, what about intercession and freedom?  Why pray for lost people to be saved, if God will never violate their free will?  Why pray for a Christian to repent of sin or take a step of faith or change behavior in any way, if God has limited himself to the freedom he gave them in Christ?

When we pray, God does all he can to answer our prayer short of violating that freedom.  If you pray for a lost person to come to Christ, God will bring Christians across his path, place Christian influence before him, and convict him by the work of his Spirit.  And he will use you to answer your prayer.  He will not violate the person's freedom, but he will do everything else he can to bring him to faith.

It is the same when we pray for anyone's behavior to change.  God does all he can short of dishonoring their free will to answer our prayer in whatever way is best.  So intercede for lost people to become Christians and for Christians to become Christ-like disciples, and know that your prayers are cooperating with God in shaping eternity.