GOOGLE-TRANSLATE

Some years ago, a team of people from New Life and another church in Derby went on a mission trip to Kosovo.

A few of the older people at the church there could speak pretty good English, but most of the younger members of the church and guests invited from the local community could manage only a few words in English. How could we effectively communicate with everyone? The good news was that one teenage girl could speak very good English, so much so, the other teenagers in the Kosovan youth group had given her the nickname “Google-Translate”. Now the UK team could better express themselves, and interact with those in, and associated with, the church.

I thought of this teenage girl recently when reading of all the major world issues in Israel/ Palestine; Russia/ Ukraine; China/ North Korea; in addition to all the godlessness we see in our own country. How do we effectively pray about all this stuff that has the power to wear us down? How do we touch God’s heart about all that we see and hear?

The good news is that there is One available to us who acts as our very own Google-Translate:

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. 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. (Rom. 8:26, 27)

So today, if like me, you feel powerless, ineffective, not knowing how best to pray, remember there is One who speaks for us, even with our own “wordless groans” which the Holy Spirit in us is able to make known to the Father how we feel.