In this scene of confusion and distraction'

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"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 with groans that words 
cannot express." Romans 8:26

"We do not know what we ought to pray for." How 
often do we find and feel this to be our case . . .
darkness covers our mind;
ignorance pervades our soul;
unbelief vexes our spirit;
guilt troubles our conscience;
a crowd of evil imaginations, or foolish or worse 
than foolish wanderings distract our thoughts;
Satan hurls in thick and fast his fiery darts;
a dense cloud is spread over the mercy-seat;
infidelity whispers its vile suggestions, 
until, amid all this rabble throng, such confusion 
and bondage prevail that words seem idle breath, 
and prayer to the God of heaven but empty mockery. 

In this scene of confusion and distraction, when 
all seems going to the wreck—how kind, how gracious 
is it in the blessed Spirit to come, as it were, to the 
rescue of the poor bewildered saint, and to teach 
him how to pray and what to pray for. 

He is therefore said "to help our weaknesses," for 
these evils of which we have been speaking are not 
wilful, deliberate sins, but wretched infirmities of 
the flesh. He helps, then, our infirmities—by subduing 
the power and prevalence of unbelief—by commanding 
in the mind a solemn calm—by rebuking and chasing 
away Satan and his fiery darts—by awing the soul with 
a reverential sense of the power and presence of God— 
by presenting Jesus before our eyes as the Mediator at 
the right hand of the Father—by raising up and drawing 
forth faith upon His Person and work, blood and 
righteousness—and, above all, by Himself interceding 
for us and in us "with groans that words cannot express."

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