Eternity 18 - Prayers That Work - Prayer In The Spirit

(Romans 8:26-27 NASB) And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; {27} and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

In our humanity we have no idea of how to pray. This state of utter spiritual incapacity is what Paul calls"weakness". Prayer is one of those things that are "folly" to the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:10-14). Prayer seems weak and daft and foolish to the person who has little of God in their life. Prayer is a puzzle to even the brightest minds - and is said to have baffled Einstein who saw it as the last unexplored frontier of physics. No matter how intelligent we may be we simply cannot pray properly without the Holy Spirit who "teaches us all things" (1 John 2:20,27) and reveals to us the things that God has prepared for us ( 1 Cor 2:9-16).

Paul says that the Holy Spirit helps us to pray with "groanings too deep for words". The deepest prayers are movements of the Spirit. They are wordless, in a language of desire and groaning. This is not to say all prayers should be unspoken, the greatest prayers in Scripture all involve words. Yet prayer can also go beyond words and thoughts and ideas and be a deep inner groaning as deep calls to deep and spirit to Spirit.

Paul says that the Holy Spirit helps us to pray according to the mind of God and the will of God. The Spirit renews our prayers so they are fresh and godly and loving and holy and free from pride, vanity and contention. He gets us to pray prayers for others, for the lost, for spiritual growth and not just for money and success. Prayer in the Spirit brings us to the place where we desire the Kingdom realities and pray for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

How can we pray in the Spirit? How can we go beyond dry, lifeless prayers? Start by praising God for who He is and keep a Bible open at the Psalms or the New Testament. Read, think, praise, pray. Ask God to open up your prayer life and teach you how to pray. Try confessing your sins quickly, then asking to be filled with the Holy Spirt and for the Holy Spirit to come into your prayer life. Invite God into your prayer life, like this "Holy Spirit I invite you to enter into my prayer life and to pray through me and to be my prayer teacher, in Jesus name. Amen".

(Luke 11:9-13 NASB) "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. {10} "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. {11} "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? {12} "Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? {13} "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

Try inviting the Holy Spirit into your prayer life for three successive days then email me on johned@aibi.ph and tell me the results.

Blessings,

John Edmiston