Types of Prayer 6

Types of Prayer Part 6 We have looked at various types of prayer, including petition, supplication, and intercession. Today we will begin looking at praying in the Spirit. Often, we do not know how to pray as we ought, according to Romans 8:26. It is at these times we need special help from the Holy Spirit, Who has been sent to guide us into all truth (John 16:13). He is the great intercessor (Romans 8:26b-27) and will lead us in our time of prayer. He is ready, willing, and able to elevate our prayer life to a whole new level. Have you ever spent time praying, but left not sensing you hit the mark? Have you ever felt like you did not know how to pray in a given situation? If so, you are not alone. Countless believers experience the same realization. However, there is good news. The Holy Spirit has been sent to show us the mind and will of the Father, which allows us to pray more accurately, with greater confidence and assurance. (1 Corinthians 2:9-16) Now, some might suggest we should only pray the scriptural prayers I mentioned in our previous article. I would agree, this is a great place to begin. However, those prayers do not include details for our everyday experiences, such as where we left our car keys, protection for a traveling loved one or friend, guidance regarding a purchase, a geographical move, or host of other things. That is when praying in the Spirit becomes a major help. First, let’s look at how this term originated and was applicable throughout the early church. Praying in the Spirit is prayer initiated, prompted, led, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is not a mental prayer alone, it originates from within the human spirit by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. It can be in English or other tongues. In the book of Acts we see how the Holy Spirit came upon 120 believers in the Upper Room and filled them, and how they spoke with other tongues (unknown languages to them). The Holy Spirit gave these new believers an ability to communicate from their spirit, the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:7-11). This was a pivotal moment, and one that would open the way for men to approach God in a whole new dimension. When explaining tongues to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul told them he prayed in tongues more than them all, which must have been a lot (1 Corinthians 14:18). He said anyone praying in tongues WAS ACTUALLY PRAYING MYSTERIES in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:2). He also said, when he prayed in tongues, his spirit prayed, but his mind was unfruitful, so he would do both (1 Corinthians 14:14-15). In other words, he relied upon the help of the Holy Spirit to aid him in his daily prayer life through the avenue of tongues, but he also prayed in his known language. This does not make sense to the carnally minded (earth sense ruled) individual. In fact, it may seem foolish. The things of God must be understood by the Spirit according to 1 Corinthians 2:13-15 and not reasoned through man’s flawed wisdom or knowledge. God’s ways are beyond our natural understanding. We can only know Him and His ways through the revelation of His word, and His Holy Spirit. There is no other way. Even the things I am sharing in this article will not make any sense without the Holy Spirit’s revelation. Back to praying in the Spirit. When we pray with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, we are under His influence and direction. We no longer are dictating how and what we should pray, but He comes alongside to direct our petitions, supplications, and intercessions. It is not a burden to Him. He delights in showing us how to pray. Again, praying in the Spirit can be in our known language or in other tongues. Praying in the Spirit in our known language is flowing prophetically through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, much like the gift of prophesy. The advantage of praying in tongues is we fully trust the Holy Spirit to give meaning to the utterances coming out of our mouth in a language we have never learned. It may sound like syllables to us, but the Father understands the meaning and responds accordingly. The apostle Paul made it clear, he prayed in tongues (in the Spirit) more than the whole Corinthian church. Why did he do this? According to his letter to the Corinthians it edified him and built him up in his inner man and allowed him to speak mysteries to God. This type of prayer enabled him to pray for things beyond his limited knowledge. (1 Corinthians 14:2,4) This is an awesome weapon we should use. When the apostle Paul spoke about the armor of God, he mentioned praying in the Spirit as a final part of our weaponry. “…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel….” Ephesians 6:18-19 Praying in the Spirit frees us to pray from our spirit and then pray out the interpretation or sense of what was prayed in tongues with our native language. This combination edifies us and enriches our prayer life. When we pray in other tongues, we can be assured the Holy Spirit is interpreting our prayer to the Father according to His will (Romans 8:26-27). There is too much to cover on this subject in this space, but I am writing a book on this topic that should be released later this year and available on this site. We will keep you posted. As I promised in our last post, we want to give some modern-day examples of how praying in the Spirit has brought miraculous interventions from the Throne of God. One such case was an English missionary in Africa who suddenly fell sick and dying. As he lay in the grass hut on his death bed, the natives were surrounding him and deeply saddened about his impending death. Back in England, a woman was awakened in the middle of the night and prompted to pray in the Spirit, and she obeyed the Father and began praying in other tongues for an hour. After prayer, she saw a vision of this missionary, and the natives surrounding his hut. She saw the man die, and the natives cover him with a sheet, before sadly leaving the hut. She then saw, in the vision, the missionary suddenly rise from his death bed totally healed and the natives rejoicing. Later, when the missionary was speaking at a conference in England, this woman introduced herself and shared how two years earlier she had prayed in tongues for him for an hour and the vision of him suddenly rising from his death bed healed. He asked if she kept a diary. She replied she did. That afternoon she brought her diary, and when they compared time differences, the woman’s prayer burden coincided exactly when he was miraculously healed. Now some may think this is just nonsense, but the scripture states God works in ways we do not fully understand to accomplish His purposes. Sometimes we may miss out on His best because we do not know how to pray. The Holy Spirit is here to help us so we can receive all the Father has, and so we can accomplish all He has intended. The following story is another modern-day example of the power of this type of prayer, and how the Spirit of God aids us. Conference speaker and teacher John Bevere tells the story of a young woman who attended one of his evening Bible studies while he was attending college. She had been taught speaking in tongues had been done away with since the Bible days, but as she heard John share the Biblical truths on the subject, she realized it was of God and received the Holy Spirit accompanied with speaking in other tongues the same night. The next morning, John received a call in his dorm room on the intercom at 6:30 am, which was nearly two hours earlier than he would normally be awake. It was this girl, who was in the sorority house across the street. He dressed and went out to see what was so urgent. The girl said, God had wakened her at 5:00 am and told her to pray in tongues. She started to intercede in tongues and asked the Lord, what am I praying about. The Father told her you are praying for an older man’s life who was in danger. She obeyed and kept praying in tongues for one hour. At 6:00 am her roommate received an emergency call notifying her of her grandfather, who had a massive heart attack but rushed to the hospital where doctors were able save him just in time. The Holy Spirit told this young lady, “You were praying for him.” How wonderful and amazing! God in both examples, was able to find someone willing to stand in the gap (see Ezekiel 22:30) to pray in other tongues for something or someone of which they had no prior knowledge. Only eternity will tell how many lives were spared, rescued, or blessed because someone interceded in other tongues. Being able to always pray for these types of situations accurately would require us to be omniscient, but since we are not, the Holy Spirit helps us with groanings and utterances which cannot be expressed with our own articulate speech or known language. The Father can then add His own meaning to our words. This makes it a legal exchange and we are still exercising our God given authority to pray for His will to be done on earth. The language of Heaven is not English, German, or Spanish. Heaven’s dialect is totally unique, so there are times we may be speaking a heavenly tongue when praying in the Spirit, or it may be an extinct dialect no longer spoken (1 Corinthians 13:1). The bottom line is, prayer is communicating with God, who knows all, understands all, and is not limited to our natural realm, reasoning or limited vocabulary and expression. Praying in the Spirit and in other tongues, takes the limitations off and helps us to fully express our needs, desires, thanks, and worship to the Father. Believe on Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, then ask Him and the Father to fill you and baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; Luke 11:11-13). Then as an act of faith, begin to speak out the syllables and words the Holy Spirit gives you as your worship and praise the Father. They will flow up out of your spirit like rivers of living water. As you yield your spirit to Him, He will give you utterance to glorify God and pray in unknown tongues. You can use this new blessing and prayer language in your daily devotions and throughout the day to build you up and pray out the mysteries of God. More on prayer in our next post. Until then, may God our Heavenly Father richly bless and keep you! James Brown CST 01/07/2023