Several years ago, my wife Mary and I took her father to our church. He had been diagnosed with cancer and the church elders asked us to bring him there for prayer. I was very young in my faith, and up until that time had only a text book understanding of the things of God.
I had expected the same type of group prayers that I had seen before. This was a very conservative church, so I expected a very conservative prayer. But things became very different.
The elders laid hands on him and went into a deep spiritual prayer like I had never seen or heard before. They were speaking and murmuring all at once with such beautiful sounds. It was a chorus of holiness!
Then something happened from which I was completely unprepared for. There was something moving through the room, like a wind, but not a wind. I felt it as if it were going right through me. It was not that hair tingling feeling caused by emotions, but something that touched my inner man. I didn’t know what to make of it.
Afterwards I didn’t speak a word to Mary about what happened. I knew it was something wonderful, but I simply had nothing I could reference to explain it. I was not sure if it was just me. Finally, a few days later I asked Mary, and she had felt it too, in the same way I had.
Friends, I want you to know that there is a level of prayer beyond the natural that reaches into the spiritual realm. That we can pray in the Spirit such that we touch the things of God. That the Holy Spirit is here with us right now.
You can experience the Holy Spirit in your life. You can pray in the Spirit, and when once you do, your prayer life will never be the same again.
Here are some things I have written on this topic of praying in the Spirit, I pray it would be a blessing for you:
Praying in the Spirit is not learned in the classroom but the prayer closet.
You cannot pray in the Spirit unless the Spirit is first in you.
You cannot pray in the Spirit using your own natural power.
Never wonder why you remain in the world that you hold onto so tightly. To pray in the Spirit, you must let go of the natural. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
We have a Holy Spirit that cannot be contained within the text books of man.
Strong men can only pray weak prayers. It is the broken man that can pray in the Spirit because he must rely upon the Spirit.
Praying in the Spirit leads to the pouring out of the Spirit. If you want to preach in the Spirit, you must first pray in the Spirit. Let this be you: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…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).
The power of a church is not how filled a building is with people, but how filled the people are with the Holy Spirit. There is not power in numbers but in the Holy Spirit.
Natural prayers move men, praying in the Spirit moves God.
Natural prayers only ask for natural things. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5).
Natural prayers seek His approval of your will, praying in the Spirit places you into His.
“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). You know you are praying in the Spirit when even the building can’t sit still.
Whatever fills you defines you. If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, then you are just full of yourself. Beware the intellectually filled man who is empty of the Spirit of God.
Prayers without words speak the loudest. “…For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).
In your prayers, don’t lower the Lord into your plans, but ask Him to raise you into His.
You know you are praying in the Spirit when you can hear the Spirit. “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away” (Acts 13:2-3). Never underestimate the power gained through the discipline of fasting and prayer.
Fasting separates you from the natural such that you can step into the spiritual. Spiritual prayers never walk on natural grounds.
Natural prayers can touch the heart of man, but praying in the Spirit places you in the heart of God. “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God…” (Jude 20-21).
Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you to pray in the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus taught, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things…” (John 14:26).
Blessings to you,
Paul
Brilliant once again, thank you for this. “In your prayers, don’t lower the Lord into your plans, but ask Him to raise you into His.” I’m often a little too guilty of this one and need to be reminded time and again!
Thank you so much David! And how much each of us needs to be reminded that we have a God from which nothing is impossible!
Thank you so much for praying in the Spirit. All I want is to touch heaven for people. To know the direction from the Holy Spirit.
I am so glad that you liked it. Keep pressing in to the Lord. The Holy Spirit can lead you, keep pressing into this truth.
Oh Holy Spirit breathe Holy Fire deep within me! My heart’s cry is to know You more. To abide in the Holy presence of You! More Lord, more of you and less of me!
Oh, what a precious prayer! This is the kind of prayer that moves things. This is the type of Christian that can make a difference in the world! Keep pressing in to all the things of God, and watch what will happen in your life.
Imagine being brought up in a spirit filled home like this,,,, I have been so blessed to have had parents…. grandparents …greatparents on fire with the holy spirit.
When someone needed healing or answered prayer, we seeked and always got them… My prayer is like yours, to educate people and let them know there is a whole new level of intimacy with holy spirit..His desire is for us to seek Him through praying in our prayer language…keep letting your light shine to further the kingdom brother! Shine on!
What a great blessing to have such a rich legacy and generational blessing poured down upon you! I love talking the power of the Lord with people like you because it is not theory or text book, but experience. And it is in the experience that nobody can convince you of anything contrary to what you know. So very glad to have you as a fellow co-laborer in encouraging people to a deeper intimacy with the Holy Spirit! Praying for your ministry to shine on!
I so enjoyed this word! It gave me insight into the more of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I am also reminded of the 120 in the upper room, that after they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, they were praying and praising God, and 3000 were converted! There is definitely power in praying in the Holy Ghost!
Thank you so much! I completely agree with you that there is so much power when we pray in the Spirit! There is a growing pouring out, such that these latter times will be like none before. May there be such an outpouring that we will see more converted to Christ than we have seats in our churches. How much I long for the lost to be found, the empty to be filled, and the hopeless to have hope!