PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT

In these last weeks when we have been living in strange times, with the Corona Virus, and so many have died. As we think about ourselves and the future, the best thing we can do as Christians is to pray. As James 5: 16 tells us, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. “To pray is to enter the treasure-house of God and to gather riches out of an inexhaustible storehouse.” – C.H. Spurgeon The spiritual engine house of every child of God is the prayer house. Every spiritual activity of the Christian is linked to prayer—our personal Bible studies, sharing the gospel with unbelievers, love for our families, neighbours, and friends, preaching the word, teaching Sunday School, leading Bible studies—all these will be fruitless if done without prayer and the help of the Spirit. And at this time of crisis with the pandemic, as people of God, we need to pray—in the family and at work, as a nation and along with believers in other parts of the globe. We believers have access into God’s holy presence. The passage in Eph 6:10-18 about the armour of God starts with: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” We are reminded that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The passage goes on to speak about the armour of God—Belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, footwear of readiness to take the gospel, helmet of salvation, and sword of the spirit (the word of God). But very often Vs 18 is often overlooked but it is very important. “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,” The other pieces of armour, if they are put on without prayer, will be useless. Stand up! Stand up for Jesus! / Stand in his strength alone; / The arm of flesh will fail you / Ye dare not trust your own / PUT ON THE GOSPEL ARMOUR, / EACH PIECE PUT ON WITH PRAYER; / Where duty calls or danger / Be never wanting there! What does praying in the Spirit mean? Does it mean uttering some words before putting on each piece of armour? According to John Gill’s commentary, prayer, “when performed aright, is performed ‘in the Spirit’; with the heart, soul, and spirit engaged in it. It is put up with a true heart, and a right spirit, and without hypocrisy; in a spiritual way, and with fervency, and under the influence, and by the assistance of the Spirit of God.” “Still, prayer itself is an art that only the Holy Spirit can teach us. He is the giver of all prayer. Pray for prayer. Pray until you can pray.” – C.H. Spurgeon ||||| WHO CAN PRAY IN THE SPIRIT: It is not as if all and sundry can approach God in prayer. From the passage in Rom 8:9-17, we can clearly see that the Spirit of God lives in every child of God. Therefore only the children of God can truly pray in the Spirit. We do teach our children to pray and that is a good thing, but they will only be really able to pray when they come to know the One to whom they are praying. John 3:5-8 speaks of being born of the Spirit. Only such are indwelt and equipped by the Spirit, and such alone are able to really pray, and come to God’s throne of grace. ||||| WHY PRAYER IN THE SPIRIT IS ESSENTIAL: Rom 8:26-27 shows us how the Holy Spirit helps us in our prayer. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” It is possible to say a prayer with mere words. But we need the Holy Spirit to really pray. In John 14:15, we see Jesus telling the disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit our Helper and Comforter to help them, One who would be with them for ever. So we believers have this Helper to go with us at all times. And He helps us to pray. Sometimes we ask people to pray with hardly a thought. We need to remember that prayer is a privilege and also is something that we cannot truly do without the power of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise it is just words. ||||| HOW EXACTLY TO PRAY IN THE SPIRIT: There is great confusion even among Christians about what it is to pray in the Spirit. Do we need to have a special second experience to be able to do this? The answer is No. Do we need someone to pray over us and anoint us so that we can be anointed “pray-ers’. Do we need the slaying of the Spirit. Or do we need the gift of tongues to pray in the Spirit. The answer to all this is “No.” When we came to faith, the Spirit came to dwell in us. All that we need for prayer, we find in Him. Many Christians have been confused and mislead about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit or to pray “in the Spirit”. If you are saved by Jesus, you need nothing more. We need to remember some things about prayer: ||||| 1. Prayer must be disciplined. We must have a disciplined prayer life. Or is our prayer life a hit-and-miss prayer life with no orderliness. Daniel is a great example of a disciplined prayer life. Remember how in spite of the law against prayer, Daniel continued with his usual prayer routine. He got down on his knees three times everyday in prayer to his God “as he had done previously.” Nothing changed for Daniel in a crisis. He did what he always did every day. ||||| 2. Prayer must be with dependence upon the help of the Holy Spirit. We do not come to prayer with our own strength. Both public and private prayer is a work of the Holy Spirit and is not from our own ability. ||||| 3. Prayer in the spirit is the outcome of a life lived in the spirit Col 1:7-8, Gal 5:16-17 ||||| Some quotes from Spurgeon: ** “Nothing brings such leanness into a man’s soul as want of prayer.”** "I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach."** “Pray until you can pray; pray to be helped to pray and do not give up praying because you cannot pray. For it is when you think you cannot pray that is when you are praying.”** “I know of no better thermometer to your spiritual temperature than this, the measure of the intensity of your prayer.”** Let us pray together in the power of the Spirit of God. I encourage you to improve upon your prayer life, understanding as we study God’s word, our total dependence of the Holy Spirit.