How to Pray in the Spirit
He leads me …
Probably most of us have struggled with our prayer times. We put a set time aside and read some of our Bible or a devotion to give us something to think and pray about, but it still can be hard work. We may have heard other Christians talking about praying in the Spirit, but have not really understood what it meant.
1. It is Not Speaking in Tongues
There are many accounts online that show that speaking in tongues is a prayer language. The Bible says that they are “the tongues of men and of angels”. (1Corinthians 13:1 RSV Italics mine) This means that although the person speaking in tongues may not know what they are saying, they are likely to be speaking a known language.
One account occurred in the Church Missionary Society Boarding School in Bombay, India in 1906. Three Indian girls were praying, and one, a sixteen year old girl spoke in tongues. Canon Hayward, who was an Anglican minister, was confident that the teenager was praying in a real language, so he asked about it among the people he knew who were multi-ligual. Someone was able to understand the girl, and it turned out that she was pleading with God for Libya.[1]
Praying in the Spirit is different in that the Holy Spirit assists and directs the person with their praying.
2. Listen To The Spirit’s Voice
The Bible says, “And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.” (Luke 12:11-12 NLT)
When the Spirit leads us, we experience genuine joy in knowing God. He also helps us to understand the Bible and brings to our mind the truths that we need. This kind of praying is called ‘praying in the Spirit’
When looking at how to pray in the Spirit, we should consider how the Holy Spirit works with us during our prayer times. So let us look at what is involved. First we listen for Him when we pray. There may be a quiet pause when we are not talking to God and a thought comes into our head. It could be a thought about a person or something that is part of our life. This is the Holy Spirit speaking to us.
If the thought is about a person, we may have a good or bad feeling associated with it. This will guide us on how to pray. Sometimes we will already know things about the person which then gives us what we need to start praying for their situation. For example, we may get either an impression of Betty or we get her name in our head. We then remember that she will soon be having an operation, so we start praying about that. We may get an impression of the operating room or we may find that words come to mind that encourage us to pray for the surgeons, anaesthetist and all the support staff. So we ask the Lord to help them to work well together as a team and to deal appropriately with Betty’s condition.
It is similar when we pray for something that is happening in our lives. Let us say that the church youth group’s Easter Camp is coming up. While we are praying we get a mental image of the grounds, so we start praying that there will be a good turnout and that they have all the things that they need to make it an enjoyable experience. We may get an image of someone standing behind a pulpit, so we start praying for the speakers at the camp to be in tune with God so that they say what needs to be said in a way that the young people can relate to and then receive it into their hearts. As we are saying this we might get an impression of Jimmy, who we know is going to the camp and is not a Christian yet. So we pray that the Lord works in his heart so that he can give his life to Jesus at the camp surrounded by Christians who will support him.
When we start to pray about a thought that the Holy Spirit has given us, He may add more thoughts or He could help with the words that we should pray. Sometimes we realise that He has given us a word that is a key to certain events. This can trigger some thoughts so that we then know how the prayer continues. Sometimes we find ourselves praying words that we were not thinking about. They were given to us by the Holy Spirit. We have started to pray in a two-way conversation.
On other occasions He shows us things in our lives that do not please God. He then helps us to confess them to God and ask for His forgiveness. The Holy Spirit then follows up our confession by giving us the peace and assurance that God has forgiven us.
With a bit of practice we get used to this way of praying, and our lives are changed as we listen to the Holy Spirit and let Him help us in our prayer times.
THE SPIRIT HELPS US PRAY
Romans 8:26–27
Our Problem
The Holy Spirit’s Help
We do not know how to pray
He helps us when we pray
We do not have much faith
He helps build up our faith
We do not know what to pray
He helps us to know what to pray for
We are not sure that we are praying in God’s will
He guides us so that our prayers are in God’s will
We receive opposition to what we say and do
He gives us victory if it is God’s will
3. Prayer Can Also Be Spontaneous At Other Times Too
We soon find out that the Holy Spirit does the same thing during our day. It does not matter if we are working or just relaxing. We will have a thought that comes to mind which is quite different to what we were thinking about at the time. The Holy Spirit may direct us to do or say something using the same methods as we have just been looking at.
He is also very good at helping us with what we are doing too. As an example, we might be typing an email and start to struggle for the right words. All of a sudden the right words come to mind and we type them out. He can influence our thinking in everything that we do if we are open to His prompting.
4. Acting In The Spirit’s Power
We have looked at how the Holy Spirit prompts and guides us to have effective prayers, and also how this applies in other areas of our lives too. There will be times when the Holy Spirit will give us instructions too. So what do we do then? Just what He leads us to do. His lead will happen just before we actually do what He has asked, so that we do not have time to work on it in our own minds and put our own interpretation on what we should do. He wants us to trust Him, so His leading comes at the last minute so that we have no choice but to do what He says, His way.
Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who is at work in you, both in what you intend to do and what you actually do” (Source)
Some people are hesitant to submit to the Holy Spirit because they think that He will get them to do things that are totally outside their comfort zone. What we should realise is that it is only through total submission to God that He develops us the way we were specifically meant to be. He will progressively show us what He prepared us for. Anything else from this world can only be something totally inferior.
Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John
[1] Told by Jack Hywel-Davies in his book “Baptised by Fire – The Story of Smith Wigglesworth” printed by Hodder and Stoughton – page 166
