Phase 3: Praying in the Spirit

Big Idea:

Spiritually mature people pray in the Spirit.

Intro:

Body:

Let me give you an additional example… How many people have heard, “God helps those who help themselves.” How about “follow your heart?” Or “Only God can judge me.” Did you know these statements are either not in the Bible or used in a completely unbiblical way? And yet, people build their lives on this statement.

People think they have to work hard to be perfect in order to get God’s favor; yet, the Bible says we are to live by grace (receiving things from God that we don’t deserve).

People value “following their heart” and then wonder why their lives fall apart because they selfishly pursue their sinful desires instead of sacrificially following God’s dreams (purposes) for their lives.

People justify their sinful living by saying, “Only God can judge me.” Now, honestly, that’s true. Then again… you don’t want God to judge you! You want God to save you!

There are a lot of things that we believe (regardless of how we came to believe them) that radically impact our lives. And the radically hinder our spiritual maturity… keeping us from living out our God-given purposes. And sometimes, the best thing we can do to correct these things is to get back to the basics - the fundamentals - to recalibrate.

And so for the first part of Phase 1, we are going to topically discuss foundational things we need to learn to spiritually mature. And… we’re going to use the Book of Acts (the story of the early church) to learn these lessons. Acts is the Holy Spirit inspired story of how God intended the church to live, which is why we need to use it as a reference for recalibration.

And today, we’re going to talk about the foundational practice of praying in the Spirit.

Body:

We have a motto in our culture that says, “Work smarter, not harder.” I like that statement. I think there’s a lot wisdom in it. But it also seems to fight against biblical practices… like prayer.

How many of us feel like prayer is hard? I’m a pastor and I think prayer is hard! I’m also a runner. You know what many runners hate? They hate running on a treadmill. Treadmills are like doing something really difficult while going nowhere. And sometimes that’s what prayer feels like. Many times prayer feels really hard, but feels like we’re doing/accomplishing nothing. But I’ll tell you this… regardless of our feelings… prayer is foundational.

Foundational:

Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer.” It’s how we speak and hear from God. It’s how we have relationship.

Jesus not only said it, He practiced it.

And then, when He returned to heaven after the resurrection, His disciples regularly practiced prayer.

We see this in the book of Acts.

Give examples: This is how I fight my battles. Paul in jail. Peter in jail.

Prayer was a regular, foundational part of the life of the early church.

Is this our reaction? Why not? Because we need to grow up - we need to recalibrate.

But it’s not just about prayer… because I said “praying in the Spirit.” What’s the difference?

Praying in the Spirit:

How do we practice this?

Relational surrender. He’s inside of us and leads us according to the Father’s will/heart.

Access to resurrection power.

Give: Peter and James example.

Receive: Electricity goes to the house, but isn’t activated until the light switch is on. Flip the switch.

Listen - don’t talk.

Stop worrying and start praying in the Spirit. This is how you fight your battles?

When the Spirit of God is moving in your life, you will be led to pray.

Response:

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