Praying in the Spirit

Our series on the Holy Spirit is designed to help us in two areas.

One, I hope it has provided some clarification and encouragement regarding the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

We need to remember that this promised gift is for ALL believers.

We need to remember that this promised gift is given with purpose.

We seek the promised gift of the Spirit and speak in tongues by faith as evidence to what the Spirit is doing within.

So once a believer has experienced Spirit baptism, what can they expect to happen next? Is this a one-time experience? DO we simply mark the “accomplished” box on our spiritual “to-do list” and look for the next step?

The promised gift of Spirit empowerment is given with purpose. Acts 1:8 tells us that we become empowered witnesses for Jesus… but what does that look like exactly?

We see an example of it in Acts 2 through Peter as he addresses the crowd. But is exhortation the only area in which the Spirit empowers our witness?

Spirit empowered speech is the evidence of Spirit baptism - speech or language as the Spirit gives utterance. Spirit baptism… is verbal. Spirit baptism is an overflow of God’s power being poured in.

When pouring a glass of water, no notice is taken when the water stays within the holding capacity of the glass.

But when there is an overflow, the glass can no longer contain it. It is NOT God giving us too much… it is God moving through us for the world around us.

Consider this: if a pitcher of water is being poured out with no glass to catch it… that is NOT overflow, that is a spill.

We are not asking God to aimlessly spill His presence out… God intentionally pours His Spirit out to overflowing.

That overflow moves us… beyond us… and into what the Lord has in store.

Tonight we are going to be talking about Praying in the Spirit. Did you know that the Spirit of God will supernaturally help us pray when we need Him to? Look at what Scripture has to say.

Romans 8:26–27 NIV

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to pray for something… but you struggled to come up with the words to say?

I remember a time several years ago when we were transitioning between ministries.

We were heading to Bedford Illinois for an interview with a pastor… 14 driving hours away from where we were. The pastor offered to fly us out to the church… and I hesitated to accept his generous offering.

I didn’t know why I had a hesitation. I am not afraid of flying, and the thought of not spending 14 hours in a car sounded like a good idea to me. But something didn’t let me say yes right away… so I went home and prayed about it.

I had no idea what I was praying for… I only had a check in my Spirit - so I prayed in the Spirit. I didn’t pray in English, I prayed in other tongues as the Spirit enabled me.

After spending time in prayer, I simply felt the Holy Spirit telling me not to fly to Illinois. My heart was a bit disappointed… 14 hours one way in a car is not my idea of fun. But I submitted to what the Spirit was telling me.

I got home and sat down with Kristy and began to tell her what God had said to me. To my surprise, she told me God had given her a check in her spirit as well. We were not supposed to fly to Illinois.

Now… did a plane crash that weekend? No. Was there some kind of terrible incident at the airport that weekend? No.

To this day I do not know why God kept us from traveling by air… but I know what He spoke to me and my wife. I didn’t know how to pray in that moment… but the Spirit of God led the way.

Now… what about other examples? What about in situations when simply do not know what to say? Does God help us then?

There have been multiple times when I didn’t have the words needed, but God came through by the Spirit.

There have been times when my emotions were on overdrive and my mind was as clear as mud. There have been times when I was at a complete and total loss… I had reached my physical limit.

Do we understand tonight that the Spirit of God is not limited like we are? HE SPECIALIZES IN OPERATING BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF OUR LIMITATIONS!

Speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance has more purposes outside of revealing the baptism in the holy Spirit in the life of the believer. It is a spiritual language given to us by God that is spoken by faith.

It truly is a language miracle… and the Bible records two uses for this language miracle.

One is PRAYER. This is both a private and public purpose. Many times the use of our spiritual language is to assist us when we pray… when we do not know what to say. In many cases when praying for others in the altar, God will lead me to pray in tongues… to allow the Spirit to move and to take charge in that moment.

Another biblical use is PROCLAMATION. The book of 1 Corinthians in chapters 12 and 14 mentions two spiritual gifts that work together in a public or corporate setting: tongues and the interpretation of tongues.

The Bible is very clear on something very important. Speaking in tongues in a proclamation sense has no value to the body UNLESS followed by an interpretation.

Do not mishear my words: tongues spoken in prayer HAVE VALUE. Tongues spoken in praise HAVE VALUE. Tongues spoken to the body with not interpretation serve as a distraction to the body instead of a sign of what God is doing.

1 Corinthians 14:27–28 NIV

27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.

Why does God give us this instruction? Because God is NOT the author of confusion. He is an orderly God. A proclaimed word in tongues without an interpretation becomes a distraction to what the Lord is doing instead of being a Spirit-led moment.

God gives believers the gifts of the Spirit… but they are not disorderly gifts. They are gifts that are given for the sake and glory of His kingdom.

So why praying in tongues? What are the benefits of such and what does it look like?

Praying in the Spirit is far from being a lazy way to pray. We pray in the Spirit when we don’t know what to say. We pray in the Spirit when we know we need to pray… but we don’t know what we need to pray for - like my air plane example - why is there a check in my spirit?

I want to look at a few examples of what praying includes and why it is extremely important in our walk with the Lord today.

Intercession

We hear this word a lot but do we know what it means?

Intercessory prayer is is praying for someone else. The word intercession means “to plead or advocate on behalf of another.”

This is what the Holy Spirit does for us when we pray in our spiritual language. He uses our lips and our voice to pray accurately, powerfully, and effectively to God about a situation of great importance.

We can see the Spirit at work in two ways:

The Spirit INTERCEDES for us.

Go back to our verse in Romans… when we don’t know what to pray… the Spirit helps us in our moment of weakness.

I have found myself many times… at the end of my rope. No mental power left, no emotional power left, no physical power left. There have been moments when I couldn’t complete a full sentence in a prayer if I tried. But God has NEVER left me hanging.

When I turned to God is prayer, the Spirit has helped me pray.

Sometimes… our prayers can lack a few things. And thankfully, the Spirit of God is there to assist.

Our payers… need help. When we don’t know what to pray or how to pray, the Spirit knows exactly what we need to pray.

Our prayer… need accuracy. When we pray, we may be uncertain as to what God’s will is. But the Spirit of God… KNOWS THE WILL OF GOD. Where we might be uncertain, the Spirit is certain in all things.

Our prayers… need expression. Sometimes… words are not enough. At times we feel so burdened in our spirits that saying words seems incomplete. But praying in the Spirit helps us carry that inner burden out to the Lord. The Spirit guides us until our need has been carried into heaven and deposited in the hands of God.

And… what about in the area of praying for others?

I cannot begin to count how many times I have prayed in the Spirit for friends, family, congregants, missionaries, and members of the community.

Maybe a friend asks you to pray but doesn’t give many details. “Pray for healing in my body.”

General prayer requests are turned into targeted and purposeful prayers through God’s Holy Spirit.

We may not know every detail… but the Spirit of God does. AND… the Spirit knows the will of God. So as we pray in the Spirit for the needs of others, We pray in a more precise and purposeful way as led by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit helps us pray through intercession.

Edification and Fortification

A second are in which the Holy Spirit helps us is Edification and Fortification.

These two areas are different but they are closely related.

Edification defined is the instruction or improvement of a person morally or intellectually. I would add spiritually as well.

Fortification defined is a defensive wall or other reinforcement built to strengthen a place against attack.

So edification and fortification is the improvement and strengthening of the believer.

Church… we all need opportunities to be poured into. We need to be hearing from the Lord in ways that help us mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and morally in our walk with Him

Along with this we need to strengthen our resolve or build up our defenses that would protect what God is building within us.

And the Holy Spirit is here to help us do both.

When we pray in the Spirit, His Spirit works to lift us up and strengthen our lives.

We have established that praying in the Spirit helps us to talk with God. He helps us to pray when we do not have words to say.

But look at what 1 Corinthians 14:4 says about this experience.

1 Corinthians 14:4 NIV

4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.

We see the Spirit moving in both a private way and public way in this verse.

Privately, when we speak in or pray in tongues, it is a moment where the Spirit is edifying that person. The word that is coming through tongues is for his or her personal edification.

Publicly, prophecy is given by the Spirit to edify the body. This can also happen through a word of tongues and interpretation.

But when we pray in the Spirit, the Spirit works to edify the person who is praying… or who is being prayed for.

What about in the area of fortification? Look at what the Word has to say in Jude 20-21

Jude 20–21 NIV

20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

The Word is clear… the way we KEEP OURSELVES IN GOD’S LOVE is through the building (or fortifying) of our faith and praying in the Spirit.

How does this happen?

The Holy Spirit establishes us in God’s love. He reveals the fact that God NEVER stops loving us.

The Holy Spirit reminds us of truth. Jesus said in John 16:13

John 16:13 NIV

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

The Holy Spirit strengthens our faith. As we pray in the Spirit, our capacity to believe what God has promised increases. As He operates more within our lives, more of what He has becomes available to us.

In other words, as we pray in the Spirit, THE SPIRIT GOES TO WORK WITHIN US. He edifies us and fortifies us. He strengthens our walk and faith in the Lord!

Confrontation

This one might sound odd at first but the Spirit helps us in the area of confrontation.

What kind of confrontation? Spiritual warfare. The Spirit of God helps us in our daily battles.

Consider this: The enemy will never let up on us. If you are a believer in Jesus, then you can bet the enemy is scheming against you and actively attacking you. The good news is… HE IS ALREADY DEFEATED.

Be that as it may… it is extremely important that we never go to battle, without our sword.

Ephesians 6 gives us a list of things we need to have in order to be prepared for spiritual warfare, but I want to draw our attention to verses 16-18.

Ephesians 6:16–18 NIV

16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Did you catch that? These passage lay out some defensive and offensive weapons we need to take to battle.

The shield of faith - defense.

Helmet of salvation - defense.

Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God - offense.

This revelation is our sword, inspired of the Spirit and unshakable by nature. Every time I preach I make sure I have my Bible with me.

I have the Scripture in my notes, but I want the Bible here with me. Why? Because I never want to go to battle without my sword.

I do not mistaken my words… the congregation is NOT an enemy, but there is an enemy that would love to keep this body from hearing the Word.

This passage also tells us to do what? It tells us to PRAY IN THE SPIRIT on all occasions and with all kinds of prayers and requests.

The Spirit helps us to confront the spiritual battles not only in our lives, but in the lives of others. WE NEED TO BE PRAYING FOR EACH OTHER. We need to be lifting each other up.

The Spirit of God is essential as we confront the spiritual needs and darkness that is trying to overcome God’s people.

WE ARE NOT IN THIS FIGHT ALONE. In Christ, the battle has already been won. We do not fight from a place of defeat, but from a place of victory. The Spirit helps us to remember that.

Lastly, praying in the Spirit helps with...

Revelation.

Revelation defined is making something evident or disclosing that which is hidden. We will talk more about this in the weeks to come. But for tonight, we need to know that the Spirit reveals things to us that we would otherwise never know.

Praying in the Spirit aligns our hearts and minds with the will and wisdom of God. As the Spirit intercedes, edifies, fortifies, and confronts, He also reveals to us what is needed in the moment.

I cannot tell you how many times God has brought me back to a truth I had forgotten or in my own understanding… overlooked. I cannot tell you how many times God has given me insight that I would have never had on my own.

God, through His Spirit, will guide us and direct us. He will reveal to us which way to go, what to do next, or the truth we need to hold onto.

Closing

These examples given tonight help us to understand why praying in the Spirit is so important in our walk with the Lord.

We begin to understand why it is emphasized in Scripture. Not only will it benefit us, but it will benefit those we are praying for.

We are a Pentecostal church which means we believe in AND OPERATE in the ways of the Holy Spirit… this is not something we simply declare… it is who we are and what we do.

In these last days, as God is pouring out His Spirit on all people… His people need to be praying in the Spirit more and more.

The challenges we face independently and as a culture are on the rise and they are intensifying. So shouldn’t our resolve to pray in the Spirit intensify?

So this evening, I close with this charge: we need to pray more in the Spirit.

All seasons of life should include prayer… but some seasons require more prayer. I believe we are in one of those seasons.

As faith is challenged, as our culture moves further from God, we need to be drawing closer to Him.

So… what if you have not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit? What if you have never spoken in tongues? Does this exclude you from being able to pray in the Spirit?

If you are saved, than the Holy Spirit is in you. I would encourage you to simply ask God to fill you. THE KEY IS TO REMAIN OPEN FOR WHAT THE LORD HAS FOR YOU. And When His Spirit comes as He promised… simply speak out in faith. God will fill you to overflowing.

So this week, take time to pray in the Spirit. Take time to seek the Lord. Take time to allow the Spirit of God to move in you and through you and see if He does not intercede, edify, fortify, confront, and reveal.