Power In Prayer

Recap

Today we finish up on our series on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit for this year.

The day of Pentecost was the birth of the New Testament Church. Jesus wanted a church that would be powerful and great affect in their communities and their world.

he Baptized them with the Holy Spirit

Remember the Baptism of the Holy spirit:

Confirms us as the Children of God

Commends us with God’s approval over our lives

Commissions us to go into all the world (in the power and authority of Jesus name) and make a difference

He does this by:

Empowering us

Emboldening us

Emblazing us

He is the other helper. Jesus being the first helper

He lives in us, where Jesus just lived with his disciples.

he gives us all wisdom, not just for the moment but for the future

He teaches us, not just spiritual things, but in all things

I showed you the power and authority that Jesus said that we would have as we go into the world and fulfill the great commission.

Mark 16:15–18 NKJV

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

I told you that some versions of the Bible are missing these verses.

What I forgot to tell you is that there is also another explanation for that other than what I shared with you last week.

In 2 of the older manuscripts, this chapter only goes up to verse 8

Some scholars feel that that’s because someone added verses 9-20 later.

Yet, many of the church fathers did historically speak about knowing these verses and them being a part of their faith.

I just wanted to make that clear, in case you would ever say something to someone and get that reply.

No matter what, I still want you to know that there are plenty of other scriptures that point to these sings following those who believe:

Power to cast out demons

Power to heal the sick

The divine protection of God upon their lives as they go

and the ability to speak in a spiritual language.

I showed you from how there are two distinct gifts of this heavenly language.

One for use in the corporate church service - where the Holy Spirit will use anyone who is willing and available to speak a message from God to the people in a spiritual language, but how Paul says that if it is just that language that it does the church a huge injustice, because nobody is build up or edified except the person who the Holy spirit used.

Paul says there must be order in the service. And so there must be an interpretation. Another person (or same person) who is willing to be used to speak what God is saying in English. This edifies the whole body.

2. And then number two, is the prayer language that each individual is given to intercede and pray the very heart of god into every situation.

Again it is the Holy Spirit praying through a person, but the person is in control

they don’t know what they are praying

They don’t understand what they are praying for

But they are very much turning it on and off as they will.

Romans 8:26 NKJV

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. 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:

Let’s continue in this this morning and finish this series up.

Let’s open up to those scriptures from last week.

1 Corinthians 14:13–17 NKJV

Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

So Paul says, if the gift of the manifestation of tongues is present in the church, there should also be the gift of interpretation. And the church is blessed.

But more or less what he is saying is that our private prayer language should be saved for home. In our private prayer times, because that is the time for you to be blessed

Why Pray in the Spirit?

Paul says if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays.

When our spirit prays, we become multidirectional in our prayers.

for the most part, when our minds pray, we pray one directional prayers - We pray about us and those things or people that are important to us.

We pray about what we want and the things we want to see

But the Spirit prays according to God’s thoughts and ways.

Spirit prayers open us up to his will for our lives

Lord, make me your servant

Lord direct my to be where you want me to be today

Lord, your will be done and accomplished over my will

Lord, let me give from everything that I have, not just what I think I have.

Keep in mind that our spirit is how the spirit of god communicates with us.

Imagine how much more natural it is, then, for us to communicate back through our Spirit to His.

It’s sort of like the Israelites at jericho. god tells them not to talk as they walk around the walls believing for the victory.

Why? Because their talk would have been doubts and negatives.

And many times if we just pray with our understanding or our minds, we can be there a lot of the time as well.

But when we pray in the spirit, our mind doesn’t get to decide what we think about what we are praying for.

So first and foremost, praying in the Spirit aligns our prayers and life with that of the Spirit of God.

Prayin in the Spirit bypasses our emotions.

Did you ever notice how emotional your prayer times can become depending on the situations you have been going through.

There are angry prayers, crying prayers, stubborn prayers and so on

Your spirit is not effected by your emotions.

And praying in the spirit can actually effect your emotions and bring them to the place they need to be.

Praying in the Spirit supercedes our knowledge.

Who here knows and understands everything this morning.

I mean NASA has a hotline to your home, because you hold all the answers to their space travel problems

Anyone? No

Well there is someone here today who knows everything. Not only does He know it, but he created it or put it in the mind of mankind to build.

When I pray in my Holy Spirit inspired prayer language, The prayers that I am praying are prayers far beyond my knowledge

I may be speaking to a situation on mine or someone else’s life that I could never fix or even know how to council

but the great Counselor, the Holy Spirit is at work, speaking to the very heart of God for that situation and bringing about the right plan and procedure to make it happen.

When I am praying, the Holy Spirit is teaching my heart things that I’ll never understand. But they start to take root in my spirit without my realizing it and soon, I’m living in a different way.

My words have changed, my manerisms have changed. My thought process and my prayer life have all changed

How many could use that today?

When I pray in this Prayer language that the Spirit of God enables me to, my worship is taken to a whole new dimension.

You’ve heard me say before that I do not have the words in my english language that can properly declare who God is. I know that he is awesome.

But I say that about riding my motorcycle as well.

But when I begin to praise him in this language, I have a new vocabulary, that has to be so much better because I feel it.

I know we don’t walk by feeling. But I want you to know today that when I have spent just a little time with God in my Spiritual language, I am charged. The atmosphere where I have been praying at, is charged.

So I know that I’m doing something that is far beyond what I could ever accomplish in my native language.

Part of that higher wisdom and worship of the Holy Spirit begins to affect our lives.

Petra - Life is a mine field

The enemy has laid traps for each and everyone of us. And I don’t know about you, but more than I’d like to admit, I seem to fall right into them.

(finish thought)

Romans 8:26–27 NKJV

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. 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. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.