Listen to this articleIn as much as Jesus tells us that those who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth, the same applies for prayer. The most effective way to pray, is to pray in the Spirit.
Ephesians 6:18 New International Version (NIV)
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.
This scripture reveals a lot about prayer. A lot of people tend to confuse, Praying with the spirit and praying in the spirit. Paul speaks in 1 corinthians 14 about Praying with the spirit in relation to speaking in tongues.
However, when it comes to praying in the Spirit Paul says with all kinds of prayer. What this means is that there are many different kinds of prayer, not just one. There are many ways to pray. However, in which ever kind of prayer you are doing, it should be done in The Spirit.
When one is praying in the Spirit, they are sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit as they are praying. You follow the unction of the Holy Spirit in your prayer.
Jude 19-21
19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 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.
A person who is praying in the Spirit, will naturally direct his prayer to the Father when it is necessary, to Jesus when he needs to. They will be silent when silence is needed and shout when shouting is needed. They will declare things that need declaration and ask where asking is needed. They will know and have assurance when their prayer has been answered. they will just know when enough is enough. The person may not understand why… but they will pray the right way every time.
So the purpose of this teaching is not to create another formula for prayer, but to merely help you understand why sometimes the Spirit will lead you to the Father and other times to Jesus, when you are led to declare and when you are led to ask.
Because when people have been given certain doctrines, they become self conscious in prayer. Their ignorance and unanswered questions will lead them to resist the unction of the Spirit.
Romans 8:26-28 New International Version (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.
As long as you pray in the Spirit, even when you are not sure what to pray for, even when you are ‘wrong’, The Holy Spirit himself intercedes for you and packages your prayer in a way that is acceptable to God.
1 John 2:20 King James Version (KJV)
20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
1 John 2:27 New International Version (NIV)
27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
When John says, you know all things because of the unction in you… it is not an intellectual knowledge because no person is All-Knowing. It is not even the gift of the word of knowledge because Paul says, we know in part.
But that unction, that anointing in you is the Holy Spirit who is God himself and He knows all things. And if you have Him inside you, He will direct you even in prayer. Certain words will make sense in that moment and others will not.
It is this same unction that gave the apostles words as they preached.
Luke 12:11-12 New English Translation (NET Bible)
11 But when they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you should make your defense or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you must say.”
The same works when one is praying in The Spirit.
Genesis 24:42-45 New English Translation (NET Bible)
42 When I came to the spring today, I prayed, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you have decided to make my journey successful, may events unfold as follows: 43 Here I am, standing by the spring. When the young woman goes out to draw water, I’ll say, “Give me a little water to drink from your jug.”
44 Then she will reply to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too.” May that woman be the one whom the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’
45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, along came Rebekah with her water jug on her shoulder! She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
When you begin to speak concerning God or to God in your heart… even if you don’t think of it as prayer, but as you begin to address your thoughts to God, he will hear you and respond.
Even when you speak ill of God.
When God told the Israelites they would not enter the promised land, it was in response to the things they had said in their hearts, at their homes before they came to the tabernacle.
Deuteronomy 1:27-29 New English Translation (NET Bible)
27 You complained among yourselves privately and said, “Because the Lord hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us!
28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage by describing people who are more numerous and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven itself! Moreover, they said they saw Anakites there.” 29 So I responded to you, “Do not be terrified of them!
34 When the Lord heard you, he became angry and made this vow: 35 “Not a single person of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors!
The Israelites were now standing at the tabernacle and God responded to the things they had said whilst they were still in their tents.
People think that God starts to listen to them when they get to church and the Pastor says, “let’s pray”. In Deuteronomy we see that God can respond to the thoughts you had in your heart whilst you were still at home. God is always listening.
Even when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees against blaspheming the Holy Spirit, they had not said a word, they had just thought it in their hearts.
Matthew 12:24-25 King James Version (KJV)
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
So when you begin to say in your heart… “But i wish God would do give me this…” He is already hearing you, even as you are saying…. I need to pray for this situation.
A lot of people will say a lot of things against God in their hearts, and then kneel down and start flattering God. It doesn’t work.
God is always listening. And he reacts to the things you think of him.
I have found myself reading this again…. i have been refreshed in the Lord