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How To Pray Week 5
#1
CHAPTER V
PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT
1. Over and over again in what has already been said, we have seen our dependence upon the Holy Spirit in prayer. This comes out very definitely in Eph 6:18, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT," and in Jude 20, "Praying IN THE HOLY GHOST." Indeed the whole secret of prayer is found in these three words, "in the Spirit." It is the prayer that God the Holy Spirit inspires that God the Father answers.
The disciples did not know how to pray as they ought, so they came to Jesus and said,"Lord teach us to pray." We know not how to pray as we ought, but we have another Teacher and Guide right at hand to help us (John 14:16-17), "The Spirit helpeth our infirmity" (Rom 8:26, R.V.). He teaches us how to pray. True prayer is prayer in the Spirit; that is, the prayer the Spirit inspires and directs. When we come into God's presence we should recognize "our infirmity," our ignorance of what we should pray for or how we should pray for it, and in the consciousness of our utter inability to pray aright we should look up to the Holy Spirit, casting ourselves utterly upon Him to direct our prayers, to lead out our desires and to guide our utterance of them.
Nothing can be more foolish in prayer than to rush heedlessly into God's presence, and ask the first thing that comes into our mind, or that some thoughtless friend has asked us to pray for. When we first come into God's presence we should be silent before Him. We should look up to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray. We must wait for the Holy Spirit, and surrender ourselves to the Spirit, then we shall pray aright.
Oftentimes when we come to God in prayer, we do not feel like praying. What shall one do in such a case? cease praying until he does feel like it? Not at all. When we feel least like praying is the time when we most need to pray. We should wait quietly before God and tell Him how cold and prayerless our hearts are, and look up to Him and trust Him and expect Him to send the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts and draw them out in prayer. It will not be long before the glow of the Spirit's presence will fill our hearts, and we will begin to pray with freedom, directness, earnestness and power. Many of the most blessed seasons of prayer I have ever known have begun with a feeling of utter deadness and prayerlessness, but in my helplessness and coldness I have cast myself upon God, and looked to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach me to pray, and He has done it.
When we pray in the Spirit, we will pray for the right things and in the right way. There will be joy and power in our prayer.
2. If we are to pray with power we must pray WITH FAITH. In Mark 11:24 Jesus says, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." No matter how positive any promise of God's Word may be, we will not enjoy it in actual experience unless we confidently expect its fulfillment in answer to our prayer. "If any of you lack wisdom," says James, "let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." Now that promise is as positive as a promise can be, but the next verse adds,
"But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." (R.V.) There must then be confident unwavering expectation. But there is a faith that goes beyond expectation, that believes that the prayer is heard and the promise granted. This comes out in the Revised Version of Mark 11:24, "Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye HAVE received them, and ye shall have them."
But how can one get this faith?
Let us say with all emphasis, it cannot be pumped up. Many a one reads this promise about the prayer of faith, and then asks for things that he desires and tries to make himself believe that God has heard the prayer. This ends only in disappointment, for it is not real faith and the thing is not granted. It is at this point that many people make a collapse of faith altogether by trying to work up faith by an effort of their will, and as the thing they made themselves believe they expected to get is not given, the very foundation of faith is oftentimes undermined.
But how does real faith come?
Rom 10:17 answers the question: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing BY THE WORD OF GOD." If we are to have real faith, we must study the Word of God and find out what is promised, then simply believe the promises of God. Faith must have a warrant. Trying to believe something that you want to believe is not faith. Believing what God says in His Word is faith. If I am to have faith when I pray, I must find some promise in the Word of God on which to rest my faith. Faith furthermore comes through the Spirit. The Spirit knows the will of God, and if I pray in the Spirit, and look to the Spirit to teach me God's will, He will lead me out in prayer along the line of that will, and give me faith that the prayer is to be answered; but in no case does real faith come by simply determining that you are going to get the thing that you want to get.
If there is no promise in the Word of God, and no clear leading of the Spirit, there can be no real faith, and there should be no upbraiding of self for lack of faith in such a case. But if the thing desired is promised in the Word of God, we may well upbraid ourselves for lack of faith if we doubt; for we are making God a liar by doubting His Word.
—How To Pray
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#2
I have polite prayers and I have prevailing prayers.

The polite prayers often are for those that simply put, think that God responds to their every whim. I have to respond to countless prayer requests daily. I type a prayer for almost all, of these because I feel God has impressed me that it ministers, but then I pray God's will privately for that request. I cannot pray against God's Word. The prevailing prayers are the ones that are led by the Holy Spirit which comes about from knowing the Word.

I have a long way to go in defining and sharpening the area of prayer in my life to please God.
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#3
Quote:When we first come into God's presence we should be silent before Him. We should look up to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray. We must wait for the Holy Spirit, and surrender ourselves to the Spirit, then we shall pray aright.


This is really good advice. We need to be still before and meditate on Him and allow ourseves to get into tune with Him.

Candy, I sometimes have trouble knowing how to respond to some requests.-- Not wanting to hurt a person's feelings.
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#4
This is a perfect study. We are learning foremost what God wants, not what we want. That is the person that prevails in prayer.

Praying on behalf of others is a very difficult thing because we are not accountable for their desires that do not always match up with God's. I have had responses of ungratitude toward my prayers. A person will spell out exactly what THEY want, how YOU should pray and WHY getting the exact answer they want is very important to them. We know that this is not a request that God is going to honor and it is tempting to say, I can't top that, sorry. LOL

But in reality, what we can do is not to offend in anything, say a sweet prayer, and leave the rest to God to grow them and answer as He pleases.


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#5
I agree. I sometimes don't know how to respond to a prayer request. I believe if we continue to pray in God's will, God is pleased with us. I have to be honest, sometimes I don't think he is pleased with some of my prayers, probably because of the way I come to Him at times. It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen. This is one area I need to do better.
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#6
Barbara, did you know that even a teardrop is a prayer that God relishes? I'll just guess throughout your life there have been many of those.
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#7
A Place Called In The Spirit
Pastor Mark Stephens
Mar 12, 2007


A PLACE CALLED “IN THE SPIRIT”



Ephesians 6:18 “Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit . . .”



Johns wrote in Revelation 1:10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. . .”



While “in the Spirit” John saw some of the most awesome things any human being has ever had the privilege of seeing.



In the hundreds of years since the phrase, “in the Spirit” has become a familiar part of the Christian’s vocabulary, particularly in the Pentecostal and Charismatic circles.



But what does it mean?



“In the Spirit” has been defined as the place where you are more aware of spiritual and heavenly things than you are of natural and earthly things. In other words, it is the place where you are more aware of God and His solution than you are of your problem.



If we extend that understanding to “praying in the Spirit,” it means praying until we become more conscious of God than we are of the situations we face. Likewise, to worship in the Spirit, we must worship until we are more aware of God and His presence than we are of the person standing next to us, our physical surroundings or even the time of day.



When you are in the Spirit, you are not focused on natural things. You do not wonder what other people think of you or how long it will be before the service is over so you can beat the “other” churches to the local buffet. You are aware of one thing and that one thing is the presence of Jesus.



When you enter into the realm of the Spirit more miracles will be manifest and more of God’s purposes can be fulfilled. The purpose of this message is to help you discover how to find this place called “in the Spirit.” Once you find it then it will be up to you to decide whether you are going to be an occasional visitor or a permanent resident living in the midst of God’s presence, power and glory!



What does it mean to pray “in the Spirit;” worship “in the Spirit,” or live “in the Spirit?” That is what we are about to discover through God’s Word. There we will find some keys to understanding how to not only enter into but dwell in the manifest presence of Almighty God.



Of course, this little message will not be complete. There will always be more to learn about this subject, because the things of God are inexhaustible. Know matter how much we know (or think we know) of the Holy Ghost or how much we have experienced Him in our lives and ministries, there will always be more to learn about Him in the eons and ages to come.



Picture if you will ten million years from now, we will be saying, “Lord, could you give more wisdom on this subject?” We will never stop asking to experience more of Him.



But we can grow in our understanding. We have to start somewhere as we pursue more of god and a higher spiritual walk than we have ever experienced. Look if you will at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18:



“Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).”



Here we see that God wants us to continually pray in the spirit. But what does that mean? Does praying in the spirit simply refer to praying in tongues? In one sense it does, include praying in tongues, but this verse says, “ . . . with all manner of prayer and entreaty . . .” This means that being “in the Spirit” is much broader than just utilizing your heavenly prayer language. In the Spirit does not refer to how you pray or the way you pray. In the Spirit is the place you pray.



According to Jesus, “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24). He lives in the spirit realm. In that realm, there is a very real throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). You can go to that throne of grace from any place on earth, because there is not distance in the spirit.



In order to talk with God-which is the very definition of prayer-you must go to the throne of grace, the place where God is. Notices I said this is necessary if you want to talk with God-not just to God, but with Him. Most folk pray by simply speaking words addressed to God. They do not even expect to hear from Him in return. Their prayers are simply religious monologues.



Prayer was never meant to be a monologue. True prayer is a dialogue, an conversation between two beings.



To have dialogue with God, you have to “draw near” to Him (Hebrews 10:22). You do that by allowing the awareness of God to rise in your heart until your consciousness shifts and you find yourself beginning to sense His presence within you. When that happens, you know you have entered into that realm called “in the Spirit.” That is where all real communion with God takes place.



Think of it this way and you will easily see why that is true. Naturally speaking, if you want to talk to a person in the next room, you can choose to stand where you are and scream his/her name loudly, hoping he/she will hear and maybe respond.



But you are not going to receive a clear response that way. In order to have any kind of quality conversation, you will have to walk into the next room where that person is and talk with him/her face to face.



Obviously, it just makes good sense to go in our hearts to the place where God is-the realm of the Spirit-where we talk with Him. That is why Ephesians 6:18 instructs us to pray in the spirit with all kinds of prayer according to the Word of God.



Being in the spirit is vital to an effective prayer that is should be our primary focus when we are in our closet praying. We should not be spending our time trying to pray when we can go to a place of prayer. We should be using our energy and faith to simply draw near to God and get in the spirit, because that is where we will be able to hear His voice and follow His leading.



When you are in the spirit, you will discover that prayer comes more easily.



We can do more than just pray in that place called “in the Spirit.” According to Philippians 3:3 we can worship there too:



“For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God.”



We don’t know nearly as much about worshiping in the spirit as we will once Jesus returns.



Contrary to what many think, worship in the spirit is not singing three praise songs (the fast upbeat ones) and then followed by three worship songs (the slow ones), then shaking heads with your neighbors and sitting down. A thousand times no!



Worship is to be in spirit and in truth, according to God’s Word in John 4:24. That, my friends, is the only place we are to worship-in the spirit, before the throne of Grace.



Just as with prayer, worship in the spirit is not the way you worship or how you worship. When you worship in the spirit, you are worshiping in a place-a place where you are consciously caught up in the presence of God and the realm where He lives. That is what the Holy Spirit is essentially saying to the Church through Paul in Philippians when he penned:



“As those who are of the true circumcision, we worship in this awesome, incredible places called in the spirit.”



I need to emphasize that this is a real place. Many are under the wrong impression that just because they cannot see it, hear it, touch it, or otherwise perceive with their senses, that it is not real. The realm of the spirit is more real than this earthly realm. It existed before the earth was created, and will remain after the world ends.



In fact, this earthly realm that can be seen was made from a substance which came out of the unseen, spiritual realm. Hebrews 11:3 says, “The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” It is actually the unseen realm that gave birth to the seen realm.



The spirit realm is not some misty plane of nothingness. It is a real place full of spirit beings, activity and resources. It is the place where angels dwell and operate. Often, when you get into that realm, you will become aware of those things. You won’t see them with your physical eyes; but with your spiritual senses, you will perceive them.



The Bible tells us of one particular time when God actually did let a man physically see into the spirit realm. He was the servant of the prophet Elisha. His name was Gehazi.



When he and Elisha were surrounded by an hostile army, Elisha comforted him by praying, “Lord, I pray you, open his eyes that he may see” (2nd Kings 6:17). In response to that prayer, God allowed the servant to see into that placed called “In the Spirit.” Do you know what he saw? An angelic army, complete with horses, chariots and fire, prepared to protect them.



Thank God we do not have to have our physical eyes open to the realm of the spirit to see into it. We can enter that realm by drawing near to God in our hearts by faith; and with the eyes of our own reborn spirit we can “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen” (2nd Corinthians 4:18).



What happens when we do that? Just like Elisha’s servant, we discover resources of God beyond our own ability to imagine; words from God that precisely meet the need of the moment; answers that come directly from the throne of grace; and supernatural works of God sent forth to heal, save, and deliver.



These are just some of the benefits that are ours when we determine to seek after God with all our heart and find that place called “in the Spirit.”



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