Prayer: Following Message on Sunday, August 24th

The goal of this blog is to expand the thoughts about praying by the Holy Spirit. Sunday I referred to the "How" of praying being built on the relationship to the divine. That we pray to the Father, through Jesus, the Son, by the Holy Spirit.

The question arose in my mind, "What does it mean to pray by the Holy Spirit?" I am going to answer this but will use some terms interchangeably: "by the Holy Spirit" and "in the Holy Spirit." Here is a brief summary statement of the meaning of this term, "to pray in a manner that the Holy Spirit is the moving and guiding power. In other words, when you pray in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God is "moving" you to pray. That is, He is the one who motivates and enables and energizes your prayer. And when you pray in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God is "guiding" how you pray and what you pray for. We pray by His power and according to His direction."1

In Ephesians 6:18 Paul concludes the teaching on the armor of God by saying that all prayers should occur by this method, "praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." (ESV). Therefore, praying by the Holy Spirit is not one method among many, it is the essential form or means for every prayer.

Sunday I referred to the necessity of prayer being done in faith. Romans 8:26 further emphasizes this dependency on our part in the area of prayer. "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." It is because of this verse that we must admit that without the help of the Holy Spirit we could not pray as we ought to. This emphasizes the earlier point about the necessity of the Holy Spirit guiding us in our prayers as well.

In Galatians 3:1-5 Paul addresses the conflict of the flesh versus faith. "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?" It is easy for us to identify from this passage the need for us to respond in faith in what God is doing through the person of the Holy Spirit, rather than build our prayers with an an attitude of independence, trusting our own abilities. The flesh will leave us wanting.

There is one final encouragement that I want to share about praying by the Holy Spirit. It is essential to pray in conformity with the Word of God, which the Holy Spirit inspired. So the goal is to meditate on the Word of God, day and night, memorizing portions so that you can carry it with you all day. This affords the Holy Spirit the opportunity to shape your thoughts by that Word, moving you and guiding you. Then when we find this economy at work in our lives we take what we know of God's will from the Word and saturate our prayers with it.

So my appeal to you is this. In your prayers, wherever you are, pray by the Holy Spirit, counting on His help as you live out the teachings of the Bible. It means you will need to stay in study of the Bible and time in prayer.

Thanks for checking out my blog! Know that I love you all and look forward to the next time we are together.
1. John Piper, January 7, 2001: Learning to Pray in Spirit and the Word - Part 2

Shouting Out To Eric Reed

Eric,

You have inspired me to finally go for this. I am in the midst of taking an E License for Soccer Coaching so I will get back to this sometime this week. May this provide hours of enjoyment for you and the many others across this wonderful planet who have nothing better to do than think about the things I am thinking about.