Praying in the Holy Spirit

After The description of the armour of God, in Ephesians 6, we are instructed to be praying in the Holy Spirit. If we are in the spirit we will be doing all the rest, wearing our helmet of salvation, our breastplate of righteousness, our belt of truth, our shoes of the gospel of peace, and we'll be holding up our shield of faith while also wielding the Word of God as our sword.

Prayer that is led by the Spirit is usually for others, and for the furtherance of the gospel. It will be about fearless witnessing. It will be about getting to know the Lord better, and intercession for the lost.

Praying in the Spirit, does not over-look our physical and material needs, for Jesus Himself taught us to ask for our daily bread - our needs. The book of James also instructs us to call for the elders to pray for healing when we are sick. We do not have to be praying in public or in a language we don't already know, to be praying in the Spirit. It is more a matter of desiring God's will and praying in line with it as far as we understand it, with the proviso that He may veto or edit our prayers if we have not understood His will correctly.

To truly pray effectively on all fronts, we must be praying in the Spirit.

In the Name of Jesus

The very first prayer that anyone needs to pray to enter into a relationship with God, is the humble, repentant prayer that confesses to God that we are a sinner and have no right to stand before Him at all except that now we trust in Jesus, who shed His blood for us on the cross. That's what it means to come to God in the name of Jesus.

Our prayer relationship with God continues on that basis. With it should come a great thankfulness to Jesus, for washing our sins away with His blood.

In the same transaction we are now born again and have the Holy Spirit of God living in us! If we listen and yield to the teaching and prompting of God's Holy Spirit, we will learn praying to pray from the Holy Spirit Himself.

Quote by Dr. Samuel Zwemer:

"Prayer is God the Holy Spirit talking to God the Father in the name of God the Son, and the believer's heart is the prayer room."

Are All Believers Praying in the Spirit?

No. Not all believers are praying in the Spirit. Some Christians grow carnal (that is, they have lustful, worldly attitudes), and they may even grieve or quench the Holy Spirit, by causing disharmony among co-workers, between spouses, or have pride and bitterness in their heart. Many other sins may be lurking in their heart, even though they may still be talking as if they are strong Christians of faith.

Sadly, not everyone who calls him or herself a Christian is praying in the Spirit.

What Praying in the Spirit Looks Like

In case you are wondering whether you are truly praying in the Spirit, or what your life should look like, here are some clear signs.

You will know that you have access to the Father - if you have trusted Christ to have died for your sins and risen again to give you new life, you will simply KNOW that you can come to the Father at any time. It is the witness of His Spirit that assures you of that. God the Father, and Jesus the Son are very close! We are now part of that intimate relationship.

You will desire and love to worship Jesus and God - Surely, if you are in Christ, you are part of that Trinity and you will be always more awestruck at how great and holy God is, and what an awesome thing Christ did to take your place. You will be eager to obey Him too.

You may start to pray not sure what to say; then the Holy Spirit steps in and helps you. - We are also told that the Spirit will pray for us when we don't know how to express our prayers. But we must make an effort and try. Don't refrain from praying when you are not sure what words to use. The dear Holy Spirit will amplify and improve our prayers!

So then, let us throw ourselves wholeheartedly into praying in the Holy Spirit. Count on Him to help you and to interrupt your prayer to God in the way God wants to hear it. You'll learn wonderful things if you pay close attention in all of this.