Seven - Praying in the Holy Spirit
Seven
Praying in the Holy Spirit
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).
Praying in the Holy Spirit means using the power given to us by God to maintain a simple relationship to Jesus Christ, and it is most difficult to realize this simple relationship in the matter of prayer.
Prayer Pervaded by Pentecost
We have to pray relying upon what has been revealed by the sent-down Holy Spirit, and the first revelation is that we do not know how to pray (see Romans 8:26). We have to learn to draw on our relationship to Jesus Christ. As we do, we realize that the Holy Spirit keeps us in simple relationship to our Lord while we pray. When we pray in the Holy Spirit we are released from our petitions. “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).
Then why ask? The whole meaning of prayer is that we may know God. The “asking and receiving” prayer is elementary; it is the part of prayer we can understand. But it is not necessarily praying in the Holy Spirit. Those who are not born again must ask and receive; but when we have received and have become rightly related to God, we must maintain this simplicity of belief in Him while we pray. Our minds must be saturated by the Revelation of prayer until we learn in every detail to pray in the Holy Spirit. Prayer is not an exercise, it is life.
Peculiar Sense of Need
A great many people do not pray because they do not feel any sense of need. The sign that the Holy Spirit is in us is that we realize that we are empty, not that we are full. We have a sense of absolute need. We come across people who try us, circumstances that are difficult, conditions that are perplexing, and all these things awaken a dumb sense of need, which is a sign that the Holy Spirit is there. If we are ever free from the sense of need, it is not because the Holy Spirit has satisfied us, but because we have been satisfied with as much as we have. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.” A sense of need is one of the greatest benedictions because it keeps our life rightly related to Jesus Christ.
Permeating Sense of Restraint
When we learn to pray in the Holy Spirit, we find there are some things for which we cannot pray. We sense a need for restraint. Never push and say, “I know it is God’s will and I am going to stick to it.” Beware. Remember the children of Israel: “He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:15). Let the Spirit of God teach you what He is driving at and learn not to grieve Him. If we are abiding in Jesus Christ we shall ask what He wants us to ask, whether we are conscious of doing so or not (see John 15:7).
Profound Sense of Christ’s Work
When we pray relying on the Holy Spirit, He will always bring us back to this one point: we are not heard because we are in earnest, or because we need to be heard, or because we will perish if we are not heard. We are heard only on the ground of the Atonement of our Lord (see Hebrews 10:19).
The efficacy of the atoning work of Christ is one thing that the Holy Spirit works into our understanding. As He interprets the meaning of that work to us, we learn never to bank on our own earnestness or on our sense of need. We never have the idea that God does not answer; we become restfully certain that He always does.
The Holy Spirit will continually interpret to us that the only ground of our approach to God is “by the blood of Jesus.” As we learn the spiritual culture of praying in the Holy Spirit, we find that God uses the common sense circumstances He puts us in, and the common sense people His providence places us among, to enable us to realize that the one fundamental thing in prayer is the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
Apprehension of God’s Resources
When we pray in the Holy Spirit we begin to have a more intimate conception of God. The Holy Spirit brings all through us the sense of His resources. For instance, the Holy Spirit may call us to a definite purpose for our life and we know that it means a decision, a reckless fling over onto God, a burning of our bridges behind us, and there is not a soul to advise us when we take that step except the Holy Spirit.
Our clingings come in this way: We put one foot on God’s side and one on the side of human reasoning. Then God widens the space until we either drop between or jump to one side. We have to take a leap—a reckless leap—and if we have learned to rely on the Holy Spirit, it will be a reckless leap to God’s side. So many of us limit our praying because we are not reckless in our confidence in God. In the eyes of those who do not know God, it is madness to trust Him, but when we pray in the Holy Spirit we begin to realize the resources of God, that He is our perfect heavenly Father, and we are His children.
Always keep an inner recollection that God is our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Atmosphere for Work
Praying in the Holy Spirit gives us a true insight into why Paul said we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
If the Holy Spirit is having His way in us, He will charge the atmosphere round about us. There are things that have to be cleared away by the Holy Spirit. Never fight; stand and wrestle. Wrestling is not fighting, it is confronting the antagonist on our own ground and maintaining a steady, all-embracing “stand” and “withstand.” How many of us succumb to flesh-and-blood circumstances—“I did not sleep well” or “I have indigestion” or “I did not do quite the right thing there.” Never allow any of these things to be your reason for not prevailing in prayer. Hundreds of people with impaired bodies know what it is to pray in the Holy Spirit.
In work for God never look at flesh-and-blood causes. Meet every arrangement for the day in the power of the Holy Spirit. It makes no difference what your work is or what your circumstances are if you are praying in the Holy Spirit. He will produce an atmosphere round about you, and all these things will result in the glory of God.
Apostolic Habit
“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Keep the child-like habit of continually exclaiming in your heart to God, recognize and rely on the Holy Spirit all the time. Inarticulate prayer, the impulsive prayer that looks so futile, is the thing God always heeds. The apostolic habit ought to be the persistent habit of each one of us.
Attitude of Daily Reaction
The way we react during the day will either hinder or help our praying. If we allow a reaction not born of a relationship to Jesus Christ, we shall have much wilderness waste to get through before we can come to God. Mists and shadows come between our conscious life and the interceding Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there all the time, but we have lost sight of Him. Anything that is so continually with us, even our religious life itself, that we never really pray in the Holy Spirit may be a hindrance.
The only one who prays in the Holy Spirit is the child, the child-spirit in us, the spirit of utter confidence in God. When we pray in the Holy Spirit we bring to God the things that come quite naturally to our minds, and the Holy Spirit who “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27) enables God to answer the prayer He Himself prays in our bodily temples. “That you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:45). The Holy Spirit cannot delight in our wisdom. It is the wisdom of God He delights in.
When we recognize that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit we will be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” said Jesus (Matthew 21:13).
Lord, how I desire to see You, to hear You, to meditate on You, and to manifestly grow like You! And You have said, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
O Lord, I know Your blessing and I praise You, but it is the indescribable touch as Your servant that I seek for—I know not what I seek for, but You know. How I long for Thee!
Lord, I still move and live in a dim world, feeling You near by faith, but I will not presume. I would hide in You in security and patience until I am as You would have me to be.