Praying in the Spirit

Both Joyce and I have been praying in the Spirit much but God is saying to us, "Do it more and do it together." Why is this important? Because things are going on in the world, our nations, our towns, among our friends, even in our families, that we do not understand. Sometimes when our understanding is limited, we don't know how to pray.  So we have been doing a search through God's Word, once again, on praying in the Spirit.

Jesus said He would build His Church and we are part of the Church that He is building. We must never neglect God's building plan. His purpose is that we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.(Ephesians 4:13).

The apostle Paul obviously led a busy life as he took the gospel from nation to nation across the Gentile world, and yet at the same time, he wrote almost two-thirds of the New Testament.  How did he find and how did he receive such awesome revelations?

Could the answer be in 1 Corinthians 14:18 when he wrote, "I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all?"  This verse could also be translated, "I thank God I speak in tongues more than all of you put together." Obviously Paul must have practiced what he preached, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." Paul is a wonderful example of building ourselves up in the most holy faith, praying always in the Holy Spirit.

When we think about the awesome revelations that were given to Paul, we could ask, "Could praying always in the Spirit have been a key to the great revelations he received from the Holy Spirit, the revelations we read in Paul's epistles to the churches?

We receive a revelation regarding this when we read 1 Corinthians 14:14-15, For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the result then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.

It is interesting to note that he began with an unfruitful understanding, and then he goes on to say that as he prayed in the Spirit, he suddenly found himself praying and singing with the understanding.

When we pray in the Spirit, something powerful happens, and we find ourselves praying things we did not know in the natural.  

In Ephesians 6:18-20 we discover these words as Paul wrote, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Wow! As Paul was praying always ...in the Spirit, utterance (by supernatural revelation) was given to him by the Holy Spirit. And he began to speak, write and minister God's perfect will with a spirit of boldness.

Could it be, that this same "supernatural revelation" is available to all believers today if we, like Paul, will practice the most important key of praying always in the Spirit.?

Notice that one of the reasons for praying in the Spirit is to make intercession for others. As we pray in the Spirit, we are not only praying for ourselves and our situations, but we are praying for others in the body of Christ. The other day as we were praying together, Joyce saw a train in a tunnel and beside the train people running toward her in fear. We continued praying in the Spirit, but through this quick vision knew our prayers were involved in protecting believers at that moment.

How often, we like Paul have had to say "We do not know what we should pray for as we ought." But as we pray in the Spirit, suddenly by supernatural revelation, an "utterance" is given to us by the Holy Spirit and we hear ourselves speaking the perfect will of God in every situation. Joyce and I have begun to pray together in the Spirit for a half hour a day. Joyce and I encourage you to join us in stirring-up that all important gift of the Holy Spirit until we all, like Paul the apostle, will find ourselves spending more and more time in praying in the Spirit.

We are home this month for meetings and preparing for our upcoming Mountain Top Encounter May 8-10. During the whole month of June, we have scheduled a four-week ministry trip to Indonesia, Malaysia and Ireland. For over twenty years, I have been teaching in The School of Acts in Malaysia and for almost that long in The School of Acts in Indonesia (Now known as Impact School of God's Movement). This school has been training between 300 to 500 students each year. In both of these schools, I have been teaching and will again this year teach both all of the day classes and all of the night classes for the whole week.  In July, we are also scheduled to do a major ISOM graduation in Mexico City and a major conference in Monterrey, Mexico.

Please join us in praying in the spirit! We do need your help!