We know that prayer is essential in the Kingdom of God. John Wesley went as far as to say that God does nothing except in response to his people’s prayers. I won’t say that God does nothing without our prayers but I do agree that, perhaps, even the majority of things he wants to do will go undone if we do not ask.

Notice Paul’s emphasis on prayer in his letter to the Ephesian church. As he is closing out his section on the armor of God and spiritual warfare he writes, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should” (Eph.6:18-20),

In just a few verses, Paul requests prayers four times. He instructs them to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers. He asks them to continually pray for the saints (other believers) and he asks them twice to pray for him that he might declare the gospel fearlessly. Paul must have prayed for “fearlessness” on a daily basis but he thought it necessary to add the prayers of the church to his own as if his own prayers were not enough. We could add dozens of other scriptures in the New Testament that implore us to pray without ceasing because, other than faith, it is the most essential thing we can do.

But I will also say, as essential as prayer is, there are still some mysteries associated with it. If God already knows our thoughts before we ask, then why do we need to ask? If we pray once about an issue with fervency, then why do we need to keep praying since we have already lifted that issue up to God and he knows our heart about it? Why are some prayers answered overnight while others take years?

I’m not certain but I do have some thoughts. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul spoke of strongholds of the enemy (2 Cor. 10:4). In Ephesians, Paul warns the church not to give the devil a foothold (Eph.4:27). In the book of Revelation, Jesus referred to Pergamum as a place where Satan had a throne (Rev. 2:13). In his letter to Ephesus, Paul declared that our battles are not “against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph.6:12). In the Book of Daniel, we are shown that powerful angels fight in the spiritual realm against powerful demons who oppose God’s will (see Daniel 10:12-13).

In these verses, it is apparent that there are footholds, strongholds, and varying levels of power and authority in the spiritual realm that push back against the will and purposes of God on earth. It is possible that the greater the power opposing God’s will, as expressed in our prayers, the more intense and prolonged our prayers will need to be to break through the opposition. There are some things that God will do for us, but most things he wants to do with us. He has given us authority as believers to defeat the enemy. Often, he waits on is to express the authority he has given us before he joins in the fight. Since our words carry authority and power is linked to authority, then each prayer may release power in the spiritual realm that assaults enemy strongholds. The greater the stronghold, the more intense and persistent prayer is required. I tend to think of enemy strongholds like ancient castle walls that we are assaulting. Prayers and commands are like catapulted stones that chip away at the walls until fractures appear, then cracks, and then, finally, the wall crumbles and falls and the enemy scatters.

When we minister deliverance to individuals, not every spirit comes out at the first command. Some have been there for decades or have been passed down through generations so that they are firmly entrenched and feel that the person belongs to them. Some spirits have a higher rank than others and some are just nastier than others – especially spirits of witchcraft. However, every time we command the spirit to leave or declare the word of God over the spirit, his position is weakened. Eventually, that spirit must come out but sometimes it may take several hours. We battle with commands issued in the name of Jesus and with the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit. Since deliverance operates that way, it may be that prayer operates that way as well. Every prayer is not targeting a demonic stronghold, but when it is, more prayer will be needed until enough spiritual power has been injected into the situation that the enemy’s defenses crumble. When we pray for salvations, for nations, for struggling marriages, for financial provision, and even for healing, many times the enemy has established strongholds that must be deconstructed before we see breakthrough.

There is also another possibility to explain the need for prolonged prayer as well. Dutch Sheets in his book, Intercessory Prayer, suggests that prayers are cumulative in heaven and when the spiritual mass or number of our prayers are sufficient, then heaven responds. He says, “Scriptures indicate that our prayers accumulate. There are bowls in heaven in which our prayers are stored. Not one bowl for all of them but ‘bowls.’ We don’t know how many but I think it is very likely that each of us has his own bowl in heaven. I don’t know if it is literal or symbolic. It doesn’t matter. The principle is still the same. God has something in which he stores our prayers for use at the proper time:  And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Rom.5:8).  Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake (Revelation 8:3-5). According to these verses, either when he knows it is the right time to do something or when enough prayer has accumulated to get the job done, He releases power. He takes the bowl and mixes it with fire from the altar” (Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer, Regal Books, p. 221-222).

Either way, God is often waiting on us to set things in motion with our prayers. He honors our authority as his sons and daughters and representatives on the earth by waiting for us to ask, declare, command, and pray before he acts.

There are many things going on the spiritual realm that we cannot see or discern. When we are praying according to God’s will, but are not seeing the answer manifest, the reason is not always apparent. Too often, however, I’m sure that we think God is saying “No” so we quit praying. But what if the answer is “yes” and the reason for the delay is that our prayers still need to release more power into the spiritual realm or they simply need to pass a tipping point in heaven so that the fire of God is poured out on the earth. Either way, we have been given a great responsibility for outcomes in the Kingdom that will be fulfilled in prayer as well as by our actions.

Prayer is essential. Persistent prayer is even more essential. In our instant society where we have lost the ability to stay focused for long periods, it is easy to pray a bit and then move on if we don’t quickly see the results. The biblical model is to pray with faith until we die, still expecting God to answer our prayers even though we have left the planet. We are to pray until we see the answer or until God releases us from the prayer. If we knew how essential our prayers are to the outcomes of the Kingdom, I believe we would be more diligent and persistent. One of the great lies of the enemy is that our prayers don’t matter and don’t make a difference. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you have become discouraged, keep praying. If you have laid down a prayer that you thought God had denied, pick it up again. Your prayers matter greatly.

On a personal note I want to apologize for missing my last two regular blogs. My goal is to post a blog each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but I got to enjoy the inside view of hospital room for five days last week and finally said goodbye to a gall bladder that had been with me for decades. The skies look exceptionally blue and the sun exceptionally bright after being in a hospital room for nearly a week. I few more days at home and then I can get back to the office and a couple of weeks after that I can start playing bad golf again.  My apologies, however, for missing those blogs. The upside is that I’ve had some time to pick up some new reading and I hope that the surgery also cured my slice.

I’ve been looking at a little book or booklet by Graham Cooke entitled “Crafted Prayer.” I like Cooke because he challenges my programmed thinking on things and then I usually end up agreeing with him. In this book he gives us a definition of prayer that is almost counter-intuitive for most believers. How would you define prayer? Most of us have defined prayer as taking a laundry list of needs and concerns to the Father, lifting them up with passion and persistence, and then trying to persuade God to see things our way. Of course, we always throw in a “ Thy Will Be Done” in order to keep from sounding selfish or presumptuous.

Cooke defines it this way: “Prayer is finding out what God wants to do and asking him to do it.” My automatic response to that is, “Well, why ask him to do what he wants to do because he will probably do what he wants to do anyway! I pray to get God to do what I want to do!” That’s honest but the truth comes out that I’m praying to get God to do things my way rather than joining him in what he wants to do.

Remember when Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does” (Jn.5:19-20). That sounds a lot like Cooke’s definition of prayer. His approach is to pray about a situation by asking the Father what he wants to do and then waiting to hear or sense what it is the Father has already determined to do. Then as we pray into that, our prayers release the power and will of the Father into the situation. Remember that our Father wants to do things with us and not just for us.

In addition, it is sometimes important not just to know what God wants to do but how he wants to do it. Naaman, the leper, came to Elisha in search of healing (2 Kings 5). It wasn’t enough for those who loved Naaman to know that God was willing to heal him but they needed to know how God wanted to go about that. In Naaman’s case, seven big dips in the Jordan did the trick. Think of how often Jesus healed people in unique ways: mud on the eyes, spit in the eyes, spit in the ears, in the midst of crowds, leading people to private places, with a word or with a touch. Jesus did not use formulas but healing seemed to be crafted to the needs of the person or to the needs of those near the person. I don’t know that Jesus always knew the “why of the Father” but he knew the what and the how.

The power of Cooke’s definition is that it fits what Jesus modeled for us. It forces us to believe that God is already aware of every issue and already has a solution that is in the best interest of his children. Once we hear from the Lord about what he wants to do, then we know with certainty that we are praying according to his will. Then the only question is when will God pull the trigger on the answer that we are totally assured of.

This approach to prayer challenges us but consider it. If you want to pursue the concept I would encourage you to get Cooke’s book from Brilliant Books at $7.00. Be blessed in Him today and for a start simply ask the Father what he wants you to pray about, wait on the Lord, and then pray for whatever comes to mind that is consistent with the written Word.

See how it feels.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Rom.8:26-27).

This may or may not be a familiar verse to you but it is an incredibly important verse for every believer. In the first place, Paul acknowledges what most of us already know. There are times when we simply need help from the Spirit of God. He helps us in our weakness, our inability, or in our own lack of capacity to face a circumstance. There will be times when we simply don’t have what it takes in our own strength to overcome a temptation, understand a dilemma, or even know how to pray about an issue. When we get to such places, the Holy Spirit comes alongside and helps. Notice that “help” doesn’t mean that he does it for us, but rather he yokes up with us so that we can face a situation together. Believe me, he is pulling most of the weight.

In the context of needing a breakthrough in one of life’s dilemmas such as a martial crisis, a healing, a release from an addiction, or a financial crisis, sometimes we need help. I really like what Dutch Sheets has to say about such a moment in his “must-read” book, Intercessory Prayer. “Have you ever felt an inability in your prayer life to produce results? Have you ever come up against a “mountain” you couldn’t move? … The Lord says in this verse that one of the reasons we have this “inability to produce results” is because we don’t always know how to “pray as we should.” The word “should” here is a very important word. Dei is primarily a legal term meaning ‘that which is necessary, right or proper in the nature of a case; what one must do: that which is legally binding for someone.’ For example, Luke 18:1 tells us, ‘Men ought always to pray and never faint’ (KJV, emphasis added). The verse does not mean, ‘It would be a good idea to pray.’ It is declaring – ‘It is absolutely necessary-binding upon you-that you pray.’”

As you delve into this text, it suggests that we don’t always know what to pray for or how to pray to get the breakthrough we need or that someone else needs. Sometimes, we see the symptoms of a problem but we can’t discern the root-cause, which is really what we need to pray about. For instance, we may be praying for God to set someone free from an addiction but the addiction is the symptom, not the cause. The cause may be a deep sense of shame from a molestation experience as a child. Unless the shame is healed, the person will just find another addiction with which to medicate his or her pain. Maybe a person doesn’t need another job as much as he or she needs a work ethic so that they don’t keep finding themselves unemployed. Maybe we keep asking God to provide a spouse for a single friend when we should be praying for the spiritual growth of our friend so that he or she wouldn’t mess up any marriage God has arranged. In many cases, our prayers may be sincere but may not be on target.

The word “should” or “ought” also suggests that some legality may be an issue in the spiritual realm. Until that is dealt with or revealed by prayer, the enemy may still have a right to oppress the one for whom we are praying. We may not know what the legality is but the Spirit does. There may be curses connected to the sins of the person’s fathers that have come down from generation to generation or word curses that have been spoken over the individual. Maybe there was occult involvement as a child that the person has dismissed as trivial or doesn’t remember (Ouija boards, fortune telling, etc.).   That involvement may still give the enemy a place until these things are confessed, repented of, and renounced. These kinds of legalities operate in the spiritual realm and because we may be unaware of them, our prayers don’t touch them. At other times we are asked to pray for people but are given very little or no information about the prayer need. In all these cases, we don’t know how to pray as we should. What then? Ah…enter the Holy Spirit!!!

As we lift up people and circumstances we can simply ask the Spirit to show us what we need to pray about. A few months ago, a believer I’ll call Emily came into my office. She was suffering from an undefined sickness that was making her weaker and weaker. As we visited, she mentioned a sister who lived in another state who was in a Lesbian relationship with an older woman. Emily explained that she had met her sister’s significant other and that her sister’s friend seemed to feel very threatened by Emily. Through the Spirit, I sensed that the “friend” was a highly controlling woman who was, indeed, threatened by Emily’s influence in her sister’s life. Through some occult involvement she had placed a curse on Emily. When the curse was broken in the name of Jesus, Emily was set free and quickly regained her health. The “spiritual legality” had been taken care of.

At other times, we can yoke ourselves together with the Spirit and pray in the Spirit or in our prayer language (tongues), knowing that the Spirit is praying exactly the right things in the right ways through us. If we have prayed for months without breakthrough, we may simply be missing the target. Remember that the Spirit of God is ready and willing to show us how to pray (a Spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17) or to pray with us as we continue to seek a breakthrough. Don’t leave him out of the equation for he is very willing and very able to help us in our inabilities!

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.             Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

This will be my last word on this key passage from Ephesians 6 for a while but I wanted to look at the last and greatest weapon in God’s arsenal – prayer. After listing truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation and the word of God as weapons and armor with which to do battle in the spiritual realm, Paul calls on us to pray – not only to pray but to pray in the Spirit. So what does it mean to pray in the Spirit?

Paul gives us an indication of what this means in his letter to the church at Corinth. In his discussion of spiritual gifts he says, “So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church. Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying” (1 Cor. 14:12-16). In this context, Paul is clearly giving direction on the practice of praying in tongues – a spiritual language given by the Spirit that even our own minds don’t understand unless God gives us a gift of interpretation as well. Paul speaks about praying out loud in a tongue to give a blessing and calls that blessing “in the spirit” or “in the Spirit” depending on your understanding of the context.

Jude instructs us, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 20). John tells us that he was “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s day when he received the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:10). This idea of praying in the Spirit as a spiritual weapon suggests that we should be praying in tongues as well as praying by direction of the Holy Spirit. Paul encourages us when he says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom.8:26). I believe the Spirit intercedes or prays for us even when we are unaware but also when we engage with Him as we pray in tongues. Jude tells us that as we pray in the Holy Spirit there is something about the process that builds us up and strengthens us spiritually.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul states that he would pray both with the spirit (tongues) and with the understanding, which is our typical way of praying, and in this passage he seems to encourage both in the life of every believer. However, the overall theme of his statements in Ephesians 6 is to pray every kind of prayer and to persist in prayer not only for our own needs but also for all the saints.

As a weapon, our prayers not only activate the power of heaven but they also direct the power of heaven. Without our prayers, little power is appropriated and little power is directed. The early church was a praying church. The leaders ministered in prayer, the people met often to pray and fast, and when they did the power of heaven shook the earth. The church grew and when Rome crumbled into dust the church still stood. Above all else we must pray for that is the ultimate weapon in spiritual warfare. So pray in all kinds of ways about all kinds of things but keep on praying until hell bows the knee to Jesus in the lives of individuals and nations. Be blessed and please be in prayer of our nation and the Lord’s churches in this nation.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Rom.8:26-27)

This is one of the great promises and revelations of the New Testament and another indicator of how much God is for us. How often do we feel orphaned in this world when life seems to be caving in on us – when a marriage is collapsing, when children have opted for a destructive road, or when we are sitting in a dark hospital room waiting for the inevitable loss of someone we love? And yet, we are never alone, never abandoned, and God is working powerfully on our behalf even when we are unaware. “For he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’  So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me” (Heb.13:5-6)?

There is no greater expression of his commitment to his children than the cross and his Spirit living in us. Paul tells us that in our worst moments, not only is Jesus interceding for us but his Spirit is interceding as well. He is interceding for us even when we don’t know how to pray or are too weary to pray. God is aware of our inherent weakness, even if we are not, and he has supplied a friend, a counselor, a comforter, and a go-between for us. The word translated as “intercede” means to plead, petition or appeal. It also carries the idea of arranging a meeting between two parties.

The Holy Spirit then, like Jesus, is constantly presenting our needs before the Father. He is not presenting our needs in some clinical, dispassionate way but is actually pleading on our behalf. I believe the Spirit does so even when we are not praying or not even thinking about praying but I also believes he engages with is when we pray – especially when we pray in tongues.

The idea of praying in tongues has been a source of controversy in churches for a hundred years but more and more believers are receiving and exercising the gift of a spiritual language. Paul discusses the idea of praying in tongues extensively in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Jude also references this form of prayer when he says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 20-21). The original text allows for the idea that praying in the Spirit builds us up in our faith or strengthens us spiritually in areas where we need to be strengthened even if we are unaware of our spiritual shortfall.

I think the question often becomes, what value is there in praying in the Spirit (praying in tongues, exercising my prayer language) if I can’t understand what I am praying? The value is in trusting the Spirit to offer up my real needs and my greatest needs through expressions to the Father that I can’t even understand. The idea of praying in a spiritual or prayer language that I don’t understand also relinquishes control to the Spirit and teaches me to trust who I cannot control which is a big need in most of us.

Secondly, when I pray in the Spirit, I release the Spirit to pray for what I need rather than what I want. I release the Spirit to0 pray in ways that are perfectly consistent with God’s will. For instance, if I’m single I may be asking for God to medicate an emptiness in me by bringing me a spouse when the real need is to heal the emptiness so that I don’t place unrealistic demands on a spouse when that prayer is answered. I may be fervently praying for God to change someone in my life when the real need is for my own heart to be changed. You get the drift.

The great blessing of the Spirit praying for me – with or without my involvement – is the perfect prayer being offered up for the perfect need. Without my participation, the Spirit will pray for my essential needs just as God will typically meet by basic needs even if my prayer life is weak. To go beyond the basics and to experience all the power and transformation in my life that Jesus provides, I need to engage God in a great deal of prayer and participate with the Spirit by praying in tongues. I know people involved in world-changing ministries who pray in the Spirit at least an hour a day in addition to the prayers they offer with their understanding. Paul instructs us to do both (see 1 Cor.14:15).

There is great comfort in knowing how much God has provided for our salvation and our victories in this life. Later in this chapter, Paul cries out, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The Spirit’s ministry in your life is the very power of God in you waiting to be released by your faith and willingness to fight the battles that come your way. Be blessed in Him today and trust that the Holy Spirit is interceding for you even now!

Partnering with the King

After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”    So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. (1 Kings 18:1-2) And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:41-45).

This section from 1 Kings is one of the most interesting in all of the Bible. In the middle of the account above, Elijah challenged the prophets of Bail to a showdown on top of Mt. Carmel. He built an altar, placed sacrificial animals on it, and challenged the false prophets to call on their God to consume the sacrifice with fire. They prayed, screamed, danced and cut themselves all day but no response came from their god. Toward the end of the day, Elijah poured huge amounts of water on the sacrifice along with the wood and stones of the altar and called on Jehovah. Immediately, fire came down from heaven consuming not only the sacrificial animals but also the entire altar. Elijah then had the false prophets of Bail executed.

Bookending the demise of the prophets of Bail is the account of the great drought. As punishment on Israel because of her wicked leaders, God had given Elijah a prophetic word to speak in the presence of Ahab. “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Then, three years later, just before the Mt. Carmel showdown, God told Elijah that rain was coming. Interestingly, after the showdown, Elijah climbed to the top of Mt. Carmel again and began to pray for rain which God had already declared was coming. Why would he do that? Wasn’t God’s word good enough for him?

Of course it was. But this account once again reveals how God partners with his people to do his will on earth. Undoubtedly, God could have stopped the rain and released the rain whenever he wanted to without involving any human. But remember, God has determined to rule the earth and expand his kingdom through his people – his representatives. God did not stop the rain until his prophet declared the word of the Lord in front of Ahab. God would not begin the rain until his prophet prayed and released the rain through a prayer of faith. What an honor and what a responsibility.

God’s will was done after a man declared the word of the Lord over a situation and after a man prayed fervently for the thing God had already told him he was about to do. God holds much of his will in reserve until his people hear or sense his will and then declare it, command it, or pray it. In Elijah’s case, he apparently prayed seven times for God to release the rain. There will be times when we will have to pray earnestly and persistently for something that we know is God’s will. We know that God desires that all men should be saved. We already have his word on that but we may have to pray for a loved one for years before God’s will is manifested in that person’s life.

The honor is that the King partners with us in accomplishing his will. The responsibility is that we have to seek his will and then declare it, command it, or pray persistently for it. It may not happen if we do no do our part on this end even if it is something God desires. God has decided that we can release his will or stifle his will on the earth – not in all things, but in very many things. So…we need to ask his what he wants us to do to release his will and then do it. After all, much of what heaven wants to do is in our hands and in your hands.

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (Jude 20-21)

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself…(1 Cor.14:4)

These are two interesting verses form the New Testament that both relate to a believer’s prayer language or praying in tongues. The phrases “build yourself up” and “edifies himself” are the same word in the original language.   The word means “to increase the potential of someone or something, with focus upon the process involved—‘to strengthen, to make more able, to build up.’”

The above scripture taken from Jude suggests something very important. Jude suggests that our capacity to grow spiritually, to increase in our spiritual potential, and to be made stronger and more able in spiritual matters is directly proportional to the time we spend praying in the Holy Spirit.   Paul confirms that principle by telling us that when we speak in a tongue we edify (build up and strengthen) ourselves. That is why one of the normative experiences in the New Testament after being baptized in the Spirit was speaking in tongues. If you just received the power of the Spirit, you need maturity to govern the power you’ve been given. Praying in the Spirit accelerates our maturity.

The counter-intuitive part of that process is that when we pray in the Spirit or in tongues, we have no idea what we are praying. “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit… For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind” (1 Cor.14:2, 14-15).

Paul encourages us to pray both “with the understanding” and “with our spirits” but he tells us that praying in the Spirit has the effect of increasing our spiritual strength, enhancing our spiritual gifts, activating our spiritual senses, increasing revelation, and developing the fruits of the Spirit. Every part of the ministry of the Spirit in our lives can be enhanced when we engage with the Spirit allowing him to pray through us.

The great advantage of praying in the Spirit is that the Spirit prays for the things we need most to thrive spiritually and lifts those prayers up to the throne room of heaven with an eloquence and familiarity we could never achieve. Not only that, but the Spirit is quite aware of God’s will for our lives – his purposes, plans, and desires. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Rom.8:26-27). The Spirit then prays things for us that we are yet clueless about so that God’s purposes can be perfected in our lives.

I believe the Spirit prays for us even when we are not praying in the Spirit but God always likes to partner with his people and accomplish things together. Praying in the Spirit helps to align our spirit with God’s Spirit. In doing so, I believe it also plays a key role in renewing our minds so that our intellect is submitted to the Spirit of God so that we can truly be led by the Spirit.

So…here is the point of all this. If you have your prayer language but just use it occasionally, begin to pray in tongues on a daily basis. Many of us only pray in tongues when we worship or when we are about to minister healing or deliverance to someone. But praying in the Spirit has a cumulative affect and, like physical exercise, needs to be increased for us to get stronger and go longer. Many of us have prayed and asked God for certain spiritual gifts we desire or to strengthen us is areas of our lives where we are often tempted and, perhaps, have not yet experienced the growth that we desire.

We can accelerate the process and fine-tune it by choosing to pray in the Spirit a significant amount of time each day. The testimony of many is that after choosing to pray in the Spirit daily for an hour or more they eventually realized that their spiritual lives had moved to new dimensions. Sometimes God is waiting to see how much we want him, his presence, his Spirit or the things of the Spirit. How much do you want it? Now much do I want it? Carving out time to let his Spirit pray through us and trusting the process – even though we don’t know what the Spirit is asking – is one clear measure of that desire. If you don’t have a gift of tongues for personal prayer, then pray for it, seek it, and ask others to help you receive. If you have it, use it as an exercise to become powerful in the Spirit. It is a gift unlike any other.