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“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication…” (Ephesians 6:18).
True Christian prayer is not merely uttering words aggressively. It is speaking with God by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For believers to pray in the Spirit, they need to first have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their hearts. In other words, each one of us needs to be sincerely born again.
And what does it mean to pray in the Spirit? First of all, a true regenerate Christian has inner knowledge, conviction, peace or witness that the Holy Spirit dwells in his heart (human spirit). Now, the Spirit is not passive; He is active. He quickens and stirs up. He prompts true believers to act in the will of God.
He knows and sees all things. He works in us to be in the perfect will of God. Part of His working in us is prompting us to communicate with God. Speaking with God through the inspiration of the Spirit is praying in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, praying in the Spirit is uttering words inspired by the Holy Spirit to God.
What it means is that, the Holy Spirit instructs your heart to pray. He motivates your spirit man to pray. By praying in the Spirit, the words do not necessarily come from your natural (carnal) mind. The words actually emanate from the mind of your spirit man then your mouth utters them.
It is very important for us to know who man really is. Many Christians think man is just the physical being. But 1 Thessalonians 5: 23 teaches us that man is composed of spirit, soul and body. Man is a spirit being, and lives in a body.
Thus, when we pray in the Holy Spirit, our spirits pray by the power, motivation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A true Christian effectively prays in the Spirit when he is deeply immersed in the Word or is dominated by the Word of God. That is, the believer is richly filled with the Word of God.
A Christian without the Word of God dominating and influencing his life might not be able to pray effectively in the Spirit. This is perhaps one of the reasons believers are encouraged to “let the word of Christ dwell in them richly…” (Colossians 3: 16).
Remember that Christ, the truth and the Word are one. The Word of God is the truth (John 17: 17). The Word of God in us is the Lordship of Jesus in us. It is written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, AND THE WORD WAS GOD” (John 1:1).
The Lord Jesus also clearly linked the Word to the Spirit when He said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. THE WORDS THAT I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU ARE SPIRIT and life. But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:63).
This makes it clear that our praying in the Holy Spirit largely depends upon the richness of the Word of God in us. The Word of God we possess in our hearts is equivalent to the Spirit in us.
Thus, we are inspired by the Word or the Spirit to pray. Remember, the Spirit quickens and the Word quickens also. Therefore, spiritual prayer is one inspired or influenced by the Spirit or the Word of God.
By James Quansah
