Prayer XXV

In the first article, I wrote on definitions on prayer, when prayer starts and some of the components of prayer. While in the second article I finished my brief exegesis on components of prayer. The third article is centered on those who should pray. The fourth is on some of the reasons why talk (pray) to our heavenly father. The fifth article is on places of prayer while the sixth and seventh centered on occasions that move men to pray unto God. The eight article is on period (time) that men can pray. The ninth article focuses on how we should be praying. In the tenth article I write on a type of prayer, which is the prayer of thanksgiving.

While in the eleventh article I talked about three types of prayers which are, prayer of praise, prayer of worship and prayer of dedication (consecration). In the twelfth article I have talked about the following types of prayer: prayer of supplication, prayer of agreement, corporate prayer, prayer of commitment and prayer of imprecation. And in the thirteenth article I talked about prayer of vengeance, prayer of restoration, prayer of forgiveness, prayer of repentance and silent prayer. Article fourteen focuses on prayer of binding and loosing. In article fifteen I write on the prayer of contemplation. In the sixteenth article I start writing on the intercessory prayer and capped this up with some of the essentials of this prayer in article seventeen. Articles eighteen to twenty talk about prayer of faith.

In article twenty-one, I wrote on prayer of faith and then proceed to another type of prayer which is called eyes opening prayer. In article twenty-two I wrote on prayer of difference. In article twenty-three I write on prayer of authority and in article twenty-four I started writing on Praying in the Spirit. I shall continue with Praying in the Spirit in this article.

Having said what praying in the spirit does not mean shall we then see what praying in spirit means in this article?

Praying in the spirit means praying in the Power of the Holy Ghost. The spirit in man gives soul of man power. It is when the spirit stops to give the soul of man power that man becomes a lifeless being, man becomes dead.

When Jesus promises the disciples and by extension believers the Holy Ghost he is promising us His power, as it was said that after the Holy Ghost (Spirit) has fallen on the disciples they all received the power of the spirit to do what they abinitio cannot do.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Act 1:8)

It is those who have received this Spirit and have employed the use of the spirit of God to tap into the Power of God who can really pray in the power of the spirit like Jesus as recorded in the Gospels and as apostle Paul stated in Romans.

“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.” (Luk 4:14)

“Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” (Rom 15:19)

It also means praying according to the spirit’s leading. When we view praying in the spirit in this line, then we shall agree that people who pray extemporaneously are also praying in the spirit because they are telling God those things that are bothering their minds. An example is the woman called Hannah (1 Sam 1), she left the position of routine to talk to God deeper things about herself, things bothering and weighing her heart down.

Many a time our human nature cannot tap into the spiritual realm of God, it takes the spirit to tap into the spiritual realm as the Psalmist says, “deep can only call unto deep” (Psa.42:7).

Therefore, the Spirit of God in us which he has given unto us would be able to call unto that God who has released him into our hearts, searching deeper things about us and telling it unto God as he also checks for deeper things of God and revealed them unto us that those are what God requires of us to do to be perfect, or to be his real children.

This spirit would be able to search God’s mind because God himself is a Spirit and those who would access him must be spiritually inclined. (Joh 4:24). As we know that for a man to access man, they would have the same communication, animals cannot access us because animals cannot communicate with us, which is part of the reasons why God frowns at man having carnal knowledge with animals because it is condescending, those people have stooped low, they have left the plane of God for another plane.

Having the same communication, it is the Spirit he has given us that would do that, access him, talk to him in that plane and level thence, brings unto us those things that he expects of us and take to him those things he expects of us.

As the spirit now does this, searched through his mind for us, he would reveal the mind unto our failing bodies and tell us what we need to do, what we have to talk to God about, what we have to pray about. (Rm 8:26)

This also means the manner in which our prayers take. As a person who has the spirit of God in him, the spirit could lead us in different ways, he could say lie down, he could say be walking around when praying, he could say kneel down to pray among other directives.

(i) Sit Down: For Nehemiah we shall see that when he heard the untoward news about what happened to his country, the bible says, he was weighed down, he was depressed and sat down to pray to his God. (Neh 1:4)

(ii) He Could Make Us Cry/Weep: As we see in this book about Nehemiah that he wept. We also read of Jesus too that by the burden laid in his spirit at the side of the tomb of Lazarus he also wept. (Joh 11:35)

Therefore, we do not have to imitate someone’s means and mode of praying when he has been led in a certain way. This however, we have not been able to for we use to follow the renown people in faith, and when someone fasted for thirty days, we also want to fast like him and or exceed his own duration of fasting as if it is through that that God answers prayers.

Consider prophets Elijah and Elisha, it is a known fact all over the world that those prophets were remarkable, those prophets performed exceptionally in the land of Israel, but we did not read of a place where prophet Elisha fasted for forty days and night in the bible after prophet Elijah has been taken off. In the same way should we view the person called prophets Moses and Joshua. Moses would fast for days without stop but Joshua did not do like that, despite being the right-hand man of prophet Moses when he was alive, despite “going to his college and graduating from there”. He should have said as prophet Moses did, I should also do like that.

What shall I say about the disciples and apostles. Jesus before starting the ministry fasted forty days and night, but none of the apostles fasted forty days and nights before starting their ministries, not even apostle Paul. Although he may afterwards fast more than that, but not before. (2 Co 11:27)

(iii) Lie Down: The Spirit could make us lie down for days on a certain spot like he instructed prophet Ezekiel to do. (Eze 4:4)

(iv) Shout: Jesus after silently praying at the tomb of Lazarus would not call him our gently but he shouted. But we do not hear subsequently that he keeps on shouting when he wants to raise other people from the dead. (Joh 11:43)

(v) Kneel Down: By the Spirit we can be instructed to kneel down to pray.

“But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.” (Act 9:40)

However, some people have made this a norm today in their places of worship and when people do not kneel down to pray they consider such a terrible sinner who is disrespecting the Lord. When I see people command people like this at the congregation, what comes to my mind is a proverb that says, “the people prostrated or kneel down but in their hearts they are standing akimbo before whom they were kneeling before”. In other words, though they kneel down to show that they obey what they said, but their hearts are full of pride before the Lord. (Mat 15:8)

In the next article I shall continue with praying in the spirit.