Praying in the Spirit activates the grace of God to pray perfect prayers in any situation. These prayers go beyond our own agendas and beyond our rational understanding. When we pray in the Spirit, divine insight enlightens our hearts so we can hit the mark when we pray.
Praying in the Spirit With Eager Expectation
The book of Jude has only one chapter, but it is full of revelation and divine insight about praying in the Spirit:
"But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God while you are waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, which leads to eternal life" (Jude 20-21).
The wording catches my attention: "waiting anxiously." That does not contradict the Scriptures about casting your anxieties upon the Lord (see 1 Pet. 5:7. See also Phil. 4:6; Matt. 6:25-34).
"Waiting anxiously" means waiting with expectation, hardly being able to contain your eagerness. Praying in the Spirit releases a supernatural atmosphere and enables you to walk continuously in the love of God.
Another interesting fact about this passage is that it says you are supposed to build yourself up. You cannot wait for others to do so, and you cannot wait for God to make it happen.
Every one of us ebbs in our faith, but we can also grow in it. Even when we feel too low to figure out how to pray, we can pray in the Spirit.
The Spirit Himself will always help us:
"Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:26-27).
It is true. We do not know how to pray as we should. We need fresh manna. We need to drop our agendas in favor of the Lord's. If we want to know what is on His heart, one of the easiest ways to open the way is to pray in the Spirit.
The gift of tongues brings rest for the weary and refreshing peace. Indeed, "For with stammering lips and foreign tongue He will speak to this people" (Isa. 28:11). And His unsurpassed peace quiets our spirits, which creates a perfect incubation environment for more revelation.
Let's seek divine insight purposefully by praying in the Spirit.
Let the Hand of God Come Upon You
In Hebrew there is a word for "hand" that refers to the burden of the Lord: massa.
This word refers specifically to the way the Lord's presence comes upon you and imparts something so that even when His hand lifts, the burden remains.
This is how prophetic intercession works—divine insight comes to inform powerful prayers.
Here is what James the apostle wrote about the burden of prayer in his epistle:
"Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (James 5:16-18).
Never put limits on what God can do, even through an ordinary person like you!
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