Ever thought of praying the mind and the will of God concerning a matter?
That’s where praying in the spirit comes in!
In this post, we are going to be looking at a somewhat controversial topic that has divergent views among Christians – praying in the spirit.
Amazingly, the bible instructs Christians to pray in the spirit always no matter what type of prayer they are doing! (See Ephesians 6:18, NIV)
So that means praying in the spirit is important.
Okay then, so what does praying in the spirit really mean?
And what does the bible tells and teaches us about it?
What are the benefits of praying in the spirit and how does one practice praying in the spirit!
These and many more are what we are going to look into in this post.
READ ALSO: Prayer Points For Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit
What Is Praying In The Spirit?
First things first, what is praying in the spirit?
Against popular opinion, praying in the spirit is not speaking in tongues, yes, it does involve speaking in tongues, but it is more than that.
Praying in the spirit is yielding, listening and responding to the impulses and leading of the Holy Spirit as you pray.
It is actually allowing the Holy Spirit to direct, inspire and influence you prayers and the way you pray, such that you are able to pray the will of God (at the moment).
One of the things the Scripture says of the Holy Spirit is that He helps us to pray because we do not know what to pray for and how to pray as we should. (Romans 8:26)
So praying in the Spirit, is being helped of the Spirit to pray, being inspired of the Spirit to pray as against your own weaknesses and inability and limited knowledge and understanding of what and how to pray.
In praying in the spirit, therefore, the Holy Spirit moves in, quickens your body, and helps your mind to grasp facts on prayers that are beyond your immediate knowledge and environment.
He illuminates your mind with what to pray and how to pray it.
Plus, the Holy Spirit takes it further by helping you to pray the inspired facts and knowledge (on what to pray about), through groaning and tongues.
That way, the Holy Spirit is taking hold with you in prayer, helping you to pray the very will of God.
Benefits Of Praying In The Spirit
If what our elaborate definition above on what it means to pray in the spirit is correct, then what could be the benefits of yielding to the Spirit and letting Him inspire and direct your prayers.
There is so much; praying in the spirit:
1. Helps you to pray the will of God (the mind of God)
2. Helps you in the prayer of intercession
3. It helps you to pray correctly
4. Helps you to pray with power
5. Helps eliminates the doubts and the ‘ifs’ in prayer.
6. Shuts the devil out of the way of your prayer
7. Fills you with confidence that your prayers have been heard by God.
8. Helps you to wait with certainly until you receive the physical manifestations and answer to your prayers since God has heard you.
9. Fills you with faith and assurance that you will receive the answers no matter what and how long it takes the physical answer to come or arrive.
10. Helps you with the divine presence of the Holy Spirit at such holy moments; you don’t want to miss out on the holy awe of the Holy Spirit that somewhat overshadows when you are lost in prayer by the Spirit.
11. Helps to build up your faith (See Jude 1:20)
READ ALSO: What Does The Holy Spirit Do?
How To Practice Praying In The Spirit
You see, there’s a lot to gain when you yield to God’s Spirit letting Him direct, inspire and influence your prayer.
The results and answers to prayers are certain.
Then to the discerning heart, it becomes a matter of utmost importance to then learn how to pray in the Spirit.
All you need is practice; for ‘practice, they say, ‘makes perfect.’
So here are simple steps on how you should practice to pray in the Spirit
1. Yield
Without the Holy Spirit, there’s no way you can pray in the Spirit.
So the first thing to do to pray in the spirit is to learn to yield to the impulses of the Holy Spirit.
For instance, may be you may have set out to pray on a particular matter, but then the Holy Spirit keeps bringing pictures of a different thing entirely to your mind as you pray, best practice is to yield to the Spirit by praying the things He’s inspiring in your mind at the moment, leaving your initial matter and plan behind.
That’s how to yield to the Spirit. He knows what exactly you should be praying about and how to pray it correctly.
After all, He is the spirit of grace and supplication.
Yield to the Spirit.
2. Listen.
One way to practice to pray in the Spirit is by listening and paying attention to the impulses of the Spirit.
It may be that the Holy Spirit wants you to pray ‘the word,’ a particular Scripture.
And that Scripture is just the right bullet for that occasion.
When you do not listen and you stick to your plan and already-made prayer points, you will miss out on praying the will of God.
But the Holy Spirit is insistent, yet after a while, the Holy Spirit will stop nudging you on what to pray since you are not listening.
That way, you have quenched the Spirit.
3. Respond
Yielding to the Spirit and listening to Him is not complete until you obey.
That’s to say you have got to be willing to respond to the light and impulses the Spirit is bringing to your mind as you pray.
Response will mean praying in the direction He is leading you now.
Response means praying the way He wants you to pray.
Response means to pray.
If you listen and know what the Spirit is asking of you and you still did not do it, you have not responded.
READ ALSO: What Does Praying In The Spirit Mean?
Praying In the Spirit vs. Praying In Tongues
Earlier on, we stated that praying in the Spirit is more than praying in tongues.
Yes, praying in tongues is part of praying in the spirit but it not all there is to it.
Praying in tongues helps you to pray in the spirit well.
It fills your prayer with more power and makes it far reaching.
Having known the mind and the will of God by listening, praying in tongues will help you drive home the inspired prayers more effectively.
It’s like hitting the nail at the head with the needed nail, or hitting the bulls eyes with the actual weapon.
That’s what praying in tongues does.
It really helps you to pray in the spirit correctly and well.
Some Praying In The Spirit Bible Verses
There are several bible verses on praying in the spirit but here are a few quick-referenced ones to help you drive home the point.
1. Ephesians 6:18:
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
“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 through wordless groans.”
3. Jude 1:20:
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”
4. 1 Corinthians 14:14-15:
“For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
5. Galatians 5:16-17:
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
READ ALSO: How To Receive The Holy Spirit
PS: Unless otherwise stated all scriptural quotations in this post are taken from the Authorised King James Version. And all scriptural quotations tagged NIV are taken online from the New International Version 2011, published by Biblica.
Final word
There’s amazing power when you pray in the Spirit.
Plus, so much is achieved when you add praying in tongues to your Spirit led, Spirit directed prayers.
More so, there’s even more power when you add ‘praying the word’ and ‘praying in tongues’ to your Spirit inspired prayers.
That way, you are sure that you are not praying amiss.
And what about the assurance and confidence that fills your heart that you have touched the throne of grace.
Answers to prayers all the way!
And what about the holy presence that fills you at such moment of prayers, nothing compares to that atmosphere of heaven!
Please share if you find this post helpful!
Thanks for the word. Kindly explain to me how to pray in tongues?
Thank you Brandina Kachiza!
Please see these posts on how to pray in tongues:
1. https://faithvictorious.com/what-does-praying-in-the-spirit-mean/
2. https://faithvictorious.com/how-to-receive-the-holy-spirit/
Thanks!
When you say pray in the spirit I do pry in tongues but please explain broader how to pray in te spirit, is it in the understanding.