While searching for a way to get closer to God, I read this piece on being led by the Spirit of God in Prayer, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication
In the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
Perseverance and supplication for all saints…
Ephesians 6:18
“In teaching on the subject of prayer, I always use two texts: John 5:17 and Ephesians 6:18. There are no better texts than these for teaching on the subject of prayer because they are all inclusive. Anything you want to know about prayer is found in these two verses.
Notice what Jesus said in John 5:17, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”. That’s a marvelous text, isn’t it? It tells you how to get your prayers answered every time: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you…” You see, if you pray according to the Word, your prayers will work. So many times, we’re not praying according to the Word. We’re in the dark if we don’t know what the Word says. But the entrance of God’s Word gives light (Psalm 119:30), so take time to meditate on the Word until it gets in you. Then, you’ll ask what you will, and it shall be done for you.
The other verse I like to use when I teach on prayer is Ephesians 6:18. Paul wrote this letter to Spirit-filled Christians at the church of Ephesus.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication
In the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
Perseverance and supplication for all saints…
Ephesians 6:18
The Amplified Bible translates the first part of the verse this way:
“Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty.” What does it mean to pray in the Spirit?
In 1 Corinthians 14, we have instructions on this subject.
1 Corinthians 4:2
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh
Not unto men, but unto God: for no man
Understandeth Him; howbeit in the Spirit He speaketh
Mysteries.
“He that speaketh in an unknown tongue” is talking to God. Well, that’s prayer, isn’t it? One definition of prayer is fellowshipping with the Father. Therefore, Paul is talking about prayer here. The second part of the verse says, “For no man understandeth Him; howbeit in the Spirit He speaketh mysteries.” Paul is talking about praying in tongues.
The last part of the verse tells us that a person prays in the Spirit “speaketh mysteries”. What does that mean? Well, the mystery isn’t with God because God knows everything. The mystery is with us. We don’t know everything. Often we don’t know how to pray for a situation unless the Lord shows us or gives us revelation. We don’t know what to pray for as we ought, but thanks to God, the Holy Ghost knows. He will help us pray if we allow Him.
Many of us haven’t taken advantage of being led by the Spirit in prayer. Sometimes we run out of things to pray in English. After a while, we’ve said everything we know to say. If we stop at that point, our prayer life will be limited by what we know. But remember, God knows everything. He knows what we don’t know. He wants to help us pray and praying in the Spirit will get the job done when nothing else will. Let’s look at what 1 Corinthians 14 tells us about praying in the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:14
For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my
My understanding is unfruitful.
In this verse Paul says that if we pray in an unknown tongue, our spirit prays. The Amplified Bible says, “My spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays.] In other words, it’s the Holy Ghost who gives utterance to my spirit, but it’s my spirit that actually does the praying.
You see, it isn’t all my spirit and it isn’t all the Holy Spirit. It’s both of them working together. The Holy Spirit gives our spirit utterance, so we can pray out of our spirit, not out of our head. That’s what it means to be led by the Spirit in prayer.
We need to learn to be led by the Spirit and praying in other tongues provides a way for you to pray for things that you wouldn’t otherwise know needed prayer. Look again at Ephesians 6:18.
PRAYING ALWAYS WITH ALL PRAYER AND
SUPPLICATION IN THE SPIRIT, and watching
Thereunto with all perseverance and supplications for all saints…
Greek scholars tell us that according to the original Greek manuscripts, the first part of this verse literally says, “praying, being led by the spirit.” Of course, that phrase includes the idea of praying in tongues, but it also means the Holy Ghost will lead you in how to pray. He may lead you differently at different times. Although two situations may look the same, the Holy Spirit may lead you to pray one way one time and another way another time. We may not always know why He’s leading us to pray a certain way. The important thing is to follow the leading of the Spirit. He’ll show you the best way to pray concerning your situation. Look to Him to lead you in how to pray in every instance. He’ll lead you in the right direction.
Some people ask why we need to pray. They may be thinking, “God already knows everything. Doesn’t God already know what we need?” Yes, He does know, but you still need to pray. Let me explain why.
At the time of creation, God made the world and the fullness thereof, the silver, the gold, the cattle on a thousand hills, and everything that’s here on earth. Then He made Adam and God said, “Adam, I give you dominion over all the work of My hands.” Adam had dominion over the whole world (Genesis 1:26-28), but Adam committed high treason. He sold out to Satan and the Word of God tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that Satan is the god of this world. How did he get to be the god of this world?
When Adam committed high treason, he gave his dominion to Satan. Satan is dominating in this world because Adam sold out. Thank God, Jesus came and restored us to dominion. Why, then, do we need to pray? I’ll give you three references that at least imply our need to pray.
In Matthew 6:5-15, Jesus is teaching on the subject of prayer. Look at what He said in verse 8, “…your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him”. Well, if your Heavenly Father knows what you need, why doesn’t He just send it? Why would you have to ask? Verse 8 makes it clear that Jesus expects us to ask the Father for what we need. This Scripture implies that God will send what you need unless you do ask Him. Now look at Matthew 9. Here, again, Jesus is giving instructions on the subject of prayer.
Matthew 9:25-28
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching
In their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
And healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion
On them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep
Having no shepherd. Then saith He unto His disciples,
The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few;
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth
Laborers into His harvest.
I want to ask you a question. Who does the harvest belong to? Is it God’s harvest? Yes! Is He the Lord of harvest? Yes! Does He want laborers? Yes! If He wants laborers, why doesn’t He send them? What need would there be for us to ask Him if He wants to send them anyway? Yet Jesus clearly tells us that we are to pray to the Father to send laborers. This Scripture implies that God will not send them unless we ask Him. Now, look at these verses from Matthew 10:18-19.
Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind ON EARTH
Shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose ON EARTH
Shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree ON EARTH as
Touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done
For them of my Father which is in heaven.
Notice that Jesus is telling us to do something here on earth. He is telling us to pray. You see, something has to happen on earth before Heaven moves. Verse 19 tells us what has to happen on earth: “if two of you on earth shall agree as touching anything they ASK”. They have to ask! They have to pray!
There must be action on the earth before Heaven moves. So you can see that the Holy Ghost is looking for people who have dedicated themselves to prayer. We sometimes call these people “prayer warriors”. People who give themselves to prayer often sense the Spirit of God moving throughout the earth as He tries to find somebody He can use to pray things out! Why? Because someone has got to pray about it. Someone has to pray it out! Do you know what I mean by “praying something out”?
The old time Pentecostals called this practice “praying through.” When you have what some people call a leading – when you have an urge or burden to pray – what do you do? You pray! And when you don’t know what you are praying for, you pray in tongues, speaking mysteries, speaking divine secrets as 1 Corinthians 14 tells us.
“Praying through” simply means that you keep praying until you have a note of victory. What do I mean by a note of victory? Well, after you’ve prayed for a while, you’ll begin to laugh or sing to yourself in tongues. You see, a while ago, you had this burden. You felt this heaviness. Then you prayed and suddenly, you feel as though the burden is gone. You have a sense of gladness. Those signs tell you that you have prayed the situation through and have the victory!
When you have a burden or leading to pray, it’s important to yield to that leading and pray until you’ve prayed through. When you do, you’ll experience victory. During my studies, I read a testimony of a missionary named Brother Boley in a full gospel magazine. Brother Boley and his wife went out as missionaries to Africa in the early 1920’s. They went inland into the heart of Africa and built a mission there for a native tribe. One day, a neighboring tribe kidnapped a six year old girl from the tribe he was ministering to. Brother Boley knew the customs of the local tribes.
He said, “We knew that if we didn’t get the little girl back before sundown, we would never recover her. I got a native man who was saved and could speak the dialect of that tribe and went over there. Before we got there, we could smell this awful smell. They had a custom of taking an animal and killing it. Four or five women of the tribe had to prepare it. Then, they’d hang this animal on a pole at the entrance to the tribe’s land. Everyone who came in had to take a knife, cut a piece off that meat and eat it. If you didn’t eat, the women who had prepare the meat would be killed.”
In that hot, humid climate the meat putrefied. Brother Boley told the interpreter,“We’ll have to eat a bite of that. We don’t want those women to be killed. Jesus said, ‘One of the signs that’ll follow believers is that if they drink any deadly thing, it’ll not hurt them’. I suppose that we could also eat any deadly thing, and it would not hurt us. So we said, ‘In the name of Jesus. Then cut a chunk off that rotten, putrefied meat. We ate a bite, and it never affected us in any way. We made a deal with the chief of that tribe,” Brother Boley said. We traded him a bunch of trinkets and beads and things for the girl, but then night overtook us.” Because it was dangerous to travel the jungle at night, Brother Boley and his interpreter stayed overnight in the tribe’s guest hut. At midnight, they were awakened by the sound of drums. The interpreter told Brother Boley, ‘that means we’re dead. That’s the death knell. It has dawned on the chief that they don’t have to give up the girl. They can just kill us and take her back?
The two men heard the tribe members moving around outside the hut. Knowing they were about to die, they committed themselves into God’s hands and then stepped outside. Brother Boley said, “I shut my eyes and waited. I know it was just a few seconds, but it seemed like a long time. Nothing happened. “I heard strange sounds, and when I opened my eyes and looked, the warriors were on the ground and they were bowing up and down, their knives laying on the ground! Brother Boley asked his interpreter what the warriors were saying, “They’re worshipping you. They think you’re a god. They say that when you stepped out of the hut, two giant men in white apparel with a giant sword in either hand stepped out right beside you.”
Thank God for His deliverance, but that’s not the end of the story. There’s more to it. Soon after his miraculous deliverance, Brother Boley went to check on the lady who was manning a missions station for another local tribe. When he arrived, the woman asked him, “Brother Boley, did something happen to you last Monday night about midnight?” He said, “Why do you ask?” “Well,” she said, “I always work 14 to 16 hours a day and I was very tired that Monday, so I got to bed and went to sleep. I was awakened with a burden to pray. I lay there in bed and began to pray, but I was so sleepy, I fell back to sleep. I was awakened again and I had the same burden to pray! So I prayed, but I was so weary that I fell back to sleep. I was awakened the third time about 10:30 that night and I decided to get up because I knew if I lay there, I’d go back to sleep”.
The woman got out of the bed, got on her knees and said, “Lord, I don’t know what it is you’ve awakened me to pray for. I don’t know who it is who needs prayer. I just trust the Holy Ghost to give me utterance.” And she began to pray in other tongues. She prayed for an hour and a half in other tongues.
“While I was praying,” she told Brother Boley, “your face kept flashing before me. I don’t know whether I was praying for you or not. At midnight, I knew I had prayed through. I began to laugh. I began to laugh in the Spirit and sing! The burden lifted. Instead of a spirit of heaviness, I felt a spirit of lightness.”
The night she prayed was the same night Brother Boley was delivered from death. It was a mystery to her why she was awakened to pray, but it wasn’t a mystery to God! What if she hadn’t prayed? Thank God, she did!
You can see the necessity of following that leading to pray, even though we don’t know what it is we’re praying for. Afterward, we sometimes find out what we were praying for. Sometimes, we’ll never know until we get to heaven, but how important is it that we respond to the Holy Spirit when He leads us to pray. Learning to pray when the Holy Spirit leads us would avert many dangers. If Spirit-filled believers would follow His promptings and become conscious, man problems wouldn’t happen. Many terrible things would never happen if folks were really led by the Spirit.
Being led by the Spirit does more than avert trouble in our lives, it also helps us usher in wonderful moves of God. Great and mighty things have happened in the past as God’s people have prayed and great and mighty things are going to happen more and more, but they are not going to come just because God decides. No, they will come as a result of praying! If we would just stay in prayer until we have a victory.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication
In the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
Perseverance and supplication for all saints…
Ephesians 6:18
What is perseverance? I heard one fellow call it “stickability”. Just stay with it. Stay with praying until you’ve prayed through. I think that many times, if something doesn’t happen fast enough, we give up too soon and if we give up, we won’t see the results God intends for us to have. Pray with a little more perseverance, pray with a bit more determination and watch the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit! Watch great and mighty things happen!”
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