Stage 2: Level 1 - Class 2

- A class on praying in the Holy Spirit

By Pastor Simon

Prayer is designed by God to see that earthly needs are met by Heaven's glorious resources. The prayers of the saints can connect the glory of Heaven with the desperation of Earth.

A believer's prayer should have a dramatic impact upon the circumstances and conditions around him. A believer's prayer should cause things to flow correctly according to the will of God. A believer's prayer should bring in order where there was confusion, peace where there was a storm and quietness of body, soul and spirit.

James tells us in his epistle,

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

James 5:16.

What is "effectual fervent prayer"? Effectual fervent prayer is the kind of prayer believers can pray and by it see lives and conditions wonderfully changed. It is not prayer prayed with the head - the Greek scholar Zodhiates tells us it is prayer wrought by the operation or energy of the Holy Spirit.

You just don't want to be praying out of your head or even making a prayer that is simply an emotional response to things. You want to go beyond this. You want to be praying according to the operation or energy of the Holy Spirit.

You want to get into the place where you're praying by the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us God is up to doing things way out beyond anything you're able to ask or think. God can work at the superabundant level of the power that works within you. What power is that? It's the power of the Holy Spirit!

We learn of this from Paul when he writes,

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory.

Ephesians 3:20 - NKJV.

How can you pray at the level of the power that works within you? By being a Spirit-filled believer who prays in the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit's intercession

How often do you see a situation and you recognise in it things that aren't a reflection of God's peace, favour and blessing. You then realise something powerful needs to happen if things are going to get put right. Perhaps you begin praying in words for it. You do your best but you're soon sensing inside yourself that your prayer isn't reaching the mark where it can truly bring about change.

The Bible tells us exactly what the problem is. It tells us we need the Spirit's intercession.

For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:26 - NKJV.

You and I don't know what we should pray for as we ought to. This is not to say you don't know what needs praying into but rather that you don't know how to pray effectively for it. For this reason you need the Spirit's intercession. This intercession comes in the form of "groanings which cannot be uttered".

Tongues: what are they?

Tongues, as they are in prayer, are "groanings which cannot be uttered". They go beyond the range of human vocabulary to communicate audibly with God the Holy Spirit's intercession for us.

A tongue is an operation of the Holy Spirit. It is a marvellous endowment that comes to us by the Spirit when we are filled with the Spirit. Tongues wonderfully enable us to communicate with God the exact need or action required in any situation.

You and I, without the Holy Spirit, don't know what the exact need or required action is in any situation because we only perceive things that our physical senses make us aware of. For example, without the Holy Spirit we don't have any perception of the spiritual adversaries that may be arrayed against us.

We don't know what we should pray for as we ought because we don't see things as we ought. This is why we need the Spirit's intercession. The Holy Spirit by tongues makes intercession for us according to the will of God. The Holy Spirit knows exactly how to reach the mark where change for good can be effected.

Tongues: available to you

From the moment you are filled with the Holy Spirit you should expect to begin speaking in tongues. In the book of Acts on each occasion when believers were filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak with tongues. The first occasion was on the Day of Pentecost.

Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place...And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:1,4 - NKJV.

The early disciples had been instructed by Jesus to stay in Jerusalem waiting to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. For this reason they were together in an upper room waiting when the Day of Pentecost arrived. On that day the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit began that was declared by Joel the prophet. (Acts 1:4,5; 2:16-19.)

God is still pouring out His Spirit today so that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit. The moment you are - if you will do what the believers did on that Day of Pentecost - you will begin speaking in tongues.

What did the believers on the Day of Pentecost do? When they were filled they began to speak and as they began to speak the Holy Spirit gave utterance and to this utterance they yielded their tongues.

The Holy Spirit won't force tongues through your mouth. If you're going to speak in tongues you're going to have to open your mouth to speak and you're going to have to accept into your mouth the Holy Spirit's "groanings which cannot be uttered". He gives the utterance but you have to let what comes have voice.

Tongues: surrender your tongue

The moment you are filled with the Holy Spirit begin praising the Lord aloud and then - as you're praising - allow the Spirit of God to take over the use of your tongue. Surrender your tongue to the operation of the Holy Spirit and when you do a flow of worshipful communication in tongues comes forth.

The utterances arise from within you. There is a wellspring of life within the Spirit-filled believer. It is from this well-spring that tongues arise by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

If I pray in an (unknown) tongue, my spirit - by the Holy Spirit within me - prays.

1 Corinthians 14:14 - Amplified.

Paul spoke in tongues liberally. He declared,

I thank God, I speak with tongues more than ye all.

1 Corinthians 14:18.

Follow Paul's lead and speak in tongues liberally. Your speech in your tongue may be awkward at first, like a baby's, but in time it will flow easily with increasing power and fluency.

Listen to your heart

As you are speaking in tongues, don't listen to the sounds being formed by your mouth; listen instead to your heart where the Spirit is initiating what is being uttered. These utterances coming out of your mouth are from your heart and directed towards God. God searches hearts and knows what is on the Spirit's mind in His intercession for you.

Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:27 - NKJV.

The Bible tells us,

He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.

1 Corinthians 14:2 - NKJV.

Don't try to work out what's going on. Your mind has no part in this. It is your spirit that is praying and it is your spirit that is being built up in the process. Paul writes,

When a man is speaking in an ecstatic language (a tongue), he is no doubt building up his own spiritual life...If I pray in an ecstatic language, it is my spirit which prays. My mind is producing nothing at all.

1 Corinthians 14:4,14 - Barclay's translation.

Praying with your own words

Always remember that as wonderful and effective as praying in tongues is God also wants and delights in hearing you communicate with Him in your own words. Prayer in tongues should normally lead into prayer with your understanding. Paul writes,

What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding.

1 Corinthians 14:15 - NKJV.

While you're praying in tongues your mind should listen into your heart as the Holy Spirit intercedes. In this way you will start to become aware of how the Spirit is praying and direction comes to your own mind on how you should pray.

At this point pray with your understanding. You are to be inspired by the Holy Spirit's intercession in tongues to pray effectively in your own words and to continue to do so until your mind runs dry of Spirit-lead words. You move from praying in tongues to praying with the understanding and back again.

Why do we do this? Your prayer in tongues will indeed get things put right and flowing correctly but if you only pray in tongues you can miss out on some of the joy that comes from answered prayer. By following prayer in the spirit by prayer with your understanding you get to know exactly what you are petitioning for and you get to see just how wonderful the answer is.

Prayer by the Holy Spirit

The exciting thing about initiating prayer in tongues and letting this flow into praying with your understanding is that you end up praying with your understanding after the leading of the Holy Spirit. Your prayer is therefore according to the will of God. The Bible declares,

If we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

1 John 5:14-15.

So you see prayer prayed according to the will of God is prayer that is always heard and answered.

Spirit-filled believer

You can receive the complete baptism with the Holy Spirit and have a Heavenly prayer language (a tongue) available to you now by praying this simple prayer:

"Father in the name of Jesus, I ask you now to fill me with your Holy Spirit. As a believer I fully expect and ask now that I speak with other tongues. According to Your Word cause the signs that accompany believers (Mark 16:17) to accompany me. Amen."

Once you have sincerely prayed that prayer you will be a Spirit-filled believer with the gift of tongues available to you. It is a very precious gift. Welcome it eagerly! Open your mouth wide to speak! Yield your tongue to the utterances that come upon it! Luke 11:9-13; Psalm 81:10.

You can now pray effective fervent prayer that avails much. Pray in the Spirit by praying in tongues liberally. Now, having poured out your heart to satisfaction, pray with your understanding by the Spirit's leading.

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This class is part of High Impact Christianity - now available as a six part book series!

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