Dr. Wesley L. Duewel: Jesus promised to send us another Helper (possible translation of John 14:16), and Paul assures us the Spirit helps us in our weakness in prayer (Rom. 8:26). (Google image by Brenda Black's Woman on knees)
Ravenhill writes,
"The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life ends our deadness
in prayer ... as the Spirit of wisdom delivers us from
ignorance in this holy art of prayer ... as the Spirit of fire
delivers us from coldness in prayer ... as the Spirit of
might comes to our aid in our weakness as we pray."
Let's examine a number of ways in which the Spirit helps you so that you are enabled to prevail in prayer:
1) The Spirit fills you so that He can be Lord of your praying. You never truly become a person of prayer, mighty in prevailing prayer, until He fills you. His filling you, in the words of Payne, "brings Pentecost up to date."
The apostles were not outstandingly men of prayer until Pentecost. Then their perspective, commitment, and spiritual experience were transformed.
2) The Spirit makes you spiritually healthy. He makes Christ your very life (Rom. 8:2; Col. 3:4). Living in the Spirit gives you spiritual health and vitality so that you can pray and serve God as you ought. Living in the Spirit equips you to pray in the Spirit. As you abide in Christ, you have the right to ask what you will (John 15:7).
3) The Spirit draws you to prayer. As guardian of your soul and as steward of your spiritual life, He draws you to prayer again and again.
Sometimes He draws you to prayer by showing you how great is some need and how helpless you are to meet that need. Sometimes He draws you by giving you a vision of all God longs to do.
Only the Spirit can convey to you the heartbeat of God, the priority of God, or the spiritual battle in which He calls you to fight.
Thank God, you can depend on the Spirit to give you desires, drawing, and hunger to pray at the very time your prayer is strategic to the advance of Christ's kingdom.
It is always tragic to neglect prayer, but it is doubly so when the Spirit thus calls you. Some person in a crisis may need your prayer just then, or some danger may be averted if you pray just then. Often only eternity will cast full light on the importance of obeying such a call to prayer.
4) The Spirit gives special access to God. "Through him we have access to the Father by one Spirit" (Eph. 2:18). "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence" (3:12).
Who are you and I that we should have access to the throne room of heaven? No ruler of any nation gives instant, constant access to anyone. But through Christ you and I have been made kings and priests to God by virtue of Christ's redemption.
The Spirit, as it were, ushers you into God's presence. This image suggests a court official who introduces people who desire an audience with a king.
You know not how to approach God or how to express your deepest requests, but the Holy Spirit expresses your heart-cry and perfectly interprets your deepest need.
"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Heb. 4:16).
Used by permission of the author and Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana
#67 The Spirit Helps Us Pray
(pp. 112-114) Zondervan
Let's pray-
Father, thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to help us pray.
We acknowledge our weakness in our ability to prevail in prayer, and we do ask for the Spirit's help to express our deepest requests.
We are grateful that we can depend on the Spirit to give us desires, drawing and hunger to pray for what is strategic to the advancing of Christ's kingdom.
It's in the Name of Jesus that we pray, and give thanks. Amen.
We acknowledge our weakness in our ability to prevail in prayer, and we do ask for the Spirit's help to express our deepest requests.
We are grateful that we can depend on the Spirit to give us desires, drawing and hunger to pray for what is strategic to the advancing of Christ's kingdom.
It's in the Name of Jesus that we pray, and give thanks. Amen.
Today's Bible verses-
(Mark 9:23 KJV) "Jesus said unto him, 'If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.' "
(Mark 13:11 KJV) "But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost."
Today's quote-
Sarah Young- From Jesus Calling, Enjoying Peace in His Presence, a devotional written for 9/16, p. 271.
"Find fulfillment through living close to Me, yielding to My purposes for you. Though I may lead you along paths that feel alien to you, trust that I know what I am doing. If you follow Me wholeheartedly, you will discover facets of yourself that were previously hidden. I know you intimately—far better than you know yourself. In union with Me, you are complete. In closeness to Me, you are transformed more and more into the one I designed you to be."
Upcoming posts-
#68 The Dynamics of the Spirit Part 2
3rd- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
Are You Longing for Christ's Appearing?
5th- Saturday's post by Derek Prince
#69 God's Spirit Teaches You the Love of Prayer
8th- Tuesday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
#70 The Spirit Burdens You to Pray
10th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
31-day Devotional + my personal story.
A sample verse from p. 29 -
"When God can rule priorities
And in Him we will trust,
We'll find that it's revealed He sees
And knows what's best for us."
And in Him we will trust,
We'll find that it's revealed He sees
And knows what's best for us."
(Published by Lighthouse Publishing
of the Carolinas. Used by permission).
of the Carolinas. Used by permission).
A great gift for someone who may need help
to prepare for marriage, and for those in a
marriage, wanting some helpful advice.
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