5) The Spirit Teaches you to pray. At the beginning of every prayer period, you should commit yourself to the Lord and ask that the Holy Spirit deeply possess you in your praying, enabling you to pray in the Spirit.
(Google image, The strength of prayer)
"In the Spirit" (Eph. 6:18) is literally "in spirit." This wording has been interpreted to mean completely surrounded by the Spirit. He is the transforming atmosphere of prayer. You are to breathe in the atmosphere of the Spirit and breathe out the spirit of prayer.
You are to "Walk in Spirit" (Gal. 5:16, Greek), "live in Spirit" (v. 25, Greek), and walk "according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4).
The atmosphere and lordship of the Spirit must characterize all of your living but, above all, your praying. The Spirit exercises His lordship by teaching you to pray, calling you to pray, strengthening you to pray, guiding you in prayer, and giving faith as you pray.
Charles Finney counsels,
"If you would pray in faith, be sure to walk every day
with God. If you do, He will tell you what to pray for.
Be filled with His Spirit, and He will give you objects
enough to pray for. He will give you as much of the
spirit of prayer as you have strength of body to bear."
(Finney, Sermons on Gospel Themes, 56-57)
You are totally dependent on the Spirit, which anyone who has longed to prevail in prayer knows. He must touch your emotions, giving you deep desire; your faith, giving you boldness in prayer; and your will, giving you persevering insistence.
He must both teach you and enable you to put His teaching into praying. He is the giver of all praying in the Spirit, as Spurgeon has well said.
The Holy Spirit is the Master Intercessor within you, even as Jesus is the Master Intercessor at the Father's right hand. The Spirit is your infallible, all-wise Teacher, but he also enables you to do as He teaches.
He not only teaches you the need and the manner of prayer, but He opens to you the mysteries of prayer. He is the Helper in all your spiritual life, but especially in prayer.
The Spirit so sanctifies you to the will of God, so yearns within you for the will of God, so illumines for you the will of God, and so believes through you for the will of God that He sanctifies your intercession until the intercession of God the Son, God the Spirit, and your heart-cry are as one.
You and I do not know how to intercede as we ought. We could pray amiss. Prayer could become dangerous! God would have to say to us again and again, the words of Jesus, "You don't know what you are asking" (Matt. 20 :22).
What would we do without the Spirit to teach us and guide us in prayer?
Used by permission of the author and Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana
#68 The Dynamic of the Spirit- Part 2
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 111-112) Zondervan
Let's pray-
Father, as we don't really know how to pray effectively, we need all the help we can get. We're very grateful for Your Spirit's enablement in teaching us how to pray.
The Holy Spirit is the Master Intercessor within us, even as Jesus is the Master Intercessor at the Father's right hand, so we open ourselves up to be taught how to pray by Him.
We ask for Your continued help to glorify You in the name and power of Jesus. Amen.
Lynn Fori- "Please God, raise up your battle standard against terror."
Today's Bible verse-
(Ez. 36:26, 27 KJV) "A New heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (v.27) And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."
Upcoming posts-
Are You Longing for Christ's Appearing?
5th-Saturday's post by Derek Prince
(includes a tribute to Dr. Wesley L. Duewel)
#69 God's Spirit Teaches You the Love of Prayer
8th- Tuesday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
#70 The Spirit Longs to Share His Burden
10th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
What Matters is Who God Is
12th- Saturday's post by Max Lucado
 |
| Breath-taking beauty! |
31-day Devotional + my personal story.
A sample verse from p. 45-
"As it's God's will to show you how
To make it through it all,
He will make it become clear now,
For His help you're to call."
To make it through it all,
He will make it become clear now,
For His help you're to call."
(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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