Daily Bread - APR/20/07

Ephesians 6:18 - Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and petition and through it stay alert with all persistence and intercession for all the saints.

Paul insisted that we pray in the Spirit. He made it clear to the church at Corinth that praying in the Spirit was a certain kind of prayer wherein the spirit was engaged in prayer (1 Corinthians 14:14-15). The prayer of the Spirit that produces the language of the Spirit participates in a communication directly to God (1 Corinthians 14:2; Romans 8:26). The only way that we can understand the true meaning of what Paul was saying regarding the prayer of the Spirit is to recognize that when the church was filled with the Spirit a divine utterance was given to them (Acts 2: 4). It must be recognized by all that if we are to pray in the Spirit then some event has to happen where we are filled by the Holy Spirit and the prayer that we engage in is not our own but His.

Paul's message to the church is that we remain totally alert as the army of God and every need that presents itself is to be taken to God in prayer. Among those urgent needs was Paul's own ministry of the word. He desired the church to pray for him that he would both be given the word to speak and that he would speak the word of God with boldness.

Unfortunately, if we are not careful we will pray after our own human concern and understanding and be completely ineffective. It is only the prayer of the Spirit that is the effectual and effective prayer (1 John 5:14; Romans 8:5, 27; 1 Corinthians 2:16). When we pray in the Spirit we will also receive the revelation or interpretation of those utterances so that we can understand and receive instruction and edification by it (1 Corinthians 14:6,12,13,15,16). Many times we also make the mistake of praying in the Spirit just short of the prayer that everyone can understand (1 Corinthians 14:6,13).

Blessings,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org