Praying with Power
“The Role of the Holy Spirit in Prayer”
Part 3 of Rules of Prayer
Romans 8:26-27
One night a wife found her husband standing over their infant’s crib. As she watched him looking down at their very first baby, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: …disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, skepticism.
Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused, with eyes glistening she slipped her arm around her husband. "A penny for your thoughts," she said.
"It’s amazing!" he replied. "I just can’t see how anybody can make a crib like that for only $46.50."
Here lay one of the greatest miracles in God’s creation… and all this father saw was a crib. He didn’t see what lay within.
But he wasn’t unique. Many times people look upon God’s handiwork and only see the outside manifestations… never the miracle that lays within. It works that way with many things, whether it be the miracle of the birth of a new baby or the miracle of the birth of a new Christian. There are many who see only the outside framework and miss the miracle that lays within. God’s Holy Spirit takes us residence in our lives when we are born again. But we often are unaware of how the Holy Spirit practically works in our lives.
“26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” NIV
“26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” NLT
I We don’t know How to Pray?
1. He didn’t mean we have learned memorized prayers
2. He didn’t mean we don’t have the Lord’s Prayer to guide us
3. He didn’t mean we don’t have the Psalms as examples of Prayer
4. All those are good, but they aren’t enough
5. Prayer is communion with the creator of the universe. What can we say to him?
6. We can know a lot of biblical principles of prayer, but which to use when and how, and for who, and when, we are at a loss.
7. Like Moses we often just prayer what worked the last time, but it may not work this time.
8. Jesus didn’t always use the same method to heal or deliver people, why? How did he know?
The Holy Spirit.
We can’t depend on past experiences in prayer, biblical knowledge in prayer alone, what we have been taught about prayer, what we have read about prayer. So praying with power will require something we don’t humanly have. The Holy Spirit.
II The Holy Spirit is the Key to Prayer
A. When do we need prayer the most? In our distress . V26 He helps us. He helps us pray.
B. He helps us know what to pray for.
Divine healing - or -Home going? I have looked at the advanced age of some and figured they were going home to be with the Lord, but God healed. I had an elderly man with a stroke nearly buried in my mind on the way to the hospital in my first church. God changed my praying in the car, and he had no lasting affects of the stroke and lived 10 or 15 more years.
Divorce recovered or Move on-
Break up of bad relationship or salvation of bad person-
I once prayed for the breakup of a relationship, because the man wasn’t a christian and was bad for my friend. Instead God saved him, and they married and stayed together until he passed away. So what did I know?
That God would spare them jail time, or teach them through it.
That God would free Christian from jail, or give strength to give their life (Acts 12)
Cindy Jacobs p24 Possessing the Gates of the Enemy
C. He helps us to know how to pray.
Pray in the Spirit with all kinds of prayer Eph 6:
-Praise
-Request -Petition -supplication
-Command
-Binding and Loosing
-Thanksgiving
-Worship
-Intercession
-Prayer of Agreement
-Prayer of Repentance
-Prayer of confession
-Do we ask God to heal or command the illness go away. Jesus rebuked the fever
-Do we ask God to bind the demon or do we do it for him in his name.
-Do we cleanse a house with Commands or Praise ?
Jack Hayford p81-82 Churches that Pray -C.Peter Wagner
D. He prays through us guiding us to know what and how to pray, but he also prays for us in ways we can’t fully understand. V26
-This verse has been variously interpreted.
1. He groans through us in ways that words can’t express
2. He prays in tongues through us.
3. He prays and we don’t hear, only the Father does.
4. Remember Jesus is also interceding (praying) for us in heaven.
(Lester Sumerall said in his book on prayer that he has only had this experience 6 or 7 times in his life. Of groaning deeply in prayer unable to speak words)
5. The Good News is that the Father understands what the Spirit is expressing and it is in accordance with his will. v27
This prayerful groaning isn’t about “speaking in tongues”, but about intense, non-verbal communication. We don’t have to always pray with words—we can communicate through silence, through feelings, and by focusing on God without having to say a word. Inwardly we groan, and God hears it; He catches what no one else can comprehend. He understands our pain and longings. We don’t always know why we hurt—God knows even that. When we’re about to pray and we’re thinking, “Why do I feel so crummy?” -God already understands. Elmer Towns
Why is the Holy Spirit effective in praying?
Three reasons why the Holy Spirit’s prayers are effective.
1. He knows our motives in asking, i.e., “He searcheth the heart.”
2. He knows the mind of God, i.e., He knows how to ask.
3. He knows the will of God, i.e., what God wants to give us.
Elmer Towns
III His Ability to help us is Limited by our Relationship
His ability is limitless. His ability to help you and me is limited only by us and our relationship with him.
A. Unsaved - Without the Spirit - No Help
B. Saved - All who are saved have the Spirit - But the Spirit doesn’t have all access to them.
C. Spirit Filled - Sanctified -Spirit baptized - The Spirit has an All Access Pass to their life.
Difference between HD TV without the box and with it. I got a HD TV from my wife for our anniversary. I plugged it in and it worked good, except the channels weren’t where they were supposed to be and their heads were chopped off. But you could see most of them. I discovered I had to get a box from Time Warner, and then everything worked great. Having the Holy Spirit in your life is like HD without the box, but being filled with the Spirit is like having the box. Everything becomes clearer.
D. Sins against the Spirit hinder his helping role.
Quench- Grieve - Blaspheme-
IV His Ability to Help us is Enhanced by Our Interaction
A. First, believing he wants to play an active role in our prayer life.
Paul Cho who pastors the largest church in the world.
“The Holy Spirit can bless you when you read the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit can direct you as you witness for Christ. The Holy Spirit can anoint you as you preach and teach the Word of God. But if you want to have an intimate communion with the Holy Spirit you need to pray.
I first realized this truth in the early days of my ministry. I tried so hard to lead people to Christ, but with few results. As I was in prayer, the Lord spoke to my heart, "How many quail would Israel have caught if they had gone quail hunting in the wilderness?" I responded, "Lord, not too many." "How did the quail get caught?" the Lord continued to ask me. I then realized that God sent the wind which brought the quail. The Lord was trying to show me the difference between chasing souls without the Holy Spirit’s strategy and working in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Then the Lord said something to me that totally changed my life, "You must get to know and work with the Holy Spirit !’’
I knew I was born again. I knew I was filled with the Hole Spirit. Yet, I had always thought of the Holy Spirit as an experience and not as a personality. However, getting to know the Hole Spirit would require my spending time talking with Him and letting Him talk to me. This fellowship with the Holy Spirit brought me into every major change in my ministry. In fact, every major people that I teach in Korea and around the world did not come a theological book, but it came from genuine and intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit in prayer. In my personal life, fellowship with the Holy Spirit has made all difference in the world. I could not live without that sweet communion with His presence that I have become so familiar with.
In the morning, I can sense His freshness come over my heart and I have the strength to go through the challenges of that day knowing that in every situation I will be completely victorious
I have also discovered that I am not smart enough to solve the thousands of problems that come to me regularly. Yet, I can just say to the Holy Spirit, "Sweet Spirit, please let me tell You about the problem I have. I know You know the mind of God and You already have the answer." With assurance, I then await the answer from the Holy Spirit.
Discovering throughout these many years that the Holy Spirit renews me spiritually, mentally and physically, I have seen that
Daily communion with the Holy Spirit is a necessity.”
B. Expecting him to help us in prayer
C. Looking and Listening for his guidance in prayer
D. Discerning his voice among the multitude of others
The mans face I seen in prayer at Six Mile Turn Camp Wednesday night. I looked through the camp on the way out, and saw a man close but not exact. I kept seeing his face in prayer the next few nights, but he wasn’t there. On Friday or Saturday night he went to the altar to be saved, and in my spirit God showed me it was him. I asked he said he had been there on Wednesday.
Woke up at 4am one morning and could only think of one possible person to pray for. I did and went back to sleep. I asked them about it. They said they were thinking of crashing their car into a tree to kill themselves at that time.
Elmer Towns Quotes from
Prayer Partners Series
By
Elmer Towns
Lesson 5: You and the Holy Spirit
Conclusion: What is your relationship to the Holy Spirit right Now?
1. Without the Spirit
2. With the Spirit
3. Filled with the Spirit
4. Sinning against the Spirit
Admit you have broken God’s commandment in spite of the Spirits call.
Believe the Spirit is calling you to put your faith in Jesus Death and Ressurrection for salvation.
Confess your desire to be led by the Spirit from now on.
