Scripture: Romans 8:26-28; Jude verse 20; Ephesians 6:10-18
Theme: Prayer
Title: Your Best Prayer Partner – The Holy Spirit
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
The Bible tells us that two are better than one:
We see this spelled out in the book of Genesis with Adam. After Adam was created, the LORD decided that it was not good for Adam to be the only human being on the earth. So the LORD made a help mate for him. The Bible tells us that Adam called his helpmate a woman and gave her the name, Eve.
Later on King Solomon also testified that two are better than one:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
And throughout history we have watched as some amazing inventions and discoveries have been made by two people coming together and working with each other side by side. Some of the greatest partnerships in history have been amazing:
+Abraham and Sarah – the Beginning of the Jewish Faith
+Paul and Barnabas – Gentile Missions Team
+Wilber and Orville Wright - First Successful Airplane
+William Procter and James Gamble – numerous inventions and products
+Bill Gates and Paul Allen - Microsoft
+Louis and Marie Pasteur - originated the process of pasteurization and developed vaccines against anthrax and rabies.
Today, I want to talk to you about an amazing partnership that we can all enjoy. It is a partnership that if we allow it, can not only transform our lives but the very atmosphere in which we live. It is the partnership that can exist between us and the Holy Spirit; especially in the area of prayer. The greatest prayer partner any of us can have is God’s Holy Spirit.
I believe we would all agree that one of the greatest privileges that any Born Again Believer can enjoy in this life is being able to communicate with the Lord God Almighty through prayer.
I believe that we would all agree that one of the greatest services that any Born Again Believer can participate in is being a prayer warrior for your family, friends and for the world.
But I also believe that we also agree that it is not always easy at times to pray. When we pray we begin to fully understand what it means to do battle with the world, with our own flesh and with evil (the devil and all his demons).
The Early Church understood the power of prayer. The Early Church was victorious not because it had great numbers, a big checkbook or had powerful political clout. It didn’t have great numbers at the beginning. It didn’t have a big check book and as far as political clout it had little to none.
The Early Church was victorious because they learned how to lean into the Holy Spirit. They learned how to partner in prayer with the Holy Spirit. They prayed in the Spirit and as a result saw people radically healed, prison doors opened, thousands of people coming to faith and entire communities transformed.
Again, this was not because they had great numbers, a big checkbook or political clout. It was because they partnered in prayer with the HOLY SPIRIT and were able to line up their prayers with the perfect will of God.
This morning, I want to share with you some ways that we can partner with the Holy Spirit in our prayer lives.
I. The first thing we can do is acknowledge that we need the Holy Spirit as Our Prayer Partner
Praying is not foreign to us. Most of us have turned to prayer over and over again as we have faced one sort of trouble after another. We have been broken, knocked down, defeated, lost a loved one, experienced a heart ache, faced a bad medical report, lost hope, encountered enemies and faced our share of trials and tribulations. We have found ourselves confused, anxiety ridden and at time almost overcome with depression.
It is during those times that we have reached out to God in prayer. We have tried to compose some type of prayer that would bring help, healing, reconciliation, grace, forgiveness, peace, deliverance and relief.
During those times have we ever thought about asking the Holy Spirit for His help?
We know that the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is our Teacher, our Comforter and our Guide. But are we aware that one of the greatest things that the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives is to be our prayer partner?
Are we aware as we struggle at times for the right words and as we struggle to fight our flesh, the world and the devil that we have the greatest prayer partner in all of creation?
The Early Church understood this fact. The Apostle Paul understood this fact. That is why the Apostle shared with us the words that we have read this morning (Ephesians 6:18 and Romans 8:26-28).
The Early Church knew that if a person or a congregation was going to be victorious, it would greatly depend on them having an amazing prayer life. It would depend on them having an amazing prayer life with the Holy Spirit being thier prayer partner.
II. Secondly, we must allow the Holy Spirit to be in control
We all like to have a measure of control. We like to have a measure of control over our finances, our health and our lives. We like to be able to go where we want to go and do pretty much do we want to do.
Sometimes we find ourselves not being in control. For example, have you ever had your car in the garage and found yourself not having a way to get around? Your mechanic told you that the repair would take a few days to get finished. Suddenly, you realized that you would not have access to your car. The only thing you could do is to ride a bus, ask a friend for a ride or if you could afford it rent a car?
When that happens most of us are not happy. We find ourselves feeling isolated and alone. We find ourselves feeling out of control.
Have you ever found yourself not having enough money to pay your bills or buy something that you really wanted? Usually that means that we either have to ask someone for some money or we have to decide to wait a little while or just forget it all together. None of those options are very appealing.
We don’t like it went we feel things are out of our control. We usually don’t like it when we have to depend on someone else to get us around or pay our bills or even dictate our health needs.
But if we are smart, we will understand that it is for our best good for the Holy Spirit to be in control of our prayer lives. That the best thing we can do is to hand over control to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to teach us and guide us during our prayer times.
There are many reasons for this:
+The Holy Spirit is Perfect. The Holy Spirit is God, He understands God and He is able to guide us and help us have a victorious prayer life.
+The Holy Spirit knows what is best for us as individuals and as a corporate body.
So many times when we pray we don’t always know what is best for us or for the person for whom we are praying. We cannot see the full picture. We don’t know the future. We don’t know what is in their heart or what is best for them or for us.
It is easy for us at times to get confused or to think the wrong thoughts. It is easy for us at times to ask the Lord to just remove something in our lives when the LORD wants to really use that thing for our promotion.
That’s what happened to Joseph in the book of Genesis. He found himself not only a slave, but a slave that had been accused of attempted rape.
Now, he hadn’t done anything wrong. The only thing he had done was to be faithful to God and faithful to his master Potiphar. Joseph was completely innocent. He was living a pure and holy life.
But in Genesis chapter 39, Joseph finds himself in trouble. Even though Joseph had faced and passed with flying colors the purity test he found himself in prison. He found himself facing a life time of being a prisoner of Egypt. He found himself having lost all control of his own life and his own world.
Now, don’t you think Joseph prayed and prayed and prayed some more? Just a few years earlier he had some dreams and visions of him being an important man. He had seen himself as someone important.
But now he was sitting in prison. He found himself at the mercy of the prison officials seemingly for the rest of his life.
I am sure he prayed for Potiphar’s wife to confess her lies and for Potiphar to allow him to come back home. I am sure he prayed that somehow he could escape or at least be bought by another Egyptian. I am sure he prayed for a quick deliverance.
But God had other plans for Joseph. God’s Spirit led Joseph from his home to Potiphar house, to the prison and finally to becoming Prime Minister of Egypt.
Joseph couldn’t see everything that was going to take place in his life. He couldn’t see how he could be rescued and redeemed. And he sure couldn’t see how he could be promoted to becoming Prime Minister.
How would you have prayed for Joseph while he was in prison?
What would you have asked God to do for him?
I think most of us would have prayed for either Potiphar’s wife to have confessed up to her lies or that somehow Joseph would get an early release. Perhaps, we would have prayed that somehow Joseph would find a way to escape and make his way back home.
I doubt any of us would have prayed for Pharaoh to have a series of dreams that led him to reach out to a slave named Joseph who was sitting in a prison cell.
We all have had those times when we didn’t know how to pray. We have pondered over should we pray this way or that way? We have pondered over do we want the LORD to do this or that in our lives or in the lives of someone we know and love?
The really wonderful and amazing thing is our prayer partner knows the future and can shape our prayers for the best. That is, if we ask Him to do that.
When we pray let’s allow the Holy Spirit to not only direct our prayers but at times even to cancel our prayers.
This is exactly what happened in the life of Jonah in chapter four of his book. Jonah is so angry that he prays to die. Nineveh ended up not being destroyed and Jonah is angry.
On top of that, the plant providing him some shade withered and died and he found himself sitting out in the hot sun getting hotter and hotter. In the midst of all that pain, confusion and anger Jonah prayed that the LORD would just take his life.
I think after Jonah cooled down a bit and spent some more time talking to God he realized how foolish he had been praying such a prayer. The LORD was able to show him how wonderful it always is when people repent and are saved from disaster. The Lord was able to help him go on to do more work for him and help other people.
But what if God just answered each and every prayer we ever prayed?
Just how much trouble would we be in today?
Did you really want that job?
Did you really want to marry her or him?
Do you really want everything you ever prayed for?
If you are like me, you are grateful that God says no or wait a while. You are glad that God is not some supernatural vending machine that just gives us everything we ask.
The Holy Spirit sees the future. The Holy Spirit knows what is best for each one of us and we need to turn control of everything in our lives over to the Holy Spirit. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our prayers.
If we acknowledge our need for the Holy Spirit and we allow the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives and especially of our prayer lives there are some amazing things that will take place.
III. The Holy Spirit will energize our prayers lives and take them to the next level
One of the greatest things that happens to our prayer lives when we allow the Holy Spirit to take over is He takes everything up to the next level. He supernaturally empowers and energizes our prayer lives.
The Holy Spirit not only joins us in our prayer times, He becomes a part of our prayer times.
Have you ever been so burdened about something or someone that you were at a loss for words? You couldn’t do anything more than just groan or moan? You were in so much pain, in so much turmoil that all you could do was to hurt?
Have you ever had a fever or sickness that made it impossible for you to put the right words or thoughts together? Your pain level was so high that you couldn’t gather your own thoughts. You couldn’t concentrate.
Have you ever found yourself so overwhelmed or so depressed that you felt like you were paralyzed? No matter how much you tried you just felt like you were living in a mental and emotional fog. You couldn’t concentrate. You were completely at a loss.
Have you ever found yourself under so much spiritual attack that you felt overwhelmed? It seemed like all the spiritual forces of evil had lined up against you. You couldn’t shake it. You felt alone, defeated and done.
I love the fact that the Holy Spirit not only sees us where we are at those times, He joins us at those times. He takes our groans, our moans and our mixed up words and emotions and fashions them so that when they get to the Father they make perfect sense.
I love the fact that the Holy Spirit will provide for us the right words. I love the fact that the Holy Spirit will join His Prayer Language with our Prayer Language. I love the fact that the Holy Spirit will give us the words that not only move mountains but move the heart and mind of God.
I love the fact that even in our weakest moments the Holy Spirit comes in and renews our strength. I love the fact that in our weakest moments the Holy Spirit is watching over us and making intercession for us.
While we may think that we are alone we are never alone. Even when we can’t find the right words if we allow the Holy Spirit, He will help us. He will transform our moans, our prayer language, our mixed up words into the right words that will move the heart of God.
I love the fact that if we allow the Holy Spirit, He will even energize our bodies. This happened to Jesus in John 4.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was hungry and tired. He was so tired that he sent his disciples on to get some food while he just rested at the well. But then something amazing happened. When the disciples got back, Jesus tells them he is no longer hungry. He is full and refreshed.
How did that happen? That happened through the Holy Spirit. During Jesus time with the woman at the well the Holy Spirit not only gave Jesus the right words to say but empowered his body as well.
Have you ever found yourself feeling to tired to pray? Have you ever found yourself not being able to concentrate while you are praying? Have you ever found your mind wandering?
Have you asked the Holy Spirit for help during those times?
We need to understand that the flesh, the world and the devil never want us to pray. They never want us to connect with God in a meaningful way. They know what happens when we do. They know that when we pray we become victorious, we gain new insight and knowledge and we gain courage and maturity.
If we allow the Holy Spirit, He will help us during these times.
Now, this doesn’t mean that when we pray that we just say –
“Hey, Holy Spirit I need to pray about a few things but I have something else to do right now, so You just go ahead and do Your thing. You have the right words; You know the future so while I go and live out the day, You just take over my prayer time.”
It doesn’t work like that. When we pray the person that is transformed the most is us. When we pray the Holy Spirit is actively transforming our hearts. When we pray our minds are being renewed. When we pray we begin to see a whole new world open us before us. When we pray we see new doors of ministry coming into being.
This is what happened in the Early Church.
In Acts chapter nine, the LORD opened up a new door for the Early Church. It came out of their prayers. It just didn’t come quite the way most of them thought that it would.
A Pharisee named Saul had been going around from town to town arresting Christians. It was his mission to rid the world of Jesus believers.
Now, I am sure that the Early Church was praying. More than likely some were praying for fire to fall down from heaven and burn Saul up. Some may have been praying for Saul to be struck down by the Holy Spirit and then be cast into the lake of fire.
The Holy Spirit took all those prayers and gave them some extra energy and in Acts chapter nine we find Saul being confronted with the LORD JESUS CHRIST Himself. Talk about a supernatural encounter. Talk about a radical answer to prayer.
Instead, of throwing Saul away the LORD decided that He would just help Saul become Paul and become one of the greatest missionaries the Church has ever seen.
The Holy Spirit took the Churches Prayers and Supersized them. He gave them new energy. He used them to open new doors and new ministries. He delivered them in a way I am sure none of them every thought possible. God took their #1 enemy and transformed him to become their #1 missionary.
Now, that’s what happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to become our prayer partner.
+The Holy Spirit is God and so He understands how and what we need to pray for. No one understands God better than God so who can better help us pray than God Himself.
+The Holy Spirit is able to take our words, mixed up and confused as they may be and transform them so that God’s will is done in our lives.
+The Holy Spirit is able to take our prayers and supersize them, so that we not only receive answers but answers that are tied to blessings and favor. We find ourselves in the ministry of not getting rid of those who are most against us, but of helping those people come to faith and then them leading the charge themselves.
This morning, let me challenge you to invite the Holy Spirit to be your Prayer Partner. You will never find a better one.
Let me challenge you to allow the Holy Spirit to take control of your prayer life.
Let me challenge you to allow the Holy Spirit to give you the words and led you into a whole new and exciting way to prayer – to pray in His Spirit – to allow Him to be in charge of your prayer life.
Let me challenge you to begin a new adventure where the Holy Spirit prays through you, in you and with you.
Prayer/Blessing
