On Sunday I preached on praying in the Holy Spirit. I tried to show that praying in the Holy Spirit is the wonderful blessing of praying as a child of God - calling out 'Abba, Father' (Romans 8). I think all Christian prayer is prayer in the Holy Spirit. I have been thinking about it and I wonder whether I should take one more step:
Since Christian living is 'being what we are' in Christ, then when we pray - we pray in the power of the Holy Spirit and so we should acknowledge the power of the Holy Spirit.
We always pray in the Holy Spirit because we pray as children of God, who want to walk his ways etc... , but the command gives us a 'be what you are sense'. We should pray as children, who are humble, confident, wanting to serve Christ and want to see God honoured.
4 comments:
Good stuff, AB. But is this idea of praying in the Spirit encouragement, observation, or exhortation?
Or all of these?
Or two of these? If so, which two?
It is at least the first two.
As a Christian we pray (encouragement) and all praying is praying in the Holy Spirit (observation).
Perhaps the exhortation is that we should 'pray as we actually are' - Holy Spirit filled, children of God - and pray in line with that reality.
G'day AB.
What about the prayers that go unanswered that James talks about? Where those prayers prayed in the Spirit?
On that basis can you truthfully say that just because we are Christians we always pray in the Spirit?
Hi Craig,
Thanks for your comment and question.
I think prayer is extremely profound. We address our Father and he hears us as he hears his Son. We only can call him our father if we have the Spirit of his Son at home within us.
Some prayers get a no and yet can still be prayed in the Spirit. When Jesus prayed that the cup be taken from him - he most assuredly was praying in the Spirit.
Some prayers - God will not hear. If we are beating up on our wives (1 Peter 3:7) or living in unrepentant sin (1 Peter 3:10-12) or prayer offered without faith (James 1:6) or prayer asked with wrong motives (as you point out - James 4:2-3).
I think all of these prayers are not prayer in the Spirit - because we are not praying as trusting sons of God.
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