Praying in the Spirit
(week 17/04)
Olubi Johnson
Praying in the spirit is praying by supernatural utterance of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:2 NKJV: For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
We are commanded to pray often and regularly in the spirit.
Eph 6:18 NKJV: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints–
Jude 20 NKJV: But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
1 Corinthians 14:5,18 NKJV: I wish you all spoke with tongues, 18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all;
This is because:
1. Speaking in tongues makes the presence of God and spiritual things more real to you. Speaking in tongues is the supernatural physical evidence of the presence of the inivisible God.
Just like the voice of a person you hear from a mobile phone or radio is the evidence of the invisible wave entering into the radio or phone.
2. Speaking in tongues is the primary avenue through which the Holy Spirit gives you revelation knowledge.
When you speak in tongues the words you speak paint pictures. For instance, if you say ‘dog’ you have a picture of a dog in your mind: you don’t think D-O-G, you think and understand in pictures. So even when you speak in tongues your words are releasing pictures in the spirit realm even though your natural mind does not understand what you are saying. Now some part of these pictures are flashed into your mind by the Holy Spirit illuminating your understanding using scripture: this is what revelation is (Eph. 1.17,18). The more scripture you read, study and understand and the more you pray in the spirit, the more revelation the Holy Spirit can give to you (1 Cor. 2.7,10,13).
3. Speaking in tongues will help you tame your tongue and so control your whole body and ultimately perfect your conduct (Jam. 3.2) because when you pray in tongues it is the Lord Jesus who is praying through you by the Holy Spirit, for you to overcome the weaknesses of your flesh (Heb. 4.14-16, 7.25, Rom. 8.26,27, Jn. 16.13).
You receive the supernatural prayer language of tongues when you are baptised in the Holy Spirt after being born-again (Ac. 2.4, 10.45,46, 19.6).
You ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit by faith and expect to speak in the new supernatural language.
Acts 2:4 NKJV: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
You raise your voice, by faith, to vocalise the utterance of the Holy Spirit. What you say will seem foolish to your mind but do it by faith: remember God will not give you a bad gift.
Luke 11:11-13 NKJV: If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Raising your voice in faith is like opening a tap: Even though there is water in the pipe connected to a tap if the tap is closed the water will not come out. If your mouth is closed the utterance of the Holy Spirit will not come out even though you have been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit when you asked God to fill you.
Psalms 81:10 NKJV: Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
In my personal experience it seemed as if I was making up the words myself and just repeating the same words and it sounded so foolish I almost stopped it. But then I remembered what I had heard taught that you do it by faith so I just continued by faith though it sounded foolish.
1 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV: But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
A few days later a room-mate of mine who was not born-again told me I was speaking in Aramaic: he was half Indian- half Jewish.
I would have missed God’s blessing if I had not continued in faith though it sounded foolish and unreal: so you must speak in tongues by faith, by raising your voice and speaking whatever utterance the Holy Spirit gives you after asking for the baptism of the Holy Spirit in faith.
