Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. Here two thousand years later, although everyone knows that prayer is very important, not many people pray effectively, and even fewer pray in the Spirit. It is written (Ephesians 6:18) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Very few people know how to practice this verse, “pray always in the Spirit”, because so few have obeyed the previous chapter verse 19, “speak to yourselves with psalms”. Again it is written in Jude 1:20; But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. However, people seem unwilling to admit that they don’t know how to pray. Most people pray in the flesh, and may only have requests to pray less than 10 minutes every day. Due to many unanswered prayers both willingness and the desire to pray may gradually getting less and less.
We don’t know how to pray
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” is a warning not to pray according to our hearts and thoughts, and it warned us not to say whatever is in our hearts. It is written in Romans 8:26: Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession. The Holy Spirit has already taught us how to pray. The entire book of Psalms is full of the Holy Spirit’s revelation and examples of how to pray. The prayers from the Old Testament to Paul’s letters also come from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. To pray according to the Psalms and scriptures is to pray in the Spirit. Acts Chapter 4 Verses 25 and 26 specifically record this: who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say, ‘WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? (NASB77) The source of the Psalms couldn’t be more clear here, “who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David”. This verse clearly indicated that the content of the Psalms is the word of God through by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of his servant. obviously it is not the servant speak from his own mind or heart. Verse 31 says: And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. It is not difficult to see this prayer is inseparable from the Holy Spirit. Because they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were directly led by the Holy Spirit to pray in verses 27-29. The method of being filled with the Holy Spirit is also clearly stated in Ephesians 5:18, 19, “… but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, …”
The sword of the Spirit
The Psalms are a prayer book and at the same time the Word of God. Praying according to the Psalms is taking the sword of the Holy Spirit. Almost everyone underestimates the word of God and likes to use some words that we think are very effective. We must know that even for our Lord, after fasting 40 days, when tempted, he only used “it is written” to deal with the devil. In addition, we should also live according to what we pray. One day after I finished praying the last verse of Psalm 27, “wait on the Lord”, and was about to start Chapter 28, I suddenly felt the Holy Spirit reminding me to wait for the Lord, not just say the word. Around ten minutes later the Spirit reminded me to read Chapter 9 of “The Pilgrim’s Progress” , about the fight between the Christians and the devil.
This violent fight lasted for more than half a day, until Christian was almost exhausted; you must know that Christian must have been growing weaker by his wounds. …Then the devil, seeing his opportunity, began to approach Christian, twisted with him, and threw him to the ground; at this moment, Christian’s sword flew out of his hand. At this time, the devil said, now you can’t escape from my grasp. As he spoke, he almost crushed Christian to death, so that Christian thought he would not survive. But, as if by providence, just when the devil was about to give him the final blow and kill this good man, Christian quickly reached out and grabbed his sword, saying, “My enemy, do not boast to me. “Though I fall, I will rise.” So saying, he stabbed him hard, and the devil fell back like a mortally wounded man. Seeing this, the Christian stabbed him again and said, “But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” As he was speaking, the devil spread out his dragon fins. , fled away, and the Christians never saw him again.
This passage explains Ephesians 6:17,18,very vividly: Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; pray at all times with all kinds of supplications in the Spirit; and be alert and untiring in interceding for all the saints. The sword of the Holy Spirit is used through prayer. The Christian in the book says, “Do not boast in me, my enemies; though I fall, I will rise.” From Micah 7:8. The language of the prophet Micah is also very similar to the Psalms, such as Psalm 13:3, 4: O Lord, my God, please watch over me and answer me! Make my eyes clear, lest I sleep into death; lest my enemies say, I have overcome him; lest my enemies rejoice when I am shaken. And Psalm 25:2: I have trusted in you, O my God; do not put me to shame, and do not let my enemies triumph over me. And chapter 30 verse 1: I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have promoted me so that my enemies will not boast in my glory. And chapter 41 verses 10 and 11: Lord, please have mercy on me and let me rise up to take revenge on them! This is how I know that you love me, because my enemies will not triumph over me. The Psalms mention enemies 79 times. When someone knows all the Psalms, he will be familiar with the language of the Holy Spirit. The prophet Micah must be very familiar with the Psalms. The book of Micah is also a word entrusted by the Lord to his servants through the Holy Spirit. The most important key is to pray with the sword of the Spirit, which is what the Bible says. Don’t modify it at will. If you modify it too much, it may no longer be God’s way, because man’s words do not have the same absolute authority in the universe.
At this time, we realized that Jesus had already personally demonstrated to us how to use the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God, in Matthew 4:3; the tempter came to him and said to him: “If you are the Son of God, command These stones became bread.” But Jesus answered and said, “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” This is in the form of meditation or prayer. Through the interaction, we can see that Jesus lives a lifestyle that relies on only the words that come out of the mouth of God. Just as Psalm 119:105 says: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Jesus lived a life that fulfilled that prayer. I have prayed many times the same verse, but rarely taking God’s word as a light for my path. We all know that we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice and live for the Lord. It is written: Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. (Romans 12:1) However, I tried many times but failed more than often.
pray together with one accord
Jesus’ instruction to us to pray together with one accord has been forgotten and ignored for a long time, Matthew 18:19; And I say to you, if two of you agree on earth to ask anything, my Father who is in heaven It will be done for them. For wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. Unity is very important. From Acts 4:24-26 we can see the result of praying the Psalms with one accord: So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, “who 3 by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the LORD and against His Christ.’ Peter and the others praying loudly to the Lord with one accord are completely consistent with the teaching of Colossians 3:16: Let the word of Christ dwell in your hearts richly in all wisdom, teaching one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. , admonish one another, and sing praises to God with grateful hearts. This way of teaching and admonishing each other with Psalms is actually to pray together with Psalms. Obviously, they didn’t pray a Psalm just once and be filled with the Holy Spirit. As Paul said in chapter 4 verse 2; be diligent in prayer and be alert and give thanks. Therefore, Peter and the others must have often prayed with the Psalms diligently. They do this very often, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and praying in the Holy Spirit. Because they are all led by the Holy Spirit, they would pray in one accord. We have to admit we have all underestimated the power of God’s words and missed lots of praying opportunity that should have been filled with the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray now.
I WILL extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.
I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.
Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness.
They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness.
The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.
The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.
All Your works shall praise You, O LORD, And Your saints shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, And talk of Your power,
To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The LORD upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season.
You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.
The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever.