The Holy Spirit and Prayer

Have you ever thought about the role the Holy Spirit plays in your prayer life? As with every aspect of our Christian life, Christ must be the source in order for it be Godly. Christ in the Christian (by the power of His Spirit) is the Christian life. The same is true of prayer! We can’t have fellowship with the eternal God apart from His Spirit, who reveals the Father and the Son to us.

Consider what Paul says in the following verses. Who is the source by which we cry “Abba Father?”

•  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”” (Romans 8:15-16)
•  “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:6).

How is prayer an effective offensive weapon in Ephesians 6:18?

• “praying at all times in the Spirit, (Eph 6:18) with all prayer and supplication.

How are we told to pray in Jude 1:20-21?

• “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life”

“Think of it! In every prayer the triune God takes a part—the Father who hears, the Son in whose name we pray, and the Spirit who prays for us and in us. How important it is that we are in right relationship to the Holy Spirit and that we understand His work!”

What do I need to be more aware of?

When I pray, I need to recognize that prayer is a work of the Holy Spirit. I cannot have fellowship with the eternal God apart from His Spirit! 

The Holy Spirit’s first and greatest work is to reveal Christ in His omnipresent love and power. Through prayer, the Holy Spirit wants to reveal God to me. God Himself at work through me, and God Himself at work in me, leading me, giving me the desire to pray, then communing with God through my prayer.

Because prayer is the work of the Holy Spirit and I cannot fellowship with God apart from His Spirit, He wants more of me! He desires my body to use, my soul as His dwelling place, my life entirely under His control.

How do I need to engage?

As I pray, I need to picture the Holy Spirit using my mouth and my mind to pray on my behalf. Every prayer is God Himself at work, through me, by the power of the Spirit. As I pray, I need to offer myself to Him as His instrument, and believe the Holy Spirit will be using me to pray what God wants.

Adapted from Andrew Murray Living a Prayerful Life, Chapter 9

Full excerpt from Andrew Murray-Chapter 9, “The Prayer Full Life”

“The Holy Spirit bears the name of Comforter (Counselor-NIV) and is given to lead us to find in Christ our highest delight and joy. But, instead of leading us to find joy in Christ, He is often grieved by us because we will not permit Him to accomplish His work of love. All this prayerlessness in the church must be a source of inexpressible pain to the Holy Spirit. Surely the low energy and utter helplessness so often found in us is because we do not permit the Holy Spirit to lead us.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prayer. Consider what Paul says in the following verses:

•  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father’ ” (Romans 8:15)
•  “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:6).

God has done His utmost to make prayer as natural and effectual as the cry of a child to an earthly father when he says, “Abba, Father.” Even the prayer of “Abba Father” is the expression of the Spirit who lives in you!

Consider furthermore Romans 8:26-27.

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

 Is it not clear? The Christian left to himself does not know how to pray or what he ought to pray for. But God has stooped to meet us in this helplessness of ours by giving us the Holy Spirit to pray for us. That operation of His Spirit is deeper than our thoughts or feelings, but is acknowledged and answered by God.

Think of it! In every prayer the triune God takes a part—the Father who hears, the Son in whose name we pray, and the Spirit who prays for us and in us. How important it is that we are in right relationship to the Holy Spirit and that we understand His work!

The following points demand serious consideration.

1. Let us firmly believe that the Spirit of God’s Son, the Holy Spirit, is in us.

“The Spirit bears witness with our spirit.” (Rom 8:16) reckoning with full assurance of faith that our heart is His temple and that He dwells within us and rules the soul and the body.

No wonder we have been lacking in prayer and have felt this work too hard for us: we have tried to have fellowship with the eternal God apart from His Spirit, who reveals the Father and the Son to us.

2. As we put this faith into practice with the certainty that the Spirit dwells and works in us, there must also be an understanding of all that He desires to accomplish in us.

• His first and greatest work is to reveal Christ in His omnipresent love and power. So in prayer the Holy Spirit will constantly remind us of Christ.
• Then, as the Spirit of holiness, He will teach us to recognize, hate, and be done with sin.

3. Another thing I need constantly to learn is The Spirit desires full possession of my life.

 the Spirit wants more of us. The Spirit would possess us entirely. Just as my soul has my whole body for its dwelling place and service, so the Holy Spirit would have my body and soul as His dwelling place, entirely under His control

God, help us to know the Spirit and to revere Him as the Spirit of prayer!