Praying in the Spirit

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18 niv

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” 

Ga. 5:25 

If we walk in the Spirit, we are not going to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. 

Ga. 5:16.  

Meditating upon the Word of God helps us live in the Spirit of God and in His will. Meditating enables us to store His word deep down inside of us and the Bible promises to bring it up into our remembrance when we need it. Paul said that our Spirit fights against the flesh. A good example of flesh is saying, “I’ll pray for you.” Then, we forget. What I try to do is pray for them right then and there or write it down. Every time we choose obedience we shun the unholy spirit and are walking in the Holy Spirit. Another way we walk in the Spirit is when we choose humility over pride.  Walking in the Spirit does not come through our own goodness. We walk in grace through the faith that was given to us.

God’s complete will in your life is:

He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’" Luke 10:27 niv

When we put God above ourselves [our wants, pleasures] then, we are walking in His Spirit [will] and we can pray in the Spirit. 

Many of our prayers are not answered because we are not praying in His Spirit [will.]  James 4:3 says “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” niv

Are you praying in greed instead of need? Check your motives before you pray. Sometimes God will give us what we want in order for us to see, it wasn’t what we wanted after all. Everyday is a lesson. 

Pray in the measure of faith that God has given to you. Are you praying in doubt? After your prayers, do you cancel them out by speaking negatively against the very things you requested or declared?  Many do not think about what is coming from their hearts and the power involved through the words we speak. Many times we speak sloppy because we are thinking sloppy. We can either speak words of faith or doubt. 

I believe Praying in the Spirit involves every single fruit that is listed in Galatians 5:22-24

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

      

When we pray in the Spirit we are always praying in forgiveness. We know it takes a lot of love inside of us to forgive those who have hurt us. Every time we think about the offense can be like opening up a fresh wound. Better to set ourselves free from the bondage of this mindset that we’ve held in our hearts and forgive. Then, we will have the liberty to pray in God’s will. Besides, the Bible says if we do not forgive others, neither will God forgive us our sins. When we follow through on obedience, the good feelings will come. 

 Summing it up:

• Meditate upon the Word, so you will learn God’s will and walk in His Spirit.
• Be honest, depart from any works of the flesh that would hinder your prayer life and ask for forgiveness. We are walking examples of His truth and love.
• Always forgive others before you pray, and ask God to forgive you.
• Become a person of faith, believing that God will hear your prayers.
• Pray for one another’s needs in the Spirit [will] and pray God’s word. 

Let’s pray for one another this morning:

Heavenly Father,

We thank You for your Word and how Your Holy Spirit continually gives us the increase when we study. We thank You for Your faithfulness and Your love. We thank You for Your goodness. You said that you are present in the company of the righteous. We know Your Son is our righteousness. We ask that You clean up any stains in our hearts and help us to put a guard over our mouths. Transform us into a zealous people seeking after your will, every morning. We ask that we would be a reflection of your son’s love, transparent in all that we would do. Truly that your will would be our will. Teach us to walk in your Spirit and listen to your Spirit. We ask that Your Holy Spirit would comfort our sisters and brothers going through heavy trials of patience, endurance and testings of their faith. We ask that you would fill their hearts back up with Your hope. 

We ask where there be heartbreak, You would bring more hope and with hope healing to these hearts. We ask that where there would be rejection, they would receive Your light of confidence through godly acceptance. For those who are lonely, that you would send encouragers to speak good words of Your love, urging them to go outside to make friends. For those who struggle with depression, we ask they would begin to transform their thinking patterns into thinking about the depth, width, length of Your love. For those who struggle with doubt and unbelief, we ask that You would help them to restore faith and love through your word. For those who are comparing themselves with others, struggle with envy or jealousy, we ask that Your Word would reveal to them how important they are in Your flock, how much they are loved for who You made them to be. For those who are struggling with financial difficulties, we ask that You would give them wisdom and knowledge and insight into examining their own hearts where they can cut back on necessary items. Reveal to them what is important in their priorities. For any of those who have an eating disorder, we ask that you would give them a supernatural desire and will to put down the wrong eating and pick up the right foods for Your kingdom. For those who are in the midst of grieving, we ask that You would give them a time of peace and comfort through their storm. For those who are struggling against addictions, we ask that You would send those who were once in bondage to help set these people free. 

“For we know that through all our trials and failings we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loves us. We are convinced that neither death or life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ro.8:37-39

In Jesus we pray.

Amen