By Sidharth Mohandas

INTRODUCTION

I’m sure most of us have heard phrases like “praying in the spirit” or “praying in the Holy Spirit”. What is it? How is it different from other prayers? What is the benefit of it? Let me first quote all the references to this kind of praying from Scripture:

“For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.” (1 Corinthians 14:14; Also read 1 Corinthians 14:2).

Romans 8:26, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know WHAT we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

“Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit…” (Ephesians 6:18)

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20)

THE PLACE OF REVELATION

You and I must realize that our mind is very limited–it cannot fathom the mysteries of God, nor can it comprehend spiritual truths and realities.

“…no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

However, the key to spiritual understanding is found in the very next verse: “but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit“ (1 Corinthians 2:10). If you have entered into a covenant with Jesus, then your spirit is intertwined with His. His Spirit moves into yours, and your spirit moves into His. And it is in this realm of the spirit where there is abundance of revelations, mysteries are hidden and disclosed, and every blessing is deposited. Why is it deposited in the spirit realm? Because it is the safest place, the only place where the devil can’t lay his hand on. They are eternal realities (so to speak) and not subject to change. The Holy Spirit takes these eternal realities and pours them into our spirits, and in turn our spirits convey them to our mind. Our mind receives them in the form of words, which I believe are poor containers sometimes. If you have been in the place of revelation where your spirit just explodes with these revelations from God, and you try your best to explain it in words, you usually find that no words can adequately explain what you have seen in the spirit.

“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words” (1 Corinthians 2:12)

TRAVAILING IN PRAYER

You might be wondering how praying in the spirit has anything to do with this. Well, when you and I pray in the spirit, the prayer transcends the realm of the mind into the spirit realm.

A year back, I had a dream of a pregnant lady crying out and singing, “Send Revival! Send Revival!”, and as she was singing, I saw a wall break open with a fresh river gushing out of it. The explanation the Lord gave me was: “Travail in prayer as a woman in pains of child birth” He spoke to me through many verses (Romans 8:26; Romans 15:30), but the one that moved me the most was where Jesus agonized in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before His trial. The following days and weeks, I remembered the Holy Spirit doing exactly what He spoke to me… He was agonizing and groaning through me. Those were deep and heavy groans that mere words could not express.

MYSTERIES UNRAVELED

The second (and more common) way of praying in the spirit is praying in tongues. This gift has been of great help to me personally. Whenever I’m unable to understand a Scripture, or whenever I need a revelation of some spiritual truth, I immediately pray in tongues, and the revelation flows in like a river. Mysteries are unraveled and what I once did not understand is made known.

“For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.” (1 Corinthians 14:2)

ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD…

There are other times I don’t know what to pray for in a particular situation, and I would pray in tongues following the principle of Romans 8:26.

“He [The Holy Spirit] maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26, KJV)

Most often than not, the understanding I have of the will of God in these situations would be insufficient, and praying in tongues would help me override the realm of the mind and thus enable me to stand in the center of God’s will. This is why praying in the spirit builds us up and edifies, just like Jude 1:21 and 1 Corinthians 14:4 tells us: “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself”.

And believe it or not, a person can pray in the spirit while he or she is sleeping! While I was in college, my roommate told me that when I slept I would speak in an unknown language. I believe that the Holy Spirit was praying through my spirit, even when my mind was asleep.

There is much more to this topic of praying in the spirit that I could relate to you. But instead, I will let you relate your own experience of praying in the spirit in the comment section, and allow you to build on the topic.

By Sidharth Mohandas

I have been dwelling on the topic of intercession for sometime. It has always brought me great encouragement to know that my prayers can affect the spiritual realm and bring changes into the lives of other people, our societies, our countries and even the world.

The Greek word for “intercession” is “Enteuxis”, I came to realize that the original meaning of this word was “to meet with a person”. And this implies that in intercession we meet with the person [or Government, City, State, Country etc] at the point of their [it's] need.

This is not just an abstract or theory in my life, for I have experienced the power of intercession at varied levels. One such experience I had was in the University where I did my Engineering. This University was run by Hindus, and I remember that there was not even one person in the administration who was a Christian the time we joined. My friend and I used to go to the football ground early in the morning every day and for almost 4 years to intercede. We prayed for the students, for the faculty, for the administration and for various other needs during this time. Little did we know the impact our prayers would have. At the end of 4 years we realized that 4 or 5 sincere believers were appointed in the administration. I also came to know that the Registrar of the University was not only a believer but a preacher of the Word! From him I came to know that the University had more than 35 faculty who were believers. At the end of my 4 years, we also organized a crusade where we presented the Gospel to over 200 students of our University. While I was praying for the crusade work, I remember something that the Lord said that really stirred my heart. He said, “None of your prayers and fastings went unnoticed. I am using them all for the expansion of My Kingdom”. I was reminded of the days we prayed and fasted for revival in our College… There were times in those four years where we faced disappointments, as in not seeing an immediate move of God. But it brought this satisfying joy that the prayers we offered were used to affect the administration and paved way for the free-course of God’s Word.

For the last many days the Lord has been asking me on how dedicated I am to my nation. A dear friend and pastor persuaded us to come together and intercede for various needs, especially for revival in the city, state and nation. As I was meditating on this subject, I was led to Daniel 6.

In this chapter a decree was signed that whoever prayed to anyone else other than King Darius would be put to death by being thrown into the lions den. But here’s Daniel’s response:

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he got down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. [Daniel 6:10]

What a standard Daniel sets for us in the ministry of intercession! He prayed three times a day for the restoration of the city of Jerusalem. Even when he was threatened to be killed, his focus was still Jerusalem!

We need to examine our prayer life and see how much we are contributing to the expansion of God’s Kingdom. Don’t you ever underestimate the power of intercessory prayer! This a powerful weapon that will cause the kingdom of darkness to retreat and pave way for the expansion of the kingdom of light.

Courtesy to Jupiterimages.com

By Sidharth Mohandas

“Pray without ceasing.” [1 Thessalonians 5:17]

Many people have felt condemned because they have had the notion that this means they had to be praying 24 hours around the clock. But this is not what Paul was telling those at Thessalonica. There are a number of Greek words used for prayer and those related to it. The particular Greek word used in this verse is Proseuchomai. From my study I came to know that this word comes from another Greek word Proseuche. And this word means to be in a “place of prayer”. In other words, it is to be in an attitude of prayer 24-hours around the clock; to be available for God whenever He wants you to pray His will into any circumstance.

How do we know if we are in this place of prayer? Analyze your first response to a problem. Do you turn to God in prayer or do you turn to other sources? This will tell us whether we are in the place of prayer or not.

I remember hearing a story of a boy and his friend going for mountaineering in Switzerland. As they were climbing, suddenly, as if from nowhere, a large rock came hurtling down the mountainside. This boy was directly in its path. But about a yard away the rock seemed to strike a small protrusion and changed its direction. It crashed into the stream below, missing this boy by inches! Heaving a deep sigh, he said, “Phew! That was lucky!” His friend who had been watching a few yards below replied and said, “Lucky? That wasn’t luck. That rock couldn’t have hit you. I was praying for you”. Would we have done the same if we were in the same situation?

I encourage you to be in this place of availability for the King to bring His will on earth as it is in heaven whenever He wants you to.