The Holy Spirit - Part 4 - Praying In The Spirit
[original text in italics]
Praying in the Holy Spirit [also known as speaking in tongues, praying in the spirit] is speaking in heavenly languages. It is one of the spiritual manifestations [expressions] that results from having been baptized in the Holy Spirit. We should eagerly desire to speak in tongues because it helps us continually experience, release and impart the life of God. It strengthens us in spirit, soul, and body, it builds up our faith, it stirs up [awakens] the other gifts, and it keeps us in the love of God:
ACTS 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
​
1 CORINTHIANS 14:2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak [communicate] to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks [communicates] mysteries.
1 CORINTHIANS 14:2 He who speaks in a tongue edifies [builds up] himself…
JUDE 20-23 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in [the] Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Praying [speaking] in tongues is a form of intercession that reveals the mind of Christ. We are praying the will of God for our lives and the lives of others. When we encounter life’s trials and spiritual warfare, God uses these prayers to bring change that aligns with his will.
ROMANS 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helps [advocates, called alongside of you to fight for you] in our weaknesses [illnesses, frailty, suffering, calamity, mental anguish]. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered [expressed in words]. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Praying in tongues is done at will by simply activating our faith. In the beginning, the devil lies to us and tells us we are just making it up, speaking gibberish, and that it is not from God. We must recognize that we are spiritual beings newly created in the image of God, that the Spirit of God is within us, and that we are communicating spirit to Spirit. We are to speak in tongues all the time, when we desire it, or when we need to. It is not activated by a feeling; it is an act of faith:
1 CORINTHIANS 14:18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
EPHESIANS 6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.
The Holy Spirit flows through a believer’s spirit, also explained as flowing through a believer’s inner man. The scriptures refer to the inner man as the heart, belly, or womb of the believer. It is where destiny, vision, spiritual manifestations, and spiritual things are created and birthed by faith. The river [presence] of God flows out of our inner man and it is given to us to enjoy and to impart in others:
JOHN 7:37-39 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart [belly, womb, inner man] will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
When we speak in tongues, we are not only communicating with God’s Spirit, but we are also releasing his Spirit though us, which is his rivers of living water.
The more you speak in tongues in your personal time, the more you overcome the lies of the devil and fears of doing it in public. Some believers who are newly baptized in the Holy Spirit will find more release in speaking in tongues when they get in a posture of worship and intimacy with the Lord. By staying in that place of worship, singing, and speaking words of adoration unto Him, there comes a time when words are not enough. That is the perfect time to release faith and begin to praise and worship the Lord by praying and singing in the spirit.
​