Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #178 The Spirit of Revival (4 - How We Can Pray in the Spirit)

Transcript

#178 The Spirit of Revival (4 - How We Can Pray in the Spirit) · The OneCry Podcast

• 0:01
  Let's just listen to the Holy Spirit, and as He prompts us, pray as He directs.
• 0:07
  They're Spirit-filled prayers, Spirit-directed prayers. If it's God-initiated,
• 0:14
  it's going to be God-blessed, and God loves to answer those prayers.
• 0:20
  Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
• 0:25
  The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
• 0:36
  Well, welcome to the One Cry podcast. How many times have I said that?
• 0:40
  A lot. A lot. A lot. I don't know.
• 0:43
  Yeah. I like saying that. Over 100. I don't know. Yeah, a lot more than that.
• 0:46
  And it's just so good that we get the privilege of doing this.
• 0:52
  We're so honored that you let us come into your life, your home,
• 0:55
  your car, your living room, wherever you are.
• 0:59
  And I'm Bill Eliff, and this is Jordan Bowen. And we're just glad to be here with you today.
• 1:06
  And Jordan, we've been tracking on just the most thrilling truth because we've
• 1:12
  been talking about the Holy Spirit, Who he is, what he does,
• 1:15
  how he fills us, how it's possible to grieve him or quench him and how it interrupts the activity of God.
• 1:25
  And today we're going to talk about a real empowering truth. Yes.
• 1:30
  I don't know anybody, Jordan, who feels like their prayer life is just what it ought to be.
• 1:38
  No. I don't feel that way. No, I don't. I want it to be more, you know.
• 1:42
  And is there any hope for that? Is there any way it can get better?
• 1:46
  And I think you have some truth to us for us today that that's going to give
• 1:51
  us some answers for that. Yeah.
• 1:53
  Well, it is true. And, you know, Bill, it makes me think just the way you put that.
• 1:58
  A lot of ways how our friendship began was me sitting down and I asked you,
• 2:03
  will you teach me how to pray? I'll never forget that day. Yeah.
• 2:07
  And I'll never forget what you said. You said, we'll learn together.
• 2:13
  And I just I remember sitting there thinking, what does Bill Elif have to learn
• 2:18
  about prayer? Oh, my goodness.
• 2:21
  Well, you had a very badly inflated opinion of me.
• 2:29
  But it meant the world to me because it also showed me like,
• 2:33
  oh, there is always room for my prayer life to grow. We've all got a lot to learn.
• 2:38
  And you taught me this truth from Ephesians 6. And it is where Paul says, and pray in the spirit.
• 2:46
  And I want to give the context and then unpack it a little bit and we'll discuss it.
• 2:50
  But in Ephesians 6, Paul is ending this letter to the church of Ephesus,
• 2:56
  and he says, you've got a real enemy who has a real name, Satan,
• 3:01
  and he's really out to get you.
• 3:02
  And he begins to talk about, but you have the full armor of God available to you.
• 3:08
  And he unpacks all the armor of God to withstand this enemy and these attacks,
• 3:13
  these spiritual real battles in our lives.
• 3:15
  And then he says in verse 18, and pray. And he begins to unpack prayer.
• 3:22
  And I think we have this, you said it, we need unceasing prayer because we have
• 3:26
  an unceasing enemy, right?
• 3:28
  And he says, and pray in the spirit and pray in the spirit.
• 3:36
  And he begins to say, on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests,
• 3:40
  with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's prayer.
• 3:46
  Bill, the way you've taught this is the allness of prayer. I mean,
• 3:49
  he's got four alls there, but I often forget how he starts.
• 3:54
  It's praying in, it's praying with the Spirit. And you've described it as a
• 3:59
  loop in the sense of we are allowing the Holy Spirit to lead the conversation.
• 4:08
  How many times, Bill, have you been talking to someone and you feel like you're
• 4:13
  having a really great conversation with them?
• 4:15
  And very quickly, they begin to dominate the conversation.
• 4:18
  And very soon you realize, okay, they're talking and I'm not even hardly listening anymore.
• 4:24
  I'm afraid that majority of my prayer life, if I'm not careful, that's what it is.
• 4:29
  I enter into a conversation with God. I said, okay, Lord, here's everything I need to talk about.
• 4:34
  I want to hear from you, but let me tell you all these things.
• 4:36
  And I come in, I'm ready. I'm talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and amen.
• 4:39
  And I walk out and I haven't let him say one word.
• 4:44
  And I definitely didn't let him lead the conversation. And I believe in many
• 4:48
  ways, Paul's saying, let the Holy Spirit lead the conversation you have with
• 4:55
  the creator of the universe.
• 4:58
  I love the way you've put it. It is literally saying, okay, Holy Spirit who fully indwells me,
• 5:04
  what does God the Father, what do you want me to pray from heaven down into
• 5:13
  earth back into your throne room?
• 5:15
  What do you want to say, God, to me that you want me to say back to you so that
• 5:22
  your will may be done here on earth as it is in heaven as Jesus prayed?
• 5:26
  And I've told my friends, I've told my church, this is the greatest understanding
• 5:30
  for me when I begin to pray this way.
• 5:32
  One, because I stop and I say, okay, Lord, what do you want to say today?
• 5:36
  And I enter in with him in mind and with him being the one that's leading the conversation.
• 5:41
  And what i find myself is like paul does i
• 5:44
  begin to pray all kinds of prayers with all kinds of occasions
• 5:47
  in all kinds of situations and and find myself praying against the enemy and
• 5:52
  praying heaven down that's what i said i said this is when you're letting the
• 5:55
  holy spirit lead the conversation you're gonna pray god's will and heaven down
• 6:01
  on earth yeah but when we're praying what we want we're gonna see what.
• 6:06
  What only man can dream of. And so Jesus said, right, hallowed be your name,
• 6:11
  your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
• 6:13
  So I often say, okay, Holy Spirit, you lead the conversation.
• 6:17
  And I trust that God, you're going to tell me what you want me to pray back
• 6:22
  to you in heaven that you want to do here in my life as it is in heaven and on this earth.
• 6:28
  And you know, Jordan, people have asked me, because I've talked about this a lot, about this loop.
• 6:35
  It's so good. So it starts in real prayer, like anything of value,
• 6:40
  starts with God. Yes. We're listening to him.
• 6:43
  He initiates that. We join him and cooperate with him. And you say, well, why?
• 6:51
  I've had people say, Bill, if that's true, why pray? I mean,
• 6:56
  why didn't God just do it?
• 6:59
  And the reality is, is God is raising us up. That's good.
• 7:03
  I mean, he, you know, uh, in the first statement that the Bible makes about
• 7:10
  man is Genesis one 26 and the father, son, and spirit are seated there together.
• 7:17
  And they say, let us make man in our image and let him rule and let him rule.
• 7:26
  So it's like, God has said, look, we, we rule and we're ruling over it.
• 7:31
  And then they made the earth and they said, now somebody's going to rule this.
• 7:35
  And it's got to be with us because they wouldn't do it right without us.
• 7:40
  But we're going to create man in our image.
• 7:44
  And with him, we want him to rule over this, right? God is raising up rulers.
• 7:52
  That's good. They will rule and reign in this life and rule and reign in the
• 7:56
  life to come. So this looped praying, we might call it.
• 8:02
  So praying in the spirit, by the spirit, with the spirit is,
• 8:08
  number one, letting us get in on what God's up to. Yeah.
• 8:12
  So we see the reality of God. It's teaching us faith.
• 8:16
  It's teaching us dependency that we know we've got to depend upon him even to pray.
• 8:23
  Right. We don't know how to pray right without him. Yeah.
• 8:26
  And it's getting us involved in this extraordinary work. And then we get this testimony.
• 8:32
  So then God answers our prayer because he loves to answer the prayers that he initiates. Initiated.
• 8:38
  It's so good. And we get to tell the world, look what God did.
• 8:41
  Oh, that's so good. And I got to be a part of it. Right.
• 8:44
  How cool is that? And so my faith and others' faith in the Lord just goes off
• 8:50
  the charts because I've been involved in this loop of prayer.
• 8:54
  Bill, thank you so much for that day years ago when I sat down and said,
• 8:59
  will you teach me how to pray?
• 9:01
  Well, let's both thank Paul. Yeah.
• 9:03
  And maybe Paul says, hey, maybe you ought to just thank the Holy Spirit.
• 9:07
  So it's right there. So good. This is beautiful, praying in the Spirit.
• 9:13
  Now, let me ask you this question, because as you've been praying this way.
• 9:19
  How do you practically, give us a little more instruction, How do you practically
• 9:25
  just do that on a daily basis?
• 9:28
  I mean, what does that look like in your prayer time?
• 9:31
  Or let's say I'll give you an illustration of public prayer,
• 9:37
  but how do you do that in your private prayer life?
• 9:40
  Well, when I ask him to lead the conversation, I listen. I pause. I listen.
• 9:45
  I try to remind myself of the truth of his word, pray some scripture, even in that moment.
• 9:50
  What best? I know some of the things, I mean, 100% of the things,
• 9:53
  I know what God wants me to pray if I'm praying his word, right?
• 9:57
  I can't mess up with that. Does he bring scripture to your mind?
• 10:00
  He does, yeah. And then I pray, okay, Holy Spirit, I want you to lead this conversation and pray.
• 10:05
  And I pray some scriptures, and particularly ones on confession and repentance. And I say, okay.
• 10:12
  I know lord you want to bring your kingdom come your will be done on earth what
• 10:18
  does that look like in my life today and then i just begin to think okay what
• 10:23
  would it look like and i just begin to pray those things to him and i let him
• 10:26
  lead okay so a lot of times it's like lord,
• 10:29
  my marriage needs some strength from heaven and
• 10:33
  i'm asking you to help me love my wife well to raise
• 10:36
  these children well and here's a specific situation i don't
• 10:38
  know how we're gonna make ends me and i'm stressed i'm worried but you say you
• 10:43
  meet all my needs before i even ask them so i'm asking you in heaven to meet
• 10:47
  those needs in a way that only you get the glory and then i'll begin to think
• 10:52
  of you know the place i work my church and i think what would it look like if heaven just,
• 10:57
  came down in sunday morning service and i'll start praying what i imagine that
• 11:02
  would look like kingdom come as will be done yeah and i just begin to say okay
• 11:07
  there'd be people saved i say okay hey, Lord,
• 11:10
  here's some people I know don't know you, and I'm going to pray for them by name right now.
• 11:14
  There'd be people baptized that haven't been baptized and disobedient.
• 11:17
  So you're not just thinking stuff up.
• 11:20
  Right. You're not making things up. You're listening to the Spirit. Yeah.
• 11:24
  But you're joining with Him in
• 11:27
  that process as He initiates thoughts and ideas in your mind and prayer.
• 11:32
  Yeah, and He prompts people. He prompts situations.
• 11:34
  And you know it's God leading that, and you've given Him that permission.
• 11:38
  Let me give you a practical tool just in public prayer.
• 11:42
  So us pastors, we're considered by many as professional prayers,
• 11:47
  you know, so people call on us a lot to pray. And I love that.
• 11:52
  I mean, I love that.
• 11:56
  I have found through the years that I don't know how to pray. Yeah.
• 12:00
  And if I just jump in and start going.
• 12:06
  I tend to pray to please people. I'm praying to them. I'm not praying to the
• 12:11
  Lord. I'm not even conscious of the Lord.
• 12:14
  So there's something about, I remember recently I was in a board meeting at
• 12:20
  a college and I was asked to pray.
• 12:24
  And I said, Lord, I can just reel something off. But would you pray through me?
• 12:32
  Would your Holy Spirit pray through me? because I know that will be effectual prayer.
• 12:37
  That's good. And the Bible says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
• 12:41
  man accomplishes much. So would you pray through me?
• 12:44
  And Jordan, this is not a proud thing, but when I do that, all of a sudden I
• 12:52
  sense the Lord's pleasure.
• 12:54
  Yeah. And thoughts come to my mind that would not come otherwise.
• 12:57
  I remember getting up and praying, and it was a brief prayer.
• 13:03
  But God just it just flowed out of
• 13:06
  me and I sat down this is
• 13:09
  a true confession and I literally thought uh I wonder what I just prayed yeah
• 13:17
  wow and and and then I as the Lord just I couldn't quite remember yeah and I
• 13:23
  just felt like the Lord said I don't want you to get proud because it was my prayer,
• 13:27
  and I get the glory for that.
• 13:30
  So praying about our praying.
• 13:32
  So if you're called on to lead in prayer, or let's say you're in a prayer meeting at your church. Right.
• 13:39
  And the pastor says, turn in groups of four and pray.
• 13:44
  Just ask the Lord silently, Holy Spirit, as I'm in this group,
• 13:48
  would you pray through me? Amen. I want to pray in the spirit.
• 13:51
  Yeah. I want your spirit to initiate thoughts to me and then listen.
• 13:54
  And don't just rush in and fill the...
• 13:57
  So, you know, we've had enough humanistic prayers to sink a boat.
• 14:04
  Let's just listen to the Holy Spirit. And as he prompts us, pray as he directs.
• 14:10
  They're spirit-filled prayers, spirit-directed prayers.
• 14:16
  And that makes all the difference. That's all the difference.
• 14:17
  And again, not only is it we're praying about the right things,
• 14:23
  if it's God initiated, it's going to be God blessed.
• 14:27
  That's right. And God loves to answer those prayers.
• 14:31
  That's right. Yeah. Amen. Beautiful.
• 14:34
  Well, why don't you take a minute, Jordan, and would you pray for us about our praying? Yes. Yeah.
• 14:41
  Just that we would get this. As we're talking about the Holy Spirit and His
• 14:45
  role, we know that prayer is one of the most important things that we do.
• 14:52
  In fact, it's mentioned 650 times in the Bible, 450 direct answers to prayer. Wow.
• 15:00
  So this is one of the main things we're going to do is to pray.
• 15:03
  And yet we want to pray right. Yeah. We want to pray effective,
• 15:08
  fervent prayers that accomplish something.
• 15:12
  And so learning how to pray in the Spirit, with the Spirit, by the Spirit's
• 15:18
  help is really an important truth. So you've been experiencing that.
• 15:24
  Pray for all of us about that, would you? Yes. Let's pray. Yeah.
• 15:29
  Well lord we come before you now together and we just we want
• 15:32
  to say holy spirit we want you to lead this conversation and
• 15:36
  we want you to lead us in all conversations we have with you
• 15:39
  and lord we know we need unceasing prayer because we have an unceasing enemy
• 15:43
  but also well we need unceasing prayer because until your return there's an
• 15:48
  unceasing mission and there are people that need to hear the gospel and there
• 15:53
  are ways by which we need to live to make you known and so Holy Spirit,
• 15:57
  right now we're asking you that every day in our prayers that you would lead those prayers.
• 16:03
  We are praying for our prayers.
• 16:06
  I'm praying for the prayer that I will pray with my wife tonight before we go
• 16:11
  to bed, that it will be led and spirit-filled by you.
• 16:15
  I'm praying for the prayer that I will pray over my children as they go to bed,
• 16:19
  that it will be led and spirit-filled by you.
• 16:22
  And every listener right now, as they're praying, Lord, I join with them and say,
• 16:27
  Holy Spirit, will you lead the prayers that they pray in all the days ahead
• 16:32
  that we would walk in a spirit-filled way and be praying spirit-filled prayers.
• 16:39
  And so, Lord, we need you to do this. And Lord, we don't want to pray our agenda.
• 16:46
  We want to pray your will and your way, your kingdom come.
• 16:52
  We want to pray what you want us to pray.
• 16:56
  And we need you, Holy Spirit, to lead all those prayers in all of our days of our life.
• 17:04
  And we cannot wait to the day that we get to walk fully in your presence in
• 17:10
  heaven with no more sin and no more shame and no more hurt, no more grief, no more pain.
• 17:16
  And we get to walk right up to you and just continue that conversation and even
• 17:21
  greater, greater depth.
• 17:24
  All to you name Jesus. Amen. Amen.
• 17:29
  Boy, so powerful. And I had another thought when you were praying for your prayer
• 17:36
  with your wife tonight, have you ever prayed with somebody and it's just kind of and blah,
• 17:41
  blah, blah, blah, blah, and you're looking at your watch, you just can't, it doesn't impact you.
• 17:50
  And then have you ever been praying with someone who was praying spiritually,
• 17:56
  and you were affected by their praying, and it just gripped you?
• 18:03
  Well, anything that's done in the spirit is going to have a power to it that,
• 18:08
  done in the flesh would not have power. So just think about this.
• 18:14
  Praying with your wife tonight, if before you start praying,
• 18:17
  you're saying, Lord, and I've done this a lot with our staff, for instance, church.
• 18:21
  I would say, Lord, as we come to this prayer meeting, would you just meet with
• 18:25
  it? Would you pray through us? Would you pray through me?
• 18:28
  Because I don't want our staff to think less of prayer.
• 18:33
  Wow. I want them to see the power of this and the reality of it and to feel the realness of this.
• 18:42
  And I think that's another benefit of praying in the Spirit.
• 18:46
  We could talk about this all day, couldn't we? I could.
• 18:50
  I'm having fun. So anyway, well, glad you could join us. And kind of with our
• 18:57
  Jordan and I's little party we're having here over Ephesians 6.
• 19:04
  And what a truth. Study it for yourself. Yeah. And may the Lord bless this to your heart.
• 19:11
  And we hope next week we're going to talk about something that's mind boggling about the Holy Spirit.
• 19:17
  So we pray that you'll really join with us again and tell your friends about
• 19:21
  this series. The beautiful thing about podcasts like this is you can go back.
• 19:25
  It's not like you missed something and you can't ever hear it.
• 19:28
  You can go back and listen from the beginning to this series.
• 19:31
  So we hope that you do and tell other people about it, too. God bless you,
• 19:35
  and we'll see you next time.
• 19:36
  Music.