The BattleSample

Praying in the Spirit

By Amy Cook

An effective spiritual warrior must have two things before entering battle: strength and wisdom. Strength is necessary, because it enables you to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3, KJV). And while exercise may build up and strengthen your physical body, your spirit can only be empowered “with inner strength through His Spirit” (Ephesians 3:16, NLT). If you’ve grown weary of praying, lack physical and mental endurance or have just simply run out of things to pray, the Spirit wants to come to your aid and refresh you. When you cooperate with the Holy Spirit by praying in tongues, you allow Him to pray on your behalf, and His words strengthen you (1 Corinthians 14:2–4; Jude 20).

Prayer is supposed to be a two-way conversation with God, and praying in tongues is an additional way to shift your prayers from a monologue to God into a partnership with God. Sadly, many soldiers of God avoid praying in tongues. Either they’ve been turned off by someone who does it, they fear anything their minds can’t comprehend, or they’ve not learned the benefits of praying in the Spirit. But praying in tongues is a wonderful tool that helps you avoid missing God’s purpose when you pray. Romans 8:26–28 (MSG) says, “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” The Holy Spirit searches God’s thoughts about you and prays His perfect will for your life. If you charge into prayer leaning upon your own understanding, bullets will fly, and some may hit your target. However, if you spend time listening for the direction of the Holy Spirit before praying, your prayers will be focused on the target and you’ll see greater results. The Holy Spirit is a great prayer partner to have!

When you’re filled with God’s Spirit, you can pray with wisdom, understanding, wise counsel and power (Isaiah 11:2). You can intercede for yourselves and others according to God’s will. Remember that you’re not wrestling against flesh and blood; you’re waging war against the prince of the power of the air and against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 2:2; 6:12). When facing the enemy at such high spiritual altitudes, you can’t afford to become confused and weak because of insufficient spiritual oxygen. Remember that the word Spirit means “breath.” Empowered Spirit-led praying is like getting doses of spiritual oxygen, and you must first put on your own oxygen mask in prayer before you’re able to support someone else through your prayers. If you pray on a daily basis, you’ll receive regular doses of the Holy Spirit’s spiritual oxygen, and you’ll be able to walk in confidence with God’s strength and wisdom.

Memory Verse

And take … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit … for all the saints. Ephesians 6:17–18 (KJV)