In the recent past I have encountered skeptics who ridicule prayer, saying things like, "The sky is not listening." This makes me extremely sad because the truth is that prayer is a foundational support of each and every believer.
When you accepted Jesus as Savior, He sent the third person of the Triune Godhead to live in your very heart of hearts. The Holy Spirit will be with you until the end of your days, until you see Jesus face-to-face, and perhaps even beyond.
What is the role of the Holy Spirit, God dwelling within us? Well, there are several:
1. to bring glory to God through us
2. to legitimize and energize our worship
3. to transform our lives daily as we desire to become more like our Savior
4. to guide us through the sometimes awful twists and turns of this earthly life
5. to communicate with us, teach us, enlighten us
6. to help us to pray
It is this last one that I want to focus on this morning. But, first, a little background is probably a good idea.
In the Old Testament, God's Holy Spirit did not rest upon each Jewish person equally. There were ones whom God chose to have an abundance of his Spirit: Noah, Abraham, Moses, the prophets, etc. You probably know many of the Old Testament stories.
When Jesus died, was buried and resurrected, He re-appeared to many after His resurrection, in His resurrected body. During that time, shortly before He ascended to Heaven, He promised that, after He left, the Holy Spirit would be sent to indwell His own believers.
This actually occurred during the Jewish feast of Pentecost. Flaming tongues of fire? Remember that? It is recorded in Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost [a]had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire[b]distributing themselves, and [c]they [d]rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other [e]tongues, as the Spirit was giving them [f]utterance.
The Spirit rested on EACH ONE of them, not just a select few. This was a radical shift in God's communion with His people. It was such a powerful infusion of the Holy Spirit, that the believers gathered there began to speak in the foreign tongues of the others surrounding them. They witnessed to those people, preached the gospel, and many hundreds came to know and accept Jesus as Savior. That same power resides in you today, dear believer!
The Godhead is in constant communication with Themselves. They are Three; but, they are also One. With the Holy Spirit living inside of you, you have an immediate link to the God of the Universe. The Holy Spirit is the conduit by which we come to know God more and more, deeper and deeper. How can that happen if we do not talk to Him, if we do not pray?
The writer of Hebrews said this about prayer, in chapter 11, verse 6:
It’s impossible to please God without faith because the one who draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards people who try to find him.
So, it is vitally important that, as a believer, you believe that God hears you. I truly think that this is why many Christians live such prayer-less, disconnected, powerless lives - - - to some extent or another - - - they do not believe that their prayers are being heard! However, this is a lie from the adversary, a deception from the evil one.
Look at what the apostle Paul says about the Holy Spirit's role in prayer, in Romans 8:26
In the same way the spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should. But, the Sprit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
(NASB version)
I love how the King James Version puts that last part: "groanings which cannot be uttered".
Isn't that magnificent? The Holy Spirit, living inside you, groans in prayer over your needs, especially when you do not know what to pray or how to pray!
This is why Paul instructed those he had led to Jesus to "pray without ceasing". (I Thessalonians 5:17) What does this even mean? It means to do your best to live in an attitude of prayer, breathing a prayer in all circumstances, good, bad, in-between, as if your best friend were with you always (He is) and you talked with Him about everything. He is concerned about every minute detail of your life, and is waiting patiently for you to draw near to Him.
We'll camp out on the prayer topic for the next few blog posts.
"Father, teach us to pray! We often feel so inadequate. Help us to pray to you in everything, remembering that you do not count the number of times we say "Father" or "Lord" or "Jesus" when we pray. You are not interested in pompous prayers or inane repetitions or prayer formulas. You are interested in our hearts. You want us. If we come to you in faith, believing that you hear us, you will! Holy Spirit, thank you for laying my prayers at Father's throne and praying for me when I unintentionally pray perhaps out of Father's will. I thank you for those precious promises in Hebrews 11:6 and Romans 8:26. They bless me to the core! I love you, Lord!"
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