Praying in the Spirit

While praying in the Spirit has been debated, let me give an all-inclusive answer. It’s prayer that directed and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

Praying in the spirit is part of the armor God gives to combat the attacks of Satan. The majority of this armor is for our protection, that is, it’s defensive in nature, but we’ve also been given two offensive weapons.

The first is the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, Ephesians 6:17. The sword of the Spirit is for close combat. The sword Paul mentions is the Roman short sword used in personal hand-to-hand combat.

Jesus used the word of God in the wilderness when Satan came with three temptations to try to trip Him up. And to each temptation Jesus said, “It is written,” and quoted God’s word.

But there’s another weapon, and that is prayer, but not just any prayer, praying in the Spirit.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying.” (Ephesians 6:18)

While the word of God is our up close and personal weapon against Satan, praying in the Spirit is our long-range artillery. What is does is pounds the enemy’s position and weakens his attacks, because the Holy Spirit knows exactly where to aim to do the most damage.

We don’t know when and where the enemy will attack, but God does, and so the Holy Spirit through our prayers lobs these artillery shells at the enemy’s position crippling him and thwarting his attacks without our even being aware.

We need to pray always with all the prayer we can muster, and make sure it’s fueled and directed by the Holy Spirit.