Romans 8:26 ……. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Prayer is an awesome privilege, it is powerful and life-changing. It is not about mumbling a list of requests or even about dialogue with God. It is about speaking out prophetic proclamations of faith inspired by the Holy Spirit.
If our prayers do not come through revelation by the Holy Spirit, what then are we saying? Jesus taught his disciples (us) to pray in Matthew 6: 9-13 . It is the will of God that we will pray His will to be done on earth and God reveals His will to us by the Holy Spirit. If we are not hearing the Holy Spirit what are we praying?
This is dangerous because what we say is extremely potent. Our words are able to build-up or destroy; to bless or to curse. Our prayers should not come from our minds, they should not even come from our hearts. They should only come by way of revelation from the Holy Spirit.
Yet, as we see from Romans 8:26 (above), many of us do not know how to pray. Sadly, this means that what we think of as prayer can be working against the will of God. Unless we are expressing what God has inspired us to say, our prayers are not only soulish and counter-productive, they can be very dangerous.
It is like giving children a bomb to play with, not only will they destroy themselves but they will damage and destroy much of what is around them. Well meaning but naïve Christians can be doing more harm than good.
To pray effectively we need to spend time in the presence of God listening. When we have heard God speak to us we will know His will and then we can begin to pray as Jesus taught us.
Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us how to pray. Amen.Prayer is an awesome privilege, it is powerful and life-changing. It is not about mumbling a list of requests or even about dialogue with God. It is about speaking out prophetic proclamations of faith inspired by the Holy Spirit.
If our prayers do not come through revelation by the Holy Spirit, what then are we saying? Jesus taught his disciples (us) to pray in Matthew 6: 9-13 . It is the will of God that we will pray His will to be done on earth and God reveals His will to us by the Holy Spirit. If we are not hearing the Holy Spirit what are we praying?
This is dangerous because what we say is extremely potent. Our words are able to build-up or destroy; to bless or to curse. Our prayers should not come from our minds, they should not even come from our hearts. They should only come by way of revelation from the Holy Spirit.
Yet, as we see from Romans 8:26 (above), many of us do not know how to pray. Sadly, this means that what we think of as prayer can be working against the will of God. Unless we are expressing what God has inspired us to say, our prayers are not only soulish and counter-productive, they can be very dangerous.
It is like giving children a bomb to play with, not only will they destroy themselves but they will damage and destroy much of what is around them. Well meaning but naïve Christians can be doing more harm than good.
To pray effectively we need to spend time in the presence of God listening. When we have heard God speak to us we will know His will and then we can begin to pray as Jesus taught us.
YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMRl9A4ARok
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