My first vivid interaction with the Holy Spirit was about seven years ago in my bedroom, I shared my testimony here. And as I think about that interaction, the one word that comes to mind is deliverance. In my testimony, I shared my journey to receiving the baptism of the Holy ghost but even more significant is what the Lord showed me in my sleep after I had received His gift. In that dream, I was surrounded my men who were dressed in black, they enclosed into my space slowly as I forged ahead in that dream. They were definitely up to no good, I could tell. And my reflex reaction in that dream was to burst out into unknown tongues that I had prayed for. And as I prayed in tongues, these men fled away in different directions away from me. God showed me how He delivered me through the power of praying in tongues. As I write this, my friend’s testimony – Foluso comes to mind as well. I do not exactly remember the details right now but God also delivered her physically through the power of praying in tongues. She went out early in the morning to evangelize as instructed by God only to be accustomed by some men probably with the intention to steal from her. When the realization hit her, she burst out into tongues and these men fled away from her.
- When we pray in tongues, we speak mysteries as described by apostle Paul in I corinthians 14 and these mysteries are only understandable by God in heaven but confuses the enemy. (For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God- I Corinthians 14:2)
With that said, let us go back to the very beginning of the very first baptism of the Holy ghost as recorded in Acts chapter 2. When I think about it while I paint a mental picture in my mind, the things that come to mind are unity in the body of Christ and unity without boundaries between heaven and the earth. The account tells us that the disciples of Jesus Christ gathered together in the upper chamber, after awhile – there came a rushing wind and filled the whole room. I see this as an invasion of the Holy Spirit over God’s children just as He hovered over the earth at creation. God’s children and the Spirit of God became one, united in one flesh ready to take over the world for the Lord. And although, the Holy ghost gave them different utterances- they were all united in vision, purpose and living. The bible tells us how they all brought their possessions to the temple to share with other believers that did not have as much, they were all charged up to take the gospel to the ends of the earth right after.
- In my opinion, praying in the Holy spirit fosters unity within the body of Christ because the Holy spirit Himself is making intercession through us as we pray in the Spirit. And for all we know we could be praying for the healing of a sick believer in another continent or the peace of Ukraine and so on. Nonetheless, the mission for God’s kingdom to be established on the earth is accomplished through us whether we like it or not.
- Praying in the Holy Ghost reinforces and expresses our authority in Christ Jesus
- The bible tells us how God is a Spirit and we who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth- John 4:24 therefore praying in the spirit helps to harness our true worship to the Lord.
- Praying in the Spirit which is communicating with the Lord who is Spirit helps to strengthen our intimacy with the Lord. We can all agree that the more we commune with a friend, the stronger the bond becomes between that friend. The same thing applies to our communication with the Lord in the Spirit. For as often as we pray in the Spirit, the stronger the bond and intimacy between us and God becomes.
- Praying in the Spirit helps to sharpen our discernment of the voice of the Lord. The same way we are able to recognize the voice of a close friend because of years of communicating with that friend, the same way it helps with our discernment of the voice of the Lord. There are so many voices in this world looking to derail the lives of God’s children but as often as we spend time praying in the spirit of the Lord, the better we become at separating the world’s voice from the voice of God.
- Our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples to wait till they were endued with power from on high before they set out to preach the gospel. And that was exactly what the disciples did, they waited for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. But think about it, imagine if that was the last day and time the disciples prayed in the heavenly language- we probably would never have heard of Jesus Christ. Therefore, praying in the Holy Spirit helps us to recharge and refill the power of God already resident inside of us.
- Praying in the Spirit emboldens us and empowers us to do new things just like our father in heaven who does new things daily. For example, Apostle Peter who was a somewhat shy or timid disciple was able to stand before a crowd of thousands of men and women to speak about Jesus Christ and salvation.
- Like I have shared in previous blog posts, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is our power house as believers. It is not just ok to receive salvation, we also need to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in order to live the Christian life fully. It is just like buying a beautiful car without buying gas for the car to commute, that is pretty pointless. Therefore, praying in the Holy Spirit helps us to harness and sharpen all of the potentials, and gifts that God has bestowed upon and inside of us.
- Galatians chapter 5 admonishes us about living our lives in the Spirit and not after the flesh. It further tells us that the workings of the spirit inside of us produces the juicy fruit of the spirit which includes: love, Joy,Peace, Patience, kindness, perseverance, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. As much as the entrance of God’s word helps to purify us, corrects us and helps to shape us in the Image of Jesus. I also believe that praying in the Spirit helps to purify our lives and helps to rid our Spirit man of weeds and thorns so that the fruit of the Spirit may blossom in us and through us.
- God’s word in Jude 1:20 tells us to build up our most Holy faith, praying in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit helps to stretch our spiritual muscle, while strengthening our faith in Jesus Christ.
- Praying in the spirit edifies us and when the spirit led utterances are interpreted to the church congregation it edifies the whole church- I Corinthians 14:4-5.
- Proverbs 18:14 tells us how the spirit of man is able to sustain him when he is sick but a broken spirit is unable to sustain that sick man. Praying in the spirit helps to strengthen and fortify our spirit man for times when our spirit man needs to sustain our mortal bodies.
- Romans 8:26 tells us how the Spirit helps our weaknesses in moments when we do not know the things to pray about but as long as we allow the spirit of God pray through us, He is able to make intercessions for us and the body of Christ.
- Praying in the Spirit helps to renew our minds and Spirit – Ephesians 4:23
- The bible cites to us how many times our spirit is willing to do God’s will but then our flesh is so weak to follow suite. Praying in the Spirit helps to put our flesh under subjection of our spirit and ultimately do God’s perfect will.
- I think this is my favorite in all our praying; the fact that every single time we pray in the Spirit He prays God’s perfect will through us, over our lives, over the earth, over the church and so on. – Romans 8:27