“But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.” Jude 1:20-21 NLT
Prayer has always been the most effective way of communing with the Godhead. We pray whenever we seek audience or fellowship with any, or all, of the three members of the Godhead, namely: God the Father (Jehovah), God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost or Spirit of God).
Whether we are approaching them just for fellowship or to seek their intervention in the situations we face, we do that through prayer.
Ps.65.2: “O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come”. (NIV)
Prayer is a general term for all forms of communication with God — whether by making a personal request for one’s self or on behalf of another, which is supplication; or by standing in the gap for another, which is intercession; or by offering praises, songs, or worship to God, which is fellowship. All of them are called prayer — an act of communion with God.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
From the text above we can understand that prayer is a spiritual matter because it involves communing with God, who is a Spirit. The Holy Bible says: “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 NLT
Let me clarify here that to worship God in spirit, or to pray in spirit, simply means doing so under the influence or guidance of the Holy Spirit. It does not only mean to pray or worship in the language of the Holy Spirit, popularly referred to as speaking in tongues. Praying in the spirit could also mean to pray in any human language, but under the leading of the Holy Spirit. So, whether we are praying in an unknown tongue or praying with the understanding in a known tongue, as long as we are being led by the Holy Spirit we are actually praying in the Spirit. The most important thing to be sure of is that He influences the prayer to suit God’s purpose for us.
Consider the case of Simeon who prayed over baby Jesus Christ by the leading of the Holy Ghost in Luke 2:25-33. It is evident that he did not speak in tongue doing that because Mary and Joseph could clearly understand what he was saying.
Luke.2.27-31: “That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Lord, now I can die in peace! As you promised me, I have seen the Savior you have given to all people”. NLT
Consider also King David, when he wrote the following words in Ps.110.1: – “The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit in honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.” NLT.
When Jesus Christ would later comment on that Psalm, He said the following in Matt.22.43-44: “…How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”‘ (NIV).
The point I’m stressing here is that to do anything in the Spirit simply means doing it under the inspiration, anointing or guidance of the Holy Spirit. It could be prayer or singing in a known or unknown tongue. It could be the carrying out of any service to God — what’s important is that the Holy Spirit initiates and leads it according to God’s will.
“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” Romans 8:26-27 NLT
Now to the actual subject of Praying in the Spirit: it involves visualizing the object of your prayer in your mind, or spirit, and being able to see it accomplished in that dimension according to your prayer.
This is how we can accomplish much in the place of prayer because that is also how God operates: He visualizes what He wants to be made and then speaks it into existence.
Rom.4.17: “…the God who gives life to the dead _and calls things that are not as though they were”._ (NIV)
This principle applies to just anything which is right to ask God for in prayer, as Jesus Christ also pointed out in Mark 11:24 NLT.
“I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.”
Visualizing Your Prayer: Hebrews 11:13 – 16, NLT
Prayer becomes more effective when there is less distraction and more focus. This happens when we learn to pray with the object of our petition clearly in view in our minds. In other words, we must learn to visualize what we are praying for in our minds and allow our spirit to connect with it. The faithful saints of old times lived that way. Although they did not live to see the fulfilment of some of the prophecies given in their time, yet they believed those prophecies (or promises), saw them through the eyes of their spirit and, therefore, were persuaded of their fulfilment at God’s set time.
For instance, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ said this of Abraham:
John.8.56 – “Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. _He saw it and was glad.”_ NLT.
It was not a literal sighting of the Messiah that Abraham had. It was a spiritual sighting — the same way God wants us to visualize His promises in the spirit and pray for their fulfilment. This is what praying in the spirit would mean to anyone who walks with God in the Spirit.
Heb.11.13: “These people all died controlled and sustained by their faith, but not having received the tangible fulfillment of [God ‘s] promises, only having seen it and greeted it from a great distance by faith, and all the while acknowledging and confessing that they were strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth”. (AMP)
It is easy for faith to build up rapidly and in overwhelming measure when we visualize the object of our prayer, and we shall establish this fact by looking at the following scriptures for similar recorded experiences of spiritually or physically seeing the object of one’s desire in order to bring it to manifestation:
- ABRAHAM: Genesis 13:14-18; Genesis 15:1-6.
In a vision at night, God stimulated Abraham’s faith by guiding him on the principle of visualization.
Gen.15.5 – “Then the LORD brought Abram outside beneath the night sky and told him, “Look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that–too many to count!”
Gen.15.6 – And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD declared him righteous because of his faith”. NLT - JACOB: Genesis 30:37 – 39 (see Genesis 31:10-12)
Jacob did an incredible thing with this principle of visualizing: when God showed him in a dream that the male goats mating the ewes in Laban’s flock were all streaked, speckled and spotted, he cut tree branches and marked their barks to look streaked, speckled and spotted, then he placed them where the herds were wont to mate. And sure enough they gave birth to a totally new breed of streaked, speckled and spotted kids, which hitherto were not seen among those mating flocks.
Gen.31.10 – “During the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
Gen.31.11 – Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me,Jacob!' And I replied,Yes, I’m listening!’
Gen.31.12 – The angel said, `Look, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen all that Laban has done to you”.
That’s how powerful and effective this principle of visualizing one’s desire, while praying, can be. - ELIJAH and ELISHA: 2 Kings 2:9-15
To be eligible for the double portion of his anointing, which he had requested, Elijah stimulated the faith of his spiritual son and mentee, Elisha, by telling him that it would only be made possible if he could see the moment of his ascension into heaven. I believe that from that moment onward Elisha became focused both spiritually and physically. I believe he started visualizing how that ascension would take place, and that must have helped him catch the moment it happened, therefore fulfilling the proviso given.
2Kgs.2.11 “As they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire parted the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
2Kgs.2.12 _And Elisha saw it and he cried, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces”._ (AMP) - JESUS CHRIST: Hebrews 12:1-3
“…Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.” Hebrews 12:2 NLT
Jesus Christ saw the future redemption of lost mankind, and He considered that a great consolation for the cup of suffering He must have to drink to make that happen.
Isa.53.10 “Still, it’s what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it–life, life, and more life. And GOD’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
Isa.53.11 Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins”. (MSB) - EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN: Hebrews 12:2
Today, God calls every Christian to prayer — continuous prayer! The need is urgent now as ever before because without prayer there’d be little or no activity between mankind and God, and that’s to our disadvantage. God can do anything but not until there’s obedience to His call to ceaseless prayer! Just as a Litigant cannot move the court to grant any relief they seek from it, without first filing a cause and praying the court to grant it, no more can any Christian hope to continually enjoy God’s intervention in their life unless they pray without ceasing. And the best strategy for getting results from our prayer is by praying in the spirit and visualizing the process.
“We do this _by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…”_ Hebrews 12:2 NLT
All the people mentioned above received great revelations and answers to prayer because they could clearly see and focus on the object of their desires. This allowed their minds to dwell richly on it, while they prayed, and thereafter, until faith overcame doubt and brought those desires to fulfilment.
Ps.16.8 “I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken”. (NIV)
If Jacob could achieve such a great feat by helping his flock to visualize the kind of offspring they’d deliver through looking at some streaked, speckled and spotted tree barks, then we, as God’s own children, can achieve even greater results in prayer than Jacob did with his animals.
It is high time we changed our traditional way of praying and launched into the deep waters of the Spirit, praying in the spirit while seeing the desired outcome with the eyes of our minds!
2Cor.3.18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord”. (NKJV)
The End