Learning to Pray in the Spirit and the Word.doc

8/14/2019 Learning to Pray in the Spirit and the Word.doc

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Learning to Pray in the Spirit and the

Word, Part 2But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by theapostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, "In the last time therewill be mokers, following after their own ungodly lusts!" 1 #hese are the ones whoause divisions, worldly$minded, devoid of the %pirit! &' But you, beloved, buildingyourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the (oly %pirit, &1 keep yourselves inthe love of )od, waiting an*iously for the mery of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life!&& +nd have mery on some, who are doubting &- save others, snathing them out of thefire and on some have mery with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh! &./ow to (im who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the

presene of (is glory blameless with great 0oy, & to the only )od our %avior, throughJesus Christ our Lord, be glory, ma0esty, dominion and authority, before all time and nowand forever! +men!

Why Pray in the Spirit?

#he fous last week and this week is on the phrase in verse &', "2raying in the (oly%pirit!" Last week we answered the why 3uestion4 5hy pray in the (oly %pirit6 5e gotthe answer from the relationship between the partiiple "praying" and the main verbwhih follows it 7verse &1a, "9eep yourselves in the love of )od!" "2raying in the (oly%pirit, keep yourselves in the love of )od!" In other words, one essential wayto keep

yourself in the love of )od is to pray in the %pirit!Bypraying in the (oly %pirit, keepyourselves in the love of )od!

5e alled prayer a "means of divine grae!" 5hy did we use that term6 Beause keepingourselves in the love of )od is not something we an do on our own! )od is the deisivekeeper of our souls! If )od doesn:t keep us, we will not persevere in faith we will perish!5e saw that in verse 1 and verse &.! ;erse 1b4 "#o those who are the alled, beloved in)od the


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grae" that )od uses to keep us in his love! )od is the deisive keeper and he uses meansto keep us! =ne of the means he uses is our prayers, so we are dependent keepers! +ndwe show our dependene mainly by praying for him to do his deisive work!

5e saw an e*ample this kind of praying in Luke &14->! Jesus says, "But keep on the alert

at all times, praying that you may have strength to esape all these things that are about totake plae, and to stand before the %on of ?an!" @o you want to be kept from thedestrutive effets of the last days6 Aes6 5ell, Jesus says, "2ray that you may be able ! ! !to stand before the %on of ?an," when he omes!

+nother e*ample of praying for )od to keep us omes from Jesus: e*ample of how heprayed for 2eter in Luke &&4-&! +fter saying that 2eter would deny him three times, Jesussays, "But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail and you, when one youhave turned again, strengthen your brothers!"#his is the way we should pray for ourselvesand eah other! It is )od the 418that weshould pray "at all times" in the %pirit! In other words, allprayer should be "in the %pirit!"2raying in the (oly %pirit is not one form among several! It is the way all prayer is to beoffered!

#he seond thing to see is the parallel in Eomans 84&>where 2aul says, "#he %pirit alsohelps our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the %pirit (imselfinteredes for us with groanings too deep for words!" (ere it is plain that one thing the
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(oly %pirit does for us is help our weakness when we need to pray but an:t the way weshould! %o it is natural to take "praying in the (oly %pirit" to mean praying with the helpof the (oly %pirit D with the strength and enablement of the %pirit to make up for ourweakness!

+ third parallel would be Eomans 841$1>where 2aul says, "Aou have reeived a spiritof adoption as sons by whih we ry out, :+bbaF


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%o howdo I pray so that it is really the (oly %pirit prompting and guiding the prayer6

Trusting God to Gi!e His Spirit

I think there are two basi answers! #he first is faith! 5e pray "in the (oly %pirit" when

we take our stand on the ross of Christ 7whih purhased all divine help and trust )odfor his help by the %pirit! In other words, when you admit that without the help of the%pirit you annot pray as you ought, and then you onsiously depend on the %pirit tohelp you pray, then you are praying "in the (oly %pirit!" %o the first answer to the3uestion, (ow6, is byfaithD by trusting)od to give you the (oly %pirit to help youpray!

Aou an see this from the /ew #estament in several ways 7see, for e*ample, )alatians-41$ & #hessalonians &41-! =ne is that in 2hilippians -4-it says, "5e worship in the%pirit of )od and glory in Christ Jesus and put no onfidene in the flesh!" (ere,worshipping "in the %pirit of )od" is e*plained by "put no onfidene in the flesh!" Ithink that means, instead we put onfidene in the %pirit, that is, in )od:s blood$boughtmery to help us worship as we ought by his %pirit! %o I take it that the way to "pray inthe (oly %pirit" is the same as the way to worship "in the %pirit of )od," namely, by notputting any onfidene in what we an do in our own nature, but instead looking awayfrom our own resoures and trusting in the mery of )od to help us pray by his %pirit!

#hat is what we should do this year in all our praying! #rust )od for the help we need topray! 5hen you are too weak or too onfused or too depressed or too angry or too dull topray, at that moment do not assume that you an:t pray! Instead, onsiously look awayfrom yourself to Christ and to the mery of )od in Christ, and trust him to help you Deven if it is only to produe groanings too deep for words 7Eomans 84&>! Learn todistrust yourself and to trust )od in prayer! Learn that without him you an do nothingand ast yourself on him at all times for all you need in order to pray!

Let our Prayers #e Shaped $y God%s Word

#he other answer to the 3uestion of how to pray "in the (oly %pirit" is to bring all yourpraying into onformity to the 5ord of )od whih the %pirit inspired 7& 2eter 14&1 imothy -41>$1G! Eight here is where )od:s all to be in the 5ord every day and his allto pray at all times in the %pirit beome intertwined! If you live in the 5ord of )od,meditating on it day and night by reading it every day and memoriing portions to arrywith you all day and savoring them hour by hour, then your prayers will be shaped by the5ord! 5hih means they will be shaped by the %pirit! +nd that is what it means to pray

"in the (oly %pirit!" /ot only to be moved by the %pirit in prayer, but to be guided by the%pirit in prayer! +nd sine this is something we are alled to do 7"pray in the (oly%pirit", our role is to take what we know about the %pirit:s will from the 5ord andsaturate our prayers with it!

&eep ourse!es in the Lo!e of God
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%o that is my pastoral appeal to you this year4 9eep yourselves in the love of )od bypraying in the (oly %pirit! #hat is, pray ontinually by banking on the %pirit:s help and byliving in the %pirit:s word in the Bible! %tay in the Bible and stay in prayer, and lookaway ontinually from your own resoures to the infinite and meriful resoures of )odin Christ!

I lose with some onrete e*amples of praying in a Bible$saturated way D whih is a keyto praying in the (oly %pirit!

5hen you ponder praying for H&!G million more in pledges for duation for *ultation,reall te*ts like 1 Chroniles &418, where the people give lavishly to build the templeand @avid prays, "= Lord ! ! ! preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Aourpeople, and diret their heart to Aou!" #hen pray about the intentions of the hearts ofpeople and all on )od to shape them and inline them toward generosity! +nd say with@avid in verse 1., "+ll things ome from Aou, and from Aour hand we have given Aou!"

5hen you ponder praying about the future of our hurh in &''1 and how to respond togrowth, and how to struture for pastoral are and building and hurh planting andmissions, et!, and how it all fits together to meet so many hundreds and thousands ofneeds, reall what %olomon prayed when the Lord said to him in 1 Chroniles -4,"+skwhat you wish me to give you!" %olomon did not ask for long life, or rihes or revenge onhis enemies 7-411, but asked for "an understanding heart to 0udge Aour people to disernbetween good and evil" 7-4!

5hen you ponder praying about the staff additions that are to ome this year atBethlehem, reall what Jesus said to the rowds in?atthew 4-8, "Beseeh the Lord ofthe harvest to send out workers into (is harvest!" 2ray with warrant from Christ himself

that the right workers would be positioned in his kingdom!

5hen you ponder praying for boldness for yourself and others in evangelism, reall theway the hurh prayed in +ts .4&and what happened, "+nd now, Lord, take note oftheir threats, and grant that Aour bond$servants may speak Aour word with allonfidene! ! ! ! +nd when they had prayed, the plae where they had gathered togetherwas shaken, and they were all filled with the (oly %pirit and began to speak the word of)od with boldness" 7.4&$-1!

+nd when you love someone and ponder praying for his or her onversion, reallEomans 1'41where 2aul set his sights on his own Jewish kinsmen and said, "Brethren,

my heart:s desire and my prayer to )od for them is for their salvation!"

#o be in the 5ord rightly is to be in prayer! +nd when faith and the 5ord shape prayer,we are praying in the (oly %pirit! +nd when we pray in the (oly %pirit, we keepourselves in the love of )od! +nd there every blessing in heaven will be ours! = learn topray in the 5ord D for the sake of your soul and for the sake of the nations!
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%imilarly, Jesus prays in John 1G411$1that the G, italis added! %ee also John Calvin:s e*ellentomment on Jude &'4 "#his order of perseverane depends on our being e3uipped withthe mighty power of )od! 5henever we need onstany in our faith, we must havereourse to prayer, and as our prayers are often perfuntory, he adds, :in the %pirit,: as ifto say, suh is the lainess, suh the oldness of our makeup, that none an sueed inpraying as he ought without prompting of the %pirit of )od! 5e are so inlined to loseheart, and be diffident that none dares to all )od :

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