Dynamic Power

12.7 Praying in the Holy Spirit

We did already talk about “praying with the spirit” in discussing the topic of spiritual languages.

In 1 Corinthians 14: 13-14 Paul talks about speaking spiritual languages in the Church. In verse 15 he speaks about “praying with my spirit”. Because this refers to the earlier verses we may conclude that Paul also means speaking spiritual languages with this.  

1 Corinthians 14: 14-15 – “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful, So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind”.
I will pray with my spirit can also be translated and that is more logic, as: praying in/through the Spirit – ‘en pneumati’. In the key scriptures we can’t find the possessive pronoun “my” either. So in this chase “praying in the Spirit” is equal to speaking or praying in spiritual languages.

Ephesians 6:18 – “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. We can find a closure of Paul’s advice in spiritual warfare against the authorities, against the powers of these dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions  (‘en pneumati’) – again we see praying and speaking in spiritual languages.

Notice: all those words are corresponding with the text of 1 Corinthians 14:15…speaking spiritual languages!.

Finally:
Romans 8:26 en 27 – “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. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
Here we see the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the believers, in their inner beings. Under all circumstances He will help, also and especially in hardship. That’s why we also can call Him the other ‘Comforter’. Any way, we see a supernatural, by the Spirit inspired and revised prayer.

All comments are referring to the “glossolalie” of Corinth, though sometimes doubting because they don’t always exactly know what it is to speak spiritual languages. We can say without doubt that praying in the (Holy) Spirit is the same as speaking spiritual languages.


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