Spirit-breathed Prayer

Spirit-Breathed Prayer

If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Luke 11:13

MANY PEOPLE FIXATE on the object of their prayers: Am I asking for the right things? Is this the will of God? Do my prayers line up with his purposes? These are not bad questions, but they are all focused on prayer itself, as if saying the right words secures the answer. But what if the real issue is not so much the words that flow from our hearts when we pray but our hearts themselves? What if our desires are not the key nearly so much as the mechanism that desires them? What if we haven’t gone deep enough in aligning our prayers with God?

God has a remedy for any disconnect we might feel between our prayers and his purposes. He is focused not on tweaking our wants but on overhauling our “wanter.” One of the most significant prayer initiatives we can have is to ask for inner transformation—for his Spirit to invade our spirit to such a degree that our prayers are initiated by him, through him, and for him. When our petitions are saturated in the Holy Spirit, we don’t have to wonder if they are aligned with the heart of God. They come from his heart to start with, and we are simply voicing them. The impulse to add “if it’s your will” grows fainter when we know God is inspiring our spirit and planting his will within.

Jesus assured his followers that the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Some Christians love to debate what it means for him to “give the Spirit.” They question whether he means new birth, his constant presence, or an empowering experience, and never realize that any prayer for deeper, stronger, more powerful experiences with the Holy Spirit is always appropriate in any situation. Whether you already “have” the Spirit is not the issue. The important thing is whether you are relying on him and being inspired by him. If you are in need of more Spirit-driven, Spirit-directed, and Spirit-empowered prayer, ask and keep on asking—and trust God to fill you with prayers he longs to answer.

Prayer is the breathing in of the Holy Spirit.