Pray-ers Corner | June 2008
Dear Prayer,
I'm excited to talk to you this month! "Why?" you may ask. Well it's because I'm so aware of the Holy Ghost moving in the hearts of the believers to pray in these days! There is so much activity in the realm of the Spirit now. In the words of the late Kenneth E. Hagin, "It would behoove us," to pay attention and cooperate with the Spirit of God in prayer like never before.
This month I want to stir your hearts to pray with the Spirit and to depend on Him for revelation and utterance to help you pray effectively!
THE HELPER
The Holy Ghost is the One called alongside to help us in prayer. Jesus called Him the Helper in John 14:26. To help us do what? Whatever we need help with! Duh! He's here to help us do the works of jesus and greater works. He's here to help us fulfill the Great commission. He's here to help us learn the truth. But probably the most important job given to the Holy Ghost is to help us to commune with the Father. God new that it would be a little bit of a challenge for us to commune with Him. So He sent us the Holy Spirit to equip us with grace and to help us to pray. He runs to meet us when we pray! The moment we make a decision to talk to God, the Holy Spirit is ready to manifest Himself and work miraculously in us and through us.
But here's the deal: you have to be ready to receive His help when it comes. If you don't know what His ministry looks or sounds like, how will you utilize it when it comes? That's the reason that Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:15-23, that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened. In another place he prayed that you would have insight, acquaintance, and recognition in your knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10). So if you can learn to recognize the Holy Ghost working in you and through you, your prayer times will never be dull and boring. In fact, prayer will be come the most exciting, fulfilling, and memorable part of your walk with God.
YOU KNOW HIM
The first thing that you need to know is that you have the ability to follow the Holy Ghost because you know Him. You may say, "I don't know the Holy Ghost. How can i know Him? I don't have the gifts of the Spirit flowing all the time. And I don't have visions and dreams and phenomenal cosmic encounters of the GODKIND?!" Well I can say that you know the Holy Ghost because Jesus said that you do. John 14:17 says, " Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you"
So this was Jesus talking, and He said, "You know Him." You know the Holy Ghost. The Bible says that you know the Holy Ghost, so you should just settle it in your mind right now that you know Him. Don't question it anymore. Go ahead and start confessing that to yourself, "I know the Holy Ghost. I know Him." Say it over and over again. And then because you know the Holy Ghost, talk to Him. Say, "Holy Ghost, I'm so glad that I know You!!!" Keep doing this until it becomes a reality to you, that you know the Holy Ghost.
You may be saying in your mind, "This is crazy! This is nuts! I don't know the Holy Ghost! How can I say that!?" Well you can say it because the Bible says you do. And you don't want to make it a habit to call Jesus a liar. Think about it a minute. You know the Holy Ghost better than you think you do. When you got saved, who convicted your heart of sin and helped to draw you to repentance? The Holy Ghost (John 16:8). Ha ha! He was right there with you the whole time, leading you to God. Ok here's another scenario: if you have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, how do you speak with tongues? The Holy Ghost (Acts 2:4). He gives you the utterance and you speak what you hear Him voice to you on the inside. One more point: when you read the word and revelation light comes to you, who's responsible for that? You got it: it's the Holy Ghost (John 16;13). John called Him the Spirit of truth, meaning that He gives your spirit truth!!! He brings revelation to the written word of God, making it a rhema word that you can apply RIGHT NOW!
So you see, you know him better than you think you do! Just say that again, "I know Him." Keep mediating on that until it changes yourself image. The Holy Ghost is not far from you. In fact, He's in you!
UNDERSTANDING HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT LEADS
To find out how the Holy Spirit leads us, don't have to look any farther than the word. Many people say,"You can't teach the things of the Spirit! The things of the Spirit can't be taught; they have to be caught." Well i'd have to say that I only partially believe that. While I do believe that you can catch the spirit of faith and the spirit of prayer by associating with people that carry that, the Bible wouldn't tell us to "walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25). So I believe that there is scriptural precedence in the word of God, that can move you over into the operations of the Spirit by faith.
John 16:14, "He {the Holy Spirit} will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.
So the Holy Ghost will take of the blessings of the Father, His wisdom, His grace, His ability, His insight, His character, all that He is, and He will reveal it to us. How will he reveal it to us: by declaring, disclosing and transmitting things to our spirit. Let's break it down and explain all three of these operations. Declaring is when the Holy Spirit speaks something to your spirit. It's commonly known as the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit. He speaks to you directly concerning what to pray about or how to pray about it. For instance, you could be praying about your family and the Holy Ghost will rise up in you and say, "You need to take authority over that!" That's Him declaring truth to your heart. You just obey that. And as you do it'll get easier and easier to follow Him.
Disclosing is when something that was hidden is now revealed to your understanding. It's almost like the light literally cuts on. An example of this was clearly seen in my life when I made the decision to go to bible school. It was a difficult time deciding whether or not to go to Rhema Bible Training Center, and the Holy Ghost spoke on the inside and said, "Pray in tongues." So i set some time aside to do that for couple days while driving in the car. The second day that I was praying, I driving down the street and I can remember coming up to a stop sign when the light came on. It was so real to me that I said out loud, "I'm going to Rhema to study missions." It was so very clear to me exactly what I was supposed to do and where I was supposed to go. Now that the I had revelation from the Holy Ghost, i could add my faith and walk out the plan.
And then finally, the Holy Ghost will transmit things to you. Now this is probably the most common operation of the Holy Ghost outside of helping us to pray in tongues. An example of this is when you are reading the Bible, and while you are meditating, a scripture will just pop in your mind. Well who put that there? The devil? No silly! It's the Holy Ghost transmitting truth to your spirit and helping you digest that word. Well it works the same way in prayer. You can be praying in tongues and worshipping the Lord, and in a flash someone's face will come across your heart. And you think to yourself, "I haven't heard from that person in years. I wonder why they're on my mind?" Well get a clue. God's trying to get your attention to pray for them. So just yield to that. And in that yielding, you'll find that the same way that He transmitted truth to your spirit while studying, and the same way He brought that person to your mind, is the same way that he'll transmit scriptures to you to pray effectively for that person.
Learning how to follow the Holy Ghost is easy as long as you recognize when He's trying to get your attention. With a foundation of truth that makes you conscious of His moving, you are set in the right direction for an effective and fulfilling prayer life.
See you at the throne,
MT
