Praying In The Spirit

I know now why God had me attend this prayer conference. I needed it and I need to share it with you all. As Christians, in the times we are living in, I believe God is calling us to prayer. We need to go to battle against our enemy in our prayers as well as build our relationship with God through prayer.

Some people get frustrated when they pray. They get distracted and their mind wonders. Mark Bearden said to pray the Word and pray out loud. I still say write your prayers. Writing keeps me focused. My mind doesn't wonder off.

One thing that Mark said last night floored me: "Men rarely give prayer requests and when a request is given, they don't expect God to do anything. They feel better just saying it."

WHAT?! Asking for prayer is not a bad thing. And by all means, we need to realize that God will do something. Sometimes He says, "Yes", sometimes "No", and sometimes "Not right now." But He WILL do something!

Prayer is about getting God's will done on earth. 

"When God gives you discernment, it is NOT for criticism. It is for you to pray for the person."  I admit, I have been guilty of this. I guess my church sign rants are proof of that. I honestly didn't mean to criticize the PEOPLE or the church, but the words on the sign were more of my concern. 

When we pray, we should be praying for God to glorify His name through whatever, and when you don't know what to pray, say that. "Father, let Your name be glorified through this."

We need to know Scripture. The Holy Spirit will bring that Scripture to mind when we need it during prayer and not during prayer. If you don't have it memorized, He can't remind you. Mark said for about 8 years he read through Proverbs every month. There are 31 chapters. I have done this before, but decided to do it again last night. Would you like to join me? The more we read it, the more it will get in our hearts.

In our booklet, here are a few things I want to share:

Remember: The Holy Spirit is a not a ghost, apparition, or fog: He is a person.

The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity and He is just as much God as Jesus is God.

One of the Spirit's responsibilities is to help us in our prayer, and that includes when we don't know what to pray for (Romans 8:26). 
He does this by:

Instructing us and bringing truth to our memory. (John 14:26)

Guiding us into truth in a given situation by relaying God's heart to us (John 16:13).

In Isaiah 11:2, God says the Spirit brings us: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, strength (power) and fear of God.

Prayer without the Bible produces emotions. You get mystical. That's why praying Scripture is good. For example, when I hear of a death, I usually pray, "Father God, You say in Your Word that You comfort those who mourn. Thank You for that promise. Comfort them as they mourn this loss. In Jesus name, amen."

Here are two things that I believe are super important:

1.Any voice that tells you that you can't go to God is NOT from God!

2. What can you point to in life that has no explanation but God?

I have a list of answers to #2. But I want to hear your's first. Feel free to comment, write on Facebook, message me on Facebook or email me. 

Giving God the glory for the things He has done is a good thing!