The Power of the Spirit: A Key to Effective Prayer
Our Study of Paul Bunyan on coming to God in the right way with the Spirit's guidance
This is Part 2 of our study of A Discourse Touching Prayer, which began with a look at What Prayer Is: What [true] prayer is. Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God hath promised, or according to the Word, for the good of the church, with submission, in faith, to the will of God.
Listen to the article read here:
Now we turn our attention to:
What it is to Pray with The Spirit
I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also - 1 Corinthians 14:15 LSB
To pray with the Spirit, which is the key to being accepted by God, involves praying sincerely, genuinely, and with emotion approaching God through Christ. This genuine, emotional, and heartfelt connection must be facilitated by the working of God's Spirit.
No individual or church can approach God in prayer without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2:18, "For through Christ we all have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Paul emphasizes this in Romans 8:26-27, explaining that we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit intercedes for us with unutterable groaning. The Spirit understands the mind of God and intercedes for the saints according to His will. Here we see the importance of the spirit of prayer and our inability to pray without it.
Paul represents not only himself but also all the apostles. These extraordinary officers and master builders, some of whom have been caught up into paradise, admit that they do not know what to pray for. Despite their abilities and gifts, they are no different from any in church history up to today.
The apostles not only lack knowledge about the content of prayer but also the manner in which it should be performed. They acknowledge their inability to pray as they ought to, relying on the Holy Spirit to assist them with unutterable sighs and groans. This highlights their humility and recognition that they cannot perform this duty as well or as fully as we in our days think we can.
“The apostles, when they were at the best, yea, when the Holy Ghost assisted them, yet then they were fain to come off with sighs and groans, falling short of expressing their mind, but with sighs and groans which cannot be uttered.”
Unlike the apostles, who relied on the Holy Spirit's assistance in their prayers, the wise men of today have predetermined the manner and content of their prayers, assigning specific prayers for various occasions and days. They have even established the number of syllables to be spoken in each prayer and prescribe specific actions to be taken during public worship. This differs from the approach of the apostles, who were bound by the fear of God to pray as they ought to, relying on the Holy Spirit's guidance rather than pre-established formulas.
The phrase "as we ought" emphasizes the importance of praying according to God's will, which cannot be achieved through human art, skill, or cunning devices. True prayer requires the Holy Spirit's guidance, and not a combination of the Spirit and human desires. Asking for things incorrectly or with impure intentions may result in unanswered prayers. God searches the heart during prayer, approving only those requests that align with His will.
The Spirit is the only teacher capable of guiding us to ask according to God's will, as it alone can search out the deep things of God. Without the Holy Spirit, even with numerous Common Prayer Books, we would still be incapable of praying as we ought to due to our inherent infirmities.
Infirmities in this context, refer to the weaknesses or shortcomings that Christians face in our spiritual lives, particularly in the area of prayer.
These infirmities include:
the inability to come to God in the right way,
the inability to claim a share in God, Christ, or mercy with His approval,
the inability of human-made prayer books to lift up or prepare the heart for prayer
the inability to lift up or maintain our hearts in prayer, and
the inability to express ourselves sincerely in prayer.
According to Bunyan, these weaknesses highlight our need for the Holy Spirit's guidance and assistance in prayer.
This was our summary of Bunyan and presented without commentary.
We would note here, though, that Paul and Peter also, were led by the Spirit in their praying, and some of this is preserved for us in their letters.
For example:
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
--Philippians 1:9-11
This was the apostles prayer in his day for the Church, which reveals to us part of what is the will of the Father for His children. This is why we emphasize praying the Word of God as a starting place and a landing place.
For Further Reading
Until Monday, grace and peace…