Prayer that has an answer
Each person has a natural strong desire to overcome obstacles. Having a desire is good, but ability is necessary as well. Praise Jesus the Savior, Who told before His crucifixion: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (Jn. 14:16-17). The Amplified Bible says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever”. It is wonderful that the Holy Spirit – the One Who is all this, lives in the spirit of a godly person! The Holy Spirit is the One Who always gives victory: “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4).
Who is in this world, and who is the ruler of this world? It is about the devil – the ruler of this world, who constantly schemes against man and is the sworn enemy of his. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pt. 5:8). But how a godly person can overcome the devil and the obstacles built against him?
Every time someone desires to overcome obstacles, needs an advice or wants to know the truth, he can pray in the tongues of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, will direct him to certain actions. A person must habitually have everyday prayer life, prayers in the tongues of the Holy Spirit, encounters with the Lord in his secret room, study of the Word of God, and life according to the Word before encountering a difficulty. In the same way that an athlete who wants to participate in the Olympics and win trains in advance and obeys the instructions of his coach, the person who wants to have a victorious life must obey the Word of God, and prayer in the tongues of the Holy Spirit will always help him in this. At the first glance, this is perceived as a difficult and impossible toil, while by the leading of the Holy Spirit, not only it is easy, but also enjoyable.
Through prayer in the tongues of the Holy Spirit, a person can develop his faith: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20). Praying in the Holy Spirit also builds up our inner man so that we may be pleasing to God: “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself” (1 Cor. 14:4). For example, a person can pray for the fruit of the Holy Spirit to be established and to manifest in his life.
I often pray according to Galatians 5:22-23, which is about the fruit of the Spirit, and I ask God to have the fruit of His Spirit – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – formed in me by the Holy Spirit. Afterwards, I continue my prayer in tongues of the Holy Spirit. This prayer must be one of the constant prayer points in the life of every person, because life is full of lawlessness, and when a person does not pray, he goes astray from the holy paths of the Lord. Later, if he is not restored, because of absence of the fruit of the Spirit, he will have to taste the bitterness of defeats.
There are times when a person sees a problem, suffers because of it, but does not know how to pray about it. In such times, he can humble himself before the Lord and sincerely say, “Lord, You are the Prophet, You are the Alpha and Omega, You search the heart and the mind and You know how to solve my problems.” And then he can pray in the tongues of the Holy Spirit about the solution to his problem, because Romans 8:26-27 says: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
There are times when a person does not know that at the moment, he or one of his loved ones is in danger, but the Spirit is restless, and the tongues of the Holy Spirit pour out of his mouth spontaneously. In such times, one must continue to pray as long as the Spirit prays, “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2).
One day, many years ago, I was in my office looking for a material I was interested in, when suddenly I started to pray spontaneously in the tongues of the Holy Spirit. The prayer was pouring out like a torrent. I left my work and stood on my knees. I was praying for almost 20 minutes, as if fighting something terrible. I prayed until the Spirit calmed down. After the work, when I was back home, I learned that right when I had been praying, my brother, who served in the army, had been miraculously delivered from death.
Prayer in the tongues of the Holy Spirit shows how to solve problems. “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come” (Jn. 16:13). It can be a purely spiritual problem, one that has to do with life and death, or just an everyday problem. Man is most precious for the Lord, and He is ready to help him on every occasion.
One day, I was sewing a dress on a sewing machine. Suddenly the thread broke. I put it in the needle again and continued sewing. The thread broke again, and this was repeated several times. I was examining the sewing machine to understand the reason. Seeing that I was losing time, I humbled myself before the Lord and said, “Lord, You are the all-knowing God. Please give me wisdom on how to fix this malfunction.” After a very short prayer, I stretched my hand to a detail, to which I had paid no attention before. I twisted it in, and the sewing machine started working properly.
Prayer in the tongues of the Holy Spirit reveals to a person that he is a temple of God, because the God Who created the universe, Who has no beginning and no end, Who keeps the eternity in His hands, lives in his spirit: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16).
One day, Smith Wigglesworth was asked, “What is the secret behind so many miracles that happen through you?” He replied, “I always remember that the One Who lives in me is greater than the one who lives in this world. Based on this Scripture, I dare to act.”
To learn more about the necessity of speaking in the tongues of the Holy Spirit, I suggest you to read “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” and “Steps to Answered Prayer” books by Kenneth Hagin.
To be continued.