Praying in the Spirit
David W Palmer
(1 Corinthians 14:15 NLT) “Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand.”
Through Paul, the Holy Spirit brings up the topic of praying “in the spirit.” What does this mean and how can we enjoy this added dimension to our prayer life? Will it mean greater results in prayer? Let’s investigate.
“I will pray in the spirit.” When this verse is placed in its immediate context, we see that his reference to “in the spirit” is talking about praying in tongues:
(1 Corinthians 14:14–15 NLT) For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying. {15} Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. …
Paul is talking about both praying in the spirit—praying in tongues—and he is talking about praying in words “I understand.” Both are valid, both are important, and both have their place and outcomes. Let’s continue to investigate praying in the spirit, because, in recent studies, we have already been looking at praying with the understanding.
Paul said that when “I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying.” This is amazing; our born again, righteous spirit can pray directly to God, bypassing our minds:
(1 Corinthians 14:2 NKJV) 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.
Our minds can become confused; our lack of knowledge, wisdom, or of seeing the whole picture can prevent us from knowing exactly what to pray in a given situation. But, praying in a way that bypasses the understanding and speaks directly to God from our spirits is a huge advantage in these cases.
I know—especially as a new Christian—I was thrown into the deep end on many occasions. Some were literally life threatening, involving death threats and threats of violence. Under that extreme pressure, my understanding went beyond not merely being unsure of what to do to simply shutting down. I couldn’t think straight; I didn’t even know what to pray intelligently; with my understanding, I could only say, “Help!” I’m so glad that God had given me the gift of speaking and praying in tongues. I could pray in the spirit—knowing I was praying the will of God into the situation.
While my mind was racing uncontrollably or shutting down completely, I put all of my faith in God through speaking in tongues. Rosanna and I had to do this many times, and we are so grateful for this direct prayer to God from our spirits. He helped on every occasion, even though our intellects were none-the-wiser about what he was doing or what we should do. We simply moved forward by completely abandoned faith in him. He led, saved the day, and kept us completely safe in the process. Usually, the threatening person was helped too, and God got all the glory.
Paul also says that when we are speaking or praying in tongues, we “speak mysteries.” Perhaps, from the context of our understanding not knowing what is being said or prayed, he is simply implying that the mysteries are things that we don’t know … yet! Of course, we can pray to interpret what is being said in tongues and the Holy Spirit can reveal these mysteries to our minds:
(1 Corinthians 14:13 NKJV) Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.
Where do these “mysteries” come from? How does our spirit know what they are before he prays them in tongues?
(1 Corinthians 2:9–12, 14 NKJV)
