Before I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I was a very frustrated person. My heart was full of desire to communicate with God. It seemed I had so much to say to Him, but I couldn’t find the words to say it.
Oh, what a sweet release I experienced the day I was baptized in the Spirit and began to speak in other tongues! What a wonderful relief it was to find a language—a spiritual language—to express to God the things that were in my heart! I thought at the time that nothing could be more wonderful than those first divine expressions. But in the years since, I have discovered they were only the beginning.
As I’ve grown in my relationship with God, He has given me ever broader and deeper expressions. He has taught me that the language of the Spirit consists like weeping, groaning, travail, singing, stammering lips, cries, sighs, laughter, and more.
If you’re a seasoned pray-er, you’ve probably experienced many of those expressions in your own prayer times. You’ve probably come a long way since you uttered your first few phrases in other tongues. Yet even so, you must be sure to remember that—as much as you’ve seen and known of the language of the Spirit already—God still has something more for you.
That’s what’s so marvelous about life in God. No matter how far we go with Him, there are still new paths to discover. No matter how much we’ve already ascended in our walk with Him, we can always go higher.
As we are lifted to those new places, our communication with Him can become more and more wonderful. At every new level, we can discover greater degrees of expression in prayer and fresh ways to yield to what the Holy Spirit puts in our hearts.
Scripture Reading: Romans 8:26 – 27
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”