Ephesians 1:3
Sometimes when people hear that to pray effectively, we must pray in the Spirit, they say, “Well, it would certainly be a great blessing if the Holy Ghost would help me get in the spirit but can I really be sure that He will do it?”
Certainly, you can!
The Word of God promises it. It tells us that God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. That means the spiritual blessing of being in the spirit already belongs to us and God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us receive it. So we can by faith expect Him to help us get in the spirit every time we pray.
I love praying in the spirit because to pray in the spirit is to pray in the realm of God. When we’re praying like that, we don’t need a prayer list. We may not even know what we’re going to pray about. We just use our energies to get into the place where we’re sensing the heart of God, where we’re conscious of Him.
My, there is such freedom there! That’s the realm of eternity where you can not only pray about things that are happening now, you can pray about the future.
But we can only pray that way to the extent that we are willing to give ourselves over to the Holy Spirit. As we do so, there will be things we don’t understand with our heads. That’s okay though, because praying in the spirit is not about exercising your head, it’s about exercising your heart!
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:17
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!”