We see not only from Hannah’s example but from others in the Bible that prayer in the Spirit doesn’t always involve speaking as we normally think of it. Sometimes it involves more extraordinary expressions.
I’ve seen and experienced such expressions many times over the years. I remember one time, for example, I was in a prayer meeting where everyone else around me was praying in tongues and I couldn’t get an unction to join them. Every time I’d start to pray in tongues, the anointing would lift off me. As I endeavored to find a way to express what was in my heart, I found what I wanted to do was sigh. So again and again, I would sigh these deep, drawn out sighs. Sometimes it would seem like I didn’t know when my next breath would come because these sighs would last so long.
That may sound peculiar but it’s scriptural. When Jesus was at Lazarus’ tomb, He sighed or groaned repeatedly. In the Bible, there are all kinds of cries and sighs that go up before the Lord. They are all expressions of the Spirit and they are heard by God.
I remember another prayer meeting I attended where a man let out a sound that could only be described as a war cry. It was a shout but it had a certain fierceness and warlike pitch to it. For a moment, everybody in the prayer meeting just looked at him. But then we all jumped up and started dancing like our feet were on fire.
When we finished, we all thought, “What was that?”
We didn’t know. All we knew was that it was something in God. It was an expression of the Holy Spirit.
Scripture Reading: John 11:32 – 44
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!”