Pray in the Spirit
4th March Trevor Withers
Ephesians 6 v 17-18
Helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit; pray at all times in the spirit; be on the alert.
The phraseology suggests that we can pray 'out' of the spirit instead of 'in' the spirit.
Trevor referred to his previous talk about being more aware of the spirituality in the world. In our culture God has become a ‘something’ rather than a ‘someone’, something which can somehow help us, rather than a person we can have a relationship with.
'in the spirit' = praying with an intimate connection to a personality. Far above our personality of course, far beyond who we are, with so much more capacity than we have, but a personality nonetheless.
There is an intentionality about praying in the spirit; praying in tongues helps, if this is something you’ve never done, be encouraged to ask someone to pray for you that you would be able to. It somehow helps us connect with God.
Trevor told the story if a man on ‘Grand Designs’ TV programme who wanted to restore a castle. Reminded Trevor of what Martin Luther King said that our hearts are like crumbling ruins. Sometimes our lives are like that, ruins which are crumbling and need to be propped up in places, we wonder if taking out the junk and restoring it will uncover more problems than it solves. But gradually God is able to restore us. He is interested in living in the crumbling building we call our lives, he is able to go about the transformation work.
He is able to restore the damage done by the Fall, by our choices, by neglect. He can do that, whatever it takes, his timescale and budget are limitless.
We can make space for him by praying in the spirit. Paul asked for prayer (verse 19) that he would speak clearly. Even in our broken and fallen state we can be a channel for God to communicate. People can identify with our broken state because they are in that state too.
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
Do we believe that God loves us enough that he wants to come and rebuild?
Do we believe that that will act as a catalyst to draw others to the master builder, that their lives can also be rebuilt.
Trevor gave us two picture of ‘the harvest’. In our culture and times it’s no longer about mass reaping. We think we have been damaged because we no longer see big rallies working and lots of people being converted at once. The harvest for the times we live in is more like a harvest of apples, gently tug each fruit individually to see if it's ripe for picking yet. We will see people in ones and twos discover the reality of God for themselves, and as we do so it will help restore the crumbling castle in our lives.
Are you up for God working in this area? We need to work with him, be willing to be open to him.
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