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My Journey Into Prayer: Step One - Praying in the Spirit
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; and they shall speak with new tongues." Mark 16:17 (KJV)
"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:4 (KJV)
My walk with the Lord began with a hunger to know Him to the fullest. As a working wife and mother who had little time to herself, I would awaken at 5:00 a.m. in order to read the Word and pray.
My sister, who had accepted Christ three years before I did, had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. She did all she could to convince me I too needed that experience, but she was not able to explain to me its importance.
She would not let me rest until I too received this magnificent blessing. Finally, I went to the Lord and asked Him why I needed to speak in tongues. Exactly what did it mean? His response, as best as I can remember, was this:
- It is a surrendering of our tongue to God. He is in control, not us.
- It is a fuller and richer way to praise Him. When we run out of words to glorify God, the Holy Spirit takes over and gives praises in a heavenly language.
- When we don't how to pray, then He can pray for us.
I was not sure how to go about receiving this special blessing as the church I belonged to did not believe in the gifts of the Spirit. They felt the gifts ended when the apostles died. As it turned out, the library at that same church had a book written by Pat Boone giving his testimony of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Early one morning, shortly after I had read Pat's book, I was in prayer when the presence of the Lord became so strong I could barely breathe. It was as though heaven came down and touched my soul. Suddenly, I found myself speaking in a strange language. I was filled to overflowing with the Spirit of God. I was in a state of euphoria for three days. I felt as though God and I were dancing across the heavens together as songs of praise to Him poured forth from my very being.
After that, my prayer life became richer. I found I could pray at any time without thinking of what to say. I prayed in the Spirit as I walked from the car to my job, from my desk to various parts of the building; whenever I had a spare moment, I prayed in my heavenly language. It was a wonderful release and kept me close to the Lord at all times.
It has been 34 years since that great event and I am still being blessed through my prayer language. I praise Him in both my own language and my spiritual language and I pray,,in my own tongue and in the Holy Spirit, using His words. Speaking in my heavenly language gives me a great release in my spirit as I surrender my tongue to Holy Spirit, in faith believing He knows what is best. It is a matter of complete trust and great joy. There is total perfection in this magnificent gift because it is not me, but the Holy Spirit in me doing the praising and praying.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
"And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Rom. 8:26,27 (KJV)
Copyright © 2008-2015 Sylvia Hensel
Reader Comments...
| 2009-07-20 13:44:20 "Enjoyed this article very much. Reminded me of when I was searching and received my prayer language. Thanks for sharing. In Him," - Janice |
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