In the name of the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit

Before I begin, ask yourself these 4 questions:

1) What do I know about the Holy Spirit?
2) Is it (He) necessary?

3) How often do I pray in my heavenly language (in the Spirit)?

4) What does the word say about the Spirit?

When I was first saved at the early age of 8 or 9, I confessed with my mouth and believed in my heart that Jesus was Lord and Savior of my life who died on the cross and rose on the 3rd day for my sins, my life. I was also later baptized by water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit according to Matthew 28:19.

I was a young soldier for Christ and even at that age, I was aware that there was something different about me. I felt God’s love, I hungered and thirsted after Him. I was blessed with a neighbor who took me under her wing to pray with me and for me. It was during these times in prayer with her I would hear her mumble and speak in a language I could not comprehend. I thought her to be crazy. I would sometimes just open my eyes during prayer and stare at her wondering what she was doing and saying.

Fast forward 24 or 25 years later at the age of 33 and I had visited churches and been in the presence of others who jumped, shouted, danced and spoke in an unknown language or the bible refers to other tongues. Up until this point in my life, I had never inquired about the Holy Spirit and the speaking in tongues. I was told that when people went to jumping and shouting in an uncontrolled manner that they “got the Holy Ghost” or filled with the Spirit. But it looked dangerous to me and kind of crazy. Then there was the tongue thing, I was intrigued, but didn’t know what they were saying so I couldn’t decipher whether it was something a Christian was “supposed to do” or “should do”. I finally came to the conclusion that they must be super holy to do that.

Even when I back slid after first giving my life to Christ, I believed that one will know the truth when one hears the truth. The truth touches my spirit even if I cannot at first explain it, but you have a peace that tells you that it is the truth. Well, I was blessed with a woman co-Pastor as my spiritual mother, my guide, my example and ensample here on earth and she very lovingly explained to me Who the Holy Spirit is and what our heavenly language (unknown tongue) was all about. (There is a testimony behind this but later for that.) She first addressed my assumption that if I was supposed to have “it” that “it” would just come to me, somehow just magically I would start speaking in tongues or something like that. She, by the anointing that God has placed on her life, explained that God is a gentle God, He does nothing without our conscious awareness of asking for His blessings and promises. Which, immediately spoke to what I knew of Him from the beginning. Choice. We must ask Him to come into our hearts. We ask Him to be saved from eternal damnation. And then we accept Him, we surrender to Him because we love Him and trust Him for He first loved us (John 3:16). God allows us to choose, He never forces Himself on us. That made sense to me or at least to my spirit. Then she explained to me the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I said wait a minute, I’ve been baptized already and I have the Holy Spirit. She agreed with me that I had, but then she asked, have you been baptized with evidence of speaking in tongues. That I had not. In order to understand this doctrine, read Acts 2 and throughout the book it lends scripture to being filled with the Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues as well as being baptized by water.

Now, that explains my story and background with the Holy Spirit. And it also gave me a newfound confidence when at the end of my prayers I now knew who our Father was, the Son was, and the Holy Spirit was to me and in my life. So, first off, the Holy Spirit is not an it, the Holy Spirit is a He. And He is our comforter, our guide, and the one who convicts our heart when we are wrong. Others might be able to easily identify Him also as our conscience, our internal barometer of right and wrong, the small voice on the inside of us.

Now, without further ado, I will jump straight into the 4th question asked at the beginning of this message which is what the word or bible says about the Holy Spirit.  Jude 20 admonishes us as dear friends to build ourselves up in our most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit. In the same way, in Romans 8:26, Paul explains that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” How many times have you been so distraught, broken, and weary that you don’t know what to pray, you have no words, but all you can do is cry, moan, and groan? Yeah, I’ve been there a quite a few times myself. Paul or someone greatly influenced by Paul encourages us to put on the armor of the Lord which includes the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, our feet fitted with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. He adds that we should “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people (Ephesians 6:14-18).

My final thoughts I leave with you concerning the very Spirit of Jesus Christ sent back to dwell within us is this. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41 & Mark 14:38) After asking our Father to be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues and the receiving of it, I felt weird just conjuring up a language I didn’t know what I was speaking and what I was saying. I didn’t feel like doing it when our Pastors would lead us all into a moment of prayer in speaking in our heavenly language. I felt like an imposter. I now know that was the enemy and as the previous scripture said, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We must exercise our faith, we must build ourselves up and press into His presence as mature saints and sons of the most High. The enemy doesn’t want us praying for one another, and discerning what is to come so that we will be prepared. Also, a big motivating factor for me is the enemy cannot understand the language spoken from our Spirit to our Father in heaven. He can’t decipher what we are praying for in our heavenly language. It’s like a special language between us and our Father. 

“So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15). Ask God to help you with understanding and discernment of prayer when praying in your heavenly language. I am a living testimony that my prayer life is richer and I am able to understand more and more of what my spirit is praying and the will of the Father as I’m praying for prayer is a conversation between the Father and us. We must be available to listen as well as petition on behalf of ourselves and others. If you want to read more about this subject visit Paula White’s webpage.