I heard a funny but instructive story of a young man who was praying for God’s leading on who to marry. He prayed mostly in tongues. But while he prayed, his tongues always ended with a particular name, a female name. As he prayed, the Holy Spirit nudged him to take a pause and listen to his tongues. He realised he had been mentioning the name of the lady he is to marry. He literally prayed out God’s will.
Friend, you can pray out God’s will. This is one of the benefits and blessings of praying in the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26-27). Praying in the Holy Spirit is not just a religious exercise. It is not something we do to feel high or spiritual. In fact, it is beyond just building up yourself on your most holy faith as the scriptures put it (Jude 1:20). It is an avenue to pray out God’s will.
As a new creature, the will of God is not outside you. It is inside you (Luke 17:20-21, Colossians 1:27). Praying in the Spirit is your opportunity to pray out or bring out God’s will. All the answers you ever need for life and destiny are domiciled in your spirit. You need to fetch it out by praying in tongues. A truly confused Christian is one who has not learnt to maximize the power and purpose of praying in the Spirit (Romans 8:14-16).
Like the Holy Spirit nudged that young man, learn to listen to your tongues as you pray. Learn to pay attention to your tongues. We need to clearly understand Paul’s position on tongues when he says that his understanding is unfruitful (1 Corinthians 14:13-15). Paul did not mean that you should be praying mindlessly. He was trying to explain that it is entirely a spiritual thing; a spirit affair.
Your mind can benefit from what your spirit does or knows (1 Corinthians 2:9-12). This is what I call intelligent praying. It allows the directions of the Holy Spirit to find expression in your mind. It is praying to a point where the mind of God can be made to bear on your mind (1 Corinthians 2:16). When you pray in the Spirit, don’t suspend your mind or allow it to wander (James 1:6-8). Rather, you need to focus your mind.
We all need the gift of interpretation of tongues; at least, to interpret our own tongues. This is why tongues plus interpretation can mean prophecy. Notice that Paul says to pray in tongues and in understanding also. It means you need to express by understanding what you pray in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:13-15). With this, you won’t lack direction. You can pray out the will of God. Amen!
‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria