Praying In Power

Praying in Power

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Acts 1:8

JESUS TOLD HIS FOLLOWERS to ask and keep asking for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:9-13). Regardless of our various beliefs about the Holy Spirit’s work, Jesus’ words urge us to move beyond a onetime experience into an ongoing empowerment. He told the disciples about the Holy Spirit before his crucifixion (John 14–16), breathed his Spirit into them after his resurrection when he sent them out to continue his mission (John 20:21-22), and told them right before his ascension to wait in Jerusalem until they received power (Acts 1:4-5, 8), which came upon them in a dramatic experience on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Long afterward, Paul urged his readers to keep being filled with the Spirit as a central aspect of their lives and worship (Ephesians 5:18). Some men were considered to demonstrate more evidence of being “full of the Spirit” than others (Acts 6:3). The Bible’s teaching on our relationship with the Holy Spirit suggests a dynamic, repeatable, nuanced, diverse experience.

We need the Holy Spirit’s power for a lot of things, including faith and prayer. Scripture mentions his ministry in the context of faithfulness, fruitfulness, testimony, strength, wisdom, and worship, but also as the means of and result of powerful prayers (Acts 4:23-31; Romans 8:26; Ephesians 6:18; Jude 1:20). God hears prayers of all kinds, but those inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit were already generated by his heart, and they provoke a resounding response from him. Spirit-influenced prayer comes from God, through him, and to him.

Seek to pray for this power and in this power. If you don’t know how, ask. If nothing happens, ask persistently, just as Jesus said, trusting that he is answering. Keep pressing in. Make it a lifelong endeavor—not to arrive at some magical event but to grow in the power that has been given in ever-increasing measure. Your prayers of faith have already been influenced by the Holy Spirit and will continue to be shaped and empowered by him more and more as you pursue his ways. You will hear his voice, grow in his wisdom, speak his words, pray in his strength, believe with his certainty, and experience his answers according to his glorious purposes for you.

Prayer is the secret of power.