Praying in the Spirit
By: Dr. David Packer
Tags: Praying In The Spirit, Prayer, Ephesians

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit…

Ephesians 6:18

There have been various interpretations as to exactly what it means to pray in the Spirit. These definitions hinge in part on whether by “Spirit” here Paul meant the Spirit of God or the human spirit. In English we capitalize God’s Spirit and do not man’s spirit, but in the Greek there is no difference in the spelling. Translators must choose whether Paul meant God or human life.

If we take this to mean the human spirit, then the command seems to be to pray inwardly, quietly, and sincerely, deep within the heart. There is nothing wrong, of course, with praying like this; honest searching is, in fact, the ideal. Prayer is a deep and personal experience, and was described by the psalmist as the pouring out his soul before God (Psalm 42:4). To pray sincerely means to bring the hidden thoughts of our hearts before God, so the psalmists often prayed that God would search them and examine their hearts (Psalm 51:6 and 139:23–24, for examples).

But the proper interpretation leans toward Paul meaning God’s Spirit here, to pray under His guidance and leadership, and it is the office of the Spirit of God to teach us to pray, as well as to intercede for us beyond our abilities (Romans 8:26–27). It means to take the mind and heart into our prayers and see life and make our requests according to God’s perspective. The Spirit searches out the deep things of God and take from what is Christ’s, namely His peace and wisdom and knowledge, and applies these to our hearts (John 16:13–15).

To pray in God’s Spirit necessitates that we also pray in our spirit, for there is where He dwells, bringing life and assurance. To pray like this means to bring more than the deepest thoughts of our hearts to God. It means also to bring His deepest thoughts into our own minds and hearts and spirits — to search His mind, as we also let Him search ours. “He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is” (Romans 8:27, NASB). “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God” (1 Cor. 2:12).

Another interpretation, and I take this as a misinterpretation, is that Paul is advocating for a type of praying that is an ecstatic experience or an emotional experience only in prayer. Often we do experience deep ecstasy in prayer, and our deepest spiritual experiences will be by our communion with God’s Spirit. But it is very clear from the remainder of the prayer requests he makes — to be on the alert, to persevere, to make petitions for the all of the saints, to ask for boldness and clarity in Paul’s message — that he is not describing a type of praying here wherein we lose our touch with God’s work in this world. To pray in the Spirit means we also pray aware of His written Word. And it would be a tragic misjudgment of spiritual matters to put our experience with the Spirit of God in conflict with the written Word, which He inspired.

True spiritual praying was demonstrated by Christ, as He lived daily in the reality of the Spirit. During the highest moments of communion with God, He never lost touch with the world around Him, rather through the Spirit He was guided into ministry and to meeting genuine needs, but according to the power and the timing of God. The Spirit guides us in our life and in our prayers. Trusting in His grace and in His presence. Listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to your heart and commune with Him through the day and evening hours. Let Him guide in in your prayers and you will pray more powerfully.