The Best Prayer Partner You Could Ever Have: The Holy Spirit
Do you have regular conversations with the wonderful Holy Spirit? Did you know that when you dialogue with Him, He is dialoguing with Christ?
So, when you talk to Him, He is talking to King Jesus, and the words He tells you are fresh words from heaven. John 16:13 says, “But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority. But He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you things that are to come.”
When you have Jesus in your life, you can hear from God and receive fresh words from heaven. God loves you, and He wants to talk to you. He spoke to Moses as a friend, according to Exodus 33:11, under the old covenant, when the presence and anointing of the Spirit were limited to a select few. But we are living under the new covenant, where the Spirit is given without measure (John 3:34).
Your access to hearing from God is unlimited because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then come with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
There are times in our lives when we feel tired or exhausted and don’t know what to pray. But, even in these times, we can hear from Him. If you are in a time of need, running on empty spiritually, and you are unable to see the long-term fruit of your work, prayers, and ministry, I want to encourage you to know that your prayer partner, the Holy Spirit, prays for you.
Romans 8:26-27 says, “The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” This is exciting. The Spirit prays God’s will for you.
The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, and when Romans 8:26a says, “The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses,” one of the words is συναντιλαμβάνομαι (“sunantilambanomai”). It means, “to take hold of with someone, to support, to help, aid,” (William D. Mounce’s Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament, page 433).
The precious Holy Spirit comes to your aid, and He takes hold of you. Pulling you up out of the discouragement, out of the despair or depression, and intercedes for you. And then He will give you words straight from heaven, strengthening you as He leads you further into His truth in Scripture. You cannot fail when you rely on the best prayer partner in the universe. He is interceding for you, and all you need to do is talk to Him.
Here are three steps for you to receive the Spirit’s help and hear fresh words from heaven:
1. Surrender to the Spirit of God.
When we surrender to the Spirit, we are walking in the Spirit as Gal. 5:16 says, “I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Tell Him you yield and surrender to Him. Be excited approaching Him.
2. Seek Him by asking Him questions and write down the words He speaks.
Be like the prophets and authors of Scripture. According to 1 Peter 1:10b-11, “inquired and searched diligently, seeking the events and time the Spirit of Christ, who was within them, signified when He foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”
3. Search out what He says.
Ask for Scripture references, and when He whispers them to you, look them up in your Bible. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.”
If you follow these three steps, you will have great conversations with Him. And as you talk to Him, write these things down and make a quick reference to them. When you look back on your journals, you can revisit these amazing times in His presence. Encouraging fresh words from heaven are yours!
This is the first article in the Wonderful Holy Spirit series.
