Prayer and the Spirit

There is a definite relationship between prayer and the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God came at Pentecost. This was the day that he was supposed to arrive. This had been established from all eternity that on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come. But the church prepared herself by prayer. They were together in one place, praying, and the Spirit of God came. They were baptized into one body, they were filled with the Spirit of God, and great things began to happen. 

Let's consider the relationship between prayer and the Holy Spirit from three different aspects: the historical, the doctrinal, and the personal. We open the word of God to Acts 8. In Acts 8, Philip went down to Samaria, preached Christ, and lo and behold, the Samaritans were born again. And when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had been born again, they did something very wonderful. Acts 8:14, "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost."

Now we must consider this passage from the historical point of view. The book of Acts reveals to us the transition from Israel to the church. In Acts 1:8, the word of God gives the historical outreach of the church: "ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." That would include the Gentiles. In Matthew 16, the Lord Jesus Christ gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter. Not the keys of heaven, not the keys of hell, the keys of the kingdom. He gave to Peter the privilege of opening the door of faith to the Jews in Acts 2, to the Samaritans in Acts 8, and to the Gentiles in Acts 10. 

Now the pattern today must be based on this transition. Please remember now, in Acts 2, Peter was preaching to the Jews. In Acts 8, he was ministering to the Samaritans. In Acts 10, we have Peter ministering to the Gentiles, and they received the Holy Ghost when they believed. Acts 10:43, "To him," to Jesus, "give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." They didn't have to be baptized to receive the Holy Spirit. They didn't need the laying on of hands. Peter didn't put his hands on them or pray for them; rather, they received the Spirit of God when they believed. 

Now don't get your doctrine of the Holy Spirit completely from Acts 1 through chapter nine. It's a transition period. There are those who say, "Well, unless somebody ordained of God lays hands on you, you can't receive the Holy Spirit." That's not true. According to Ephesians 1, you receive the Holy Spirit of God when you believe. Verse 13, "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise." The Spirit of God enters your life when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So, historically, we must note the transition here. 

Now, why did Peter and John have to go to Samaria, pray for these people that they might receive the Holy Spirit? For this reason: God was building one church. Go to Jerusalem, the Jews that believe receive the Holy Spirit, Acts 2. Go to Samaria, then go to the uttermost parts of the earth. The apostles had to come to Samaria because they wanted to heal the breach that for centuries had separated the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans; they hated each other. So when Peter and John went down to Samaria and they prayed and the Samaritans who had believed received the Holy Spirit, they were healing the breach. There was a united church. Not a Jewish church in Jerusalem and a Samaritan church in Samaria—no, there was one body. And who created this one body? The Holy Spirit.

Peter and John were saying to these Samaritan believers, "We're not going to have a separate church, a different church. We are one body. We all belong to the Lord Jesus Christ." This does not mean that someone today has to pray for you to receive the Holy Spirit. It is good for us to pray for one another to receive the power of the Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit, but we do not pray for each other to receive the gift of the Spirit. The gift of the Spirit is given at conversion when you trust Jesus Christ. 

Now the doctrinal aspect of this subject. What is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and prayer? Zechariah 12:10 helps to answer that question: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son." The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of grace and of supplications. That means that the Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of prayer. You see, when I was born again, the Holy Spirit came into my heart and said, "Abba, Father." Galatians 4:6. My initial response after my conversion was to look up to God and say, "Father." The Holy Spirit in the life of the new believer instills a desire for prayer. I didn't look up and say, "Lord," or "Judge," or "King," or "Creator," I said, "Father."

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption, and the Spirit of adoption says to me, "God is your Father. You have an adult standing in the family of God. Now ask, ask, draw upon your resources. You are an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ." The Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of prayer. First of all, He creates the desire for prayer. If during the day you feel a desire to pray, that's the Holy Spirit. Stop and pray. Now if you're doing something you cannot stop, pray from your heart anyway. Oh, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of prayer and supplications. He creates the desire for prayer. 

Secondly, He intercedes with us as we pray and intercedes for us. Romans 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." I don't always know the will of God. I don't know how to pray. But the Holy Spirit does know how to pray. We can pray in the will of God if we are guided by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God reveals the prayer promises to me from the word. As I read the word of God, the Spirit of God says, "Claim this promise. Claim this promise from God." It's a wonderful thing to have the Spirit of God directing you in your praying.

Now this doesn't mean we shouldn't have a list of prayer requests, but while we are praying, we must not be limited to that list. It can become very routine and very legalistic. we must allow the Spirit of God to give us the freedom to pray as He directs us. When we are praying, the Spirit of God gets a hold of us, but yet He doesn't bypass our mind or our heart. He uses our faculties. He reveals to us the will of God through the word of God, and we can pray with power. 

Now the personal application of this. Question number one: Are you born again? Do you have the witness of the Holy Spirit within, or is your praying mechanical? Does the Holy Spirit of God within create in you a desire to talk to your Father? Not just on Sundays, or not just in your morning devotions—all day long. While you're working there at the sink, doing the dishes, while you're doing your homework, while you're driving down the highway—there you had better watch and pray—while you are even ministering in the pulpit, can you really say the Holy Spirit of God within you says, "Abba, Father"? 

Question number two: Are you on good terms with the Holy Spirit? In Jude 20 we read, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God." Are you keeping yourself in the love of God so you can pray in the Holy Spirit? Or do you just run to the Lord when there's a crisis? Do you run and ask Him for help when there's some trouble? It's a wonderful thing when the saints of God are not grieving the Holy Spirit, lying to the Holy Spirit, quenching the Holy Spirit. When your church members get together to pray, when there is fellowship and unity and love and forgiveness, oh how the wind of the Holy Spirit can blow. Something happens when churches pray because the Spirit of God uses prayer to accomplish God's blessing. 

Acts 12. "Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter," that is after Passover, "to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison."

Notice the next word: "Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands." And you'll recall how the angel led Peter out of the cell and out of the prison. The doors opened for them, the guards didn't bother them. "And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews." 

Verse 12, "And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished." Well indeed. God had answered prayer in a wonderful way. 

In Acts 12, we see a number of different powers at work. We see the power of Satan. "About that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church." The devil always fights the church when the church is on the move. We must be alert, we must be aware. "Be sober, be vigilant," because Satan is abroad. The power of the devil.

Now how does God answer the power of the devil? Well, through the power of a praying church. Why did Satan attack James and John? Because they were getting in his way. They were winning souls. They were Spirit-filled men who were serving God. They were leaders who had influence. Is Satan attacking you? You see, there are some Christians the devil does not have to attack because, well, they're not worth attacking. It's interesting over in Acts 19 when those Jewish men tried to cast out those demons, the demons replied saying, "Paul we know, and Jesus we know, who are you?" Is your name known in the pits of the darkness of Satan? James and John and Peter and these other Christians were serving the Lord and the devil opposed them. 

Now there's a third power here, that's the power of prayer. That's the one I want to focus on. The power of Satan was through Herod's hands, but when you pray, God's hands go to work. Do you remember how the believers prayed back in Acts 4? We looked at that prayer. They said to Him, "Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is." By His own word, by His own power, He made everything. You gave us the word of God. You have given us the Savior. Now everybody's gathered together to fight against us.

But notice what they say in Acts 4:28: "For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." In other words, the apostles were not saying, "Why is this happening?" The church was not saying, "How come this took place?" They were saying, "Father, Lord, you are in charge of everything. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal." 

Now just compare Acts 4:30 with Acts 12:1. "Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church." But now in Acts 4:30, we read that God stretches forth His hand to do wonderful things. Now when does God do that? When God's church prays. The hand of God cannot work apart from prayer. Prayer is what moves the hand of God. We tie God's hands by our unbelief.

Now here's Peter asleep in the prison. Now we know why Peter had such perfect peace. Two reasons: number one, the word of God; number two, prayer. The word of God. Peter knew that he would not be killed by Herod. In John 21, the Lord Jesus had already told Peter that when he got to be an old man, he'd be crucified. And so Peter knew that all of this was to no avail. He said goodnight to the guards, turned over, went to sleep, resting his head on the pillow of the promises of God. He had peace because he trusted the word of God. He had prayed, the apostles were praying, and many people had gathered together in the church to pray. 

Now what is it God wants us to involve ourselves in? The word of God and prayer. Peter said in Acts 6:4, "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." So the word of God and prayer together gave Peter the peace that he needed because he was trusting the Lord. Now let's look at this prayer meeting. The church had gathered together in the house of Mary the mother of John Mark. Verse 5 of Acts 12: "Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing."

The word means strenuously, with agony. It's the same word used of the Lord Jesus in Luke 22:44 when He was praying with great agony in the garden. This was not just a group of people sitting around a table, eating some bread and just casually talking. Oh no, here were people who were agonizing in prayer. Not in a fleshly way, but in a spiritual way. I note that many of them had gathered, verse 12, "where many were gathered together praying." They were united. They were gathered together. They were fervent. They were agonizing in prayer. They were praying without ceasing. They were praying specifically. They were saying, "Now Father, in your sovereign will you ordained that James could be killed. Now we're praying for Peter, that you'll deliver Peter." 

By the way, prayer must always be connected with the sovereignty of God. Prayer is not telling God what to do; prayer is finding out what God wants to do and asking Him to do it. Well, here were people who were praying in a united way, gathered together, fervent, specific, persistent. And yet their prayer was mingled with doubt. When the prayer was answered, they couldn't believe it. The gatekeeper came back and said Peter's at the door. They said, "You've got to be mad. You're crazy." Isn't that what you're praying about? They all came and lo and behold, Peter was at the door. 

You know the weapons of the church's warfare are not physical. Paul tells us this in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. We don't use physical weapons to fight spiritual battles. They weren't out politicking. They weren't trying to influence the Sanhedrin. They weren't trying to bribe Herod. They weren't holding a demonstration. They were on their knees praying, and the hand of God just reached down and took care of the hand of Herod. In fact, at the end of this chapter, the hand of God comes down and God just uses some worms, some little worms, and kills the king who thought he was so great.

The greatest power in the world is the power of prayer that moves the hand of God. And yet is it easy today to get many people together in somebody's house praying? The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they're spiritual, and they are the kind of weapons that teardown strongholds, the way Joshua in Israel fought Jericho and pulled down the walls. You see, God doesn't have to blow up the prison to deliver people. God doesn't have to do all kinds of physical things. He just simply sends an angel down. One angel. Not an army, just one angel. "The angel fetched Peter out of prison," said Thomas Watson, "but it was prayer that fetched the angel." 

And so my recommendation to my own heart and to your heart is simply this: No matter that the power of Satan is at work in the world today, there is still the power of God that's at work. And people can be delivered and many wonderful things can happen if the church will learn how to pray. Something happens when churches pray. For when churches pray, God's hand begins to work and doors are opened and deliverance takes place because God's people pray.