Open Your Bible and Read: John 14:26; Romans 8:26
“But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.” (John 14:26 AMP)
“And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times, we don’t even know how to pray or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26 TPT)
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is critical to an effective and result-producing prayer life. No believer can pray effectively without the Holy Spirit; He supplies the needed proficiency and energy to deliver and birth forth the counsel of the Father in prayer.
Some of the ministries of the Holy Spirit are discussed below:
1. The Holy Spirit reminds the believer of scriptures to use while praying: People have asked me how I can quote scriptures when I preach. I always tell them I am in a partnership with the Holy Ghost. I prepare well for my message, and the Holy Spirit does His part by bringing to my remembrance what I have read, prepared, and committed to memory in the past.
He also unfolds the revelation of the scriptures. He quickens (or makes to come alive) scriptures to you. What a great advantage we have in the Holy Ghost!
2. The Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts in prayer: The Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts such that we are not praying in the dark as far as the mind of God is concerned. He floods our hearts with solutions to life’s problems in the place of prayer. With the Holy Spirit, we cannot be stranded. Believers get stuck in life when they neglect the critical advantage of the Holy Spirit. He is the One that lights our candle and enlightens our darkness.
3. He manifests gifts of the Spirit while praying: The Holy Spirit in prayers takes our spirits into the realm where we begin to pray prophetic prayers (John 16:13).
“But when the truth-giving Spirit comes, he will unveil the reality of every truth within you. He won’t speak on his own, but only what he hears from the Father, and he will reveal prophetically to you what is to come.” (John 16:13 TPT)
He takes hold together with our recreated human Spirit for the manifestations of spiritual gifts.
4. He leads us in private and true worship of God (Joh. 4:24):
“God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality).” (John 4:24 AMPC)
Worship is giving expression in words and acts to an internal revelation of God that you have.
As God’s people, we must be careful in praise and worship. We must be careful not to bring culture into our praise and worship. Instead, we must let the Word of God lead us into accurate worship of the Father.
You must do worship. Worship is different from praise. Praise is celebrating God for what He can do. Thanksgiving is returning to God to appreciate Him for what He has done, but worship is the highest because it is coming to God for Who He is and not what He has done or what He can do. It is not a function of whether He blesses you or not. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in to help you bring acceptable worship to the Father.
Open Your Bible and Read: Romans 8:26; 1 Corinthians 2:9-11
“So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.” (Romans 8:26 AMPC)
“But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny]. For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own Spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-11 AMPC)
The ministry of the Holy Spirit cannot be overemphasized in our Christian walk. There are depths the natural mind of man will never reach but are readily available in the Holy Ghost.
5. He takes us into the depths of intercession by introducing God’s sorrow over wrong situations into our hearts: When that occurs, we say that we have received a burden from God. A burden from God is like a pregnancy that has a time of conception and a time of delivery.
Some years ago, I went to a secluded place early in the morning to pray. Along the way, I noticed my Spirit being stirred up, and at a point, I could not control myself as tears began to roll down my face, and I found myself interceding for the Church of Jesus. It was a solemn and sacred experience.
God is still looking for men and women to introduce His sorrow over the wrong situations on earth into their hearts—men and women who will take the burden of the Lord in prayer.
6. He lifts the ceiling on our faith: The Holy Spirit strengthens us to believe for the impossible to happen. However, there are certain things that it takes the strength of heart and extra faith to believe for. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid on such issues.
THE SCRIPTURAL PROCEDURE FOR RECEIVING HOLY GHOST BAPTISM
Open Your Bible and Read: Luke 11:11-13
“What Father among you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!” (Luke 11:11-13 AMPC)
Beloved, the fact that some zealous Christians have gone about Holy Ghost baptism in a way that made it seem as if they were “making it up” does not mean that you should deny yourself of the benefits of Holy Ghost baptism. No human being can give the Holy Ghost to another; only the Lord Jesus does. You can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the quiet of your room without anyone laying hands on you.
Laying of hands by other believers DOES NOT give the Holy Spirit. It is just “a point of contact” for you to release your faith in God. A point of contact is anything that will help you set a definite time to start believing that God has heard your prayer.
Let us look at the scriptural procedure of receiving Holy Ghost Baptism:
– First, allow yourself to become persuaded that speaking in tongues is the biblical evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is very important.
– Ask Jesus in faith to baptise you with the Holy Spirit (Luk. 11:13).
“If you, then, being evil [that is, sinful by nature], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him! ” (Luke 11:13 AMP)
– EXPECT the supernatural language to flow out of your belly (Act. 2:4).
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4 KJV)
– LISTEN to your BELLY instead of your head for what to say. According to John 7:37–39, your Spirit and your belly are linked.
“Now, on the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood, and He cried in a loud voice, If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, from his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water. But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterwards to receive. For the [Holy] Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honour).” (John 7:37-39 AMPC)
PRAYER: LORD, help me not to neglect the great resources and advantage I have in the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, help me to bring acceptable worship to the Father. I take advantage of the Holy Spirit in the place of prayer, and I will never be stranded in Jesus’ name. Amen!
CALL TO ACTION: BE BOLD AND SPEAK OUT THE LANGUAGE THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES YOU!
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