3) Thinking God’s Thoughts. In Romans 8:27 Paul teaches us “… the Holy spirit makes intercession through us and for us according to the will of God because he knows the mind [will] of God.
We can avoid praying wrongfully by praying in the Spirit. We will pray according to the will of God. Our ministry to others will be a blessing because it will reveal God’s will. This is one important purpose for praying in the Spirit, God often reveals His will through prayer as we minister to others. I want to share some examples with you.
During our co-workers’ meetings we set aside one day for fasting and prayer. We then assign leaders to oversee prayer teams of five or six spiritually mature saints. The day is spent in praying for the people who have needs. They come to the prayer teams as husband and wife, or one by one if they are unmarried.
Often God will reveal details about those we are praying for. This is what I mean by the words, “thinking God’s thoughts.” These insights given by the Spirit enable us to help them repent and quit doing things which may be contributing to their problems.
Also we receive insights from the Lord so we can pray for them in a very specific way. The whole prayer team keeps their hearts and minds yielded to the Holy Spirit for His thoughts and direction.
Each member may receive some part of God’s will for the person who has come for prayer. As revelation comes in this way by God’s spirit, the team member shares the thoughts they believe are coming from the Holy Spirit. In this way, others can “check” or verify the authenticity of what is being shared.
We are not “infallible” (beyond making mistakes) when moving in the Gifts (enablings) of the Holy spirit. There is wisdom and safety in having a “word from the Lord” confirmed or agreed upon by others. When every one on the team is of the same mind about something, we have assurance we have the true mind of the Lord. Then we can follow through on that revelation in prayer.
This method follows the Bible model: “..In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Cor 13:1). “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others weight [judge] what is said” 1 Cor 14:29).
In this way God’s will and word unfolds as the team wait upon the Lord and each other for the spirit’s thoughts (mind, will).
a) Three Examples:
1) A Spirit Of Infirmity. An example of how the Holy spirit helps us in our prayers took place at this meeting.
A lady came for prayer about a physical problem. She had a powerful ministry in “intercessory prayer” – praying against the devil and his forces on behalf of others. This is the “spiritual warfare” we have talked about in other articles.
As we prayed for her, God showed us that her physical problem had a spiritual cause. When she had been praying against the powers of darkness, she had been wounded by the Enemy with a blow that effected her physical body. An evil power was the cause, rather than just a natural physical cause. She had not known this and had sought help from doctors of medicine.
We faced the devil and his evil forces through the power of prayer and the authority of God’s Word. As we prayed in tongues for her, there was a very militant tone that accompanied our praying. We knew we were battling a spirit of infirmity that was binding her. We commanded her release in the strong Name of Jesus, and she was set free at once!
Through prayer in the Holy spirit, God’s thoughts (insights), mind and will were revealed to us. He had caused us to pray God’s prayers, to feel God’s feelings and to think God’s thoughts.
2) Released To The Lord. Toward the end of the day, we were praying with another lady who had a difficult problem. She had a husband and three teenage children who required a lot of her time and attention. and attention. In addition, she had taken her ninety-six-year-old father into the home to care for him.
Because of his advanced age, he was like a baby who needed diapers (napkins) to catch his bodily waste. He was too weak to sit, stand or walk – so his daughter had to give him twenty-four-hour-a-day care.
For lack of sleep and rest, she was on the verge of a total physical and emotional collapse. What was she to do?
The Bible says, “Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee..” (Deut 5:16).
She wanted to obey the Bible – but trying to honour her father was leading her to the brink of self-destruction.
I said, “Let’s pray in tongues for a few minutes and see if the Holy Spirit responds to our prayer.” As the team prayed, the Lord impressed me with something (made me think God’s thoughts). I felt that the spirit revealed the following:
The Lord had come to take this lady’s father to Heaven. When he was dying, she had gotten down beside his bed and rebuked death and commanded in prayer that he live. The Lord said to me, “Because she has taken responsibility for her father, I respect her governance over her father’s life. When she rebuked death, and commanded that her father live, I withdrew and left him to live.”
I was surprised and shocked by this insight. I had to share this with the lady to see whether these things had happened. This would verify whether these thoughts were of my own mind or from the Spirit. She confirmed that her father had been near death several times. She had prayed as described above.
We then gently counseled her as follows. Go home and talk this over with your husband and children. Decide if you can release him to the Lord. He will be happier in Heaven, released from his near-dead ninety-six-year-old body. You will not have a nervous breakdown.
She did as we counseled. The family then prayed this prayer: “Lord, if You want to take father home, we release him to Your loving care.” A few nights later Jesus came and took him to Heaven. The problem was solved.
I would have never thought of these things in a thousand years. But the Holy Spirit had a simple Word of Knowledge and Word of Wisdom for us to give this lady when we prayed in other tongues (in the Spirit).