Praying in the Spirit Essential #8

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. [Ephesians 6:18]

We are moving right along with our ten essentials for surviving in the backcountry and our ten spiritual essentials for living a victorious life. Today we are covering essential number eight, which is the best way to kick the enemy right between the eyes and send him running away like the wimp that he is.

While traveling in the backcountry, another essential that we should carry is a way to light a fire. Whether that be matches or a lighter. I have a preference for matches, but I will also carry a lighter for backup. The weather is ever-changing, especially in the mountains of Colorado, so we always need to be prepared to spend the night, in case something happens. This essential can also save your life because with matches you can start a fire to keep warm, light a candle for seeing, you can heat water for coffee, tea, soups, or make other meals. The fire can also be a signal to people who are looking for you.

As in the backcountry, a match or fire is essential to your possible survival. So it is with the fire of praying in the Holy Spirit essential to the survival of our spiritual lives. As a believer, we are not going to walk in all the power the Lord has promised if we don’t utilize the essentials available to us. Without this essential in the backcountry, we may not survive. Praying in the Spirit could also be the most important essential we have talked about.

Praying in the spirit is the most powerful way that we can pray because its our spirit speaking directly with the spirit of God Almighty. When we pray in the spirit it’s the most perfect and holy communication that we can experience. Ephesians 6:18 says to pray in the Spirit at all times. This means whenever we pray, we can pray a natural prayer, but, if at all possible, we will also want to activate our prayer language.

Praying in the spirit is a gift that has been given to us, that is in an unknown language to us. Each one of us will have our very own prayer language. It may sound gibberish or a little strange at first but know and understand this is the purest way to communicate with our heavenly Father.  Therefore, we should desire to pray in the spirit at all times.

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. [Romans 8:26-27] 

We are talking about these ten essentials because using these spiritual essentials is the only way to live a victorious life in Christ. Praying in the Spirit is also a powerful way to build ourselves up in Christ. It is a great reminder of who God says we are and who we are in Jesus. We are holy, we are perfect, we are a child of the king, we are a precious treasure, we are LOVED BY GOD.

Praying in the Spirit stirs up the Holy Spirit’s power within us. This is how we can operate in the spirit and stand firm against the enemy versus operating in the flesh; and believing his lies. Where it says pray in the Spirit on every occasion, this means every single time the enemy thinks he can sneak into your life – this IS the most powerful weapon that we have against him and all his stupid little cronies.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit [Jude 1:20]

When we pray in the Spirit, the enemy has to flee because he hates that he no longer has a relationship with the Lord and can no longer speak to God. We not only have the privilege and honor to speak to the Lord, but we can speak to Him Spirit to Spirit. How powerful and incredible is that?

As we continue with Ephesians 6:18, it says to STAY ALERT. Girlfriend this means to always be in the Word, maintain a super close relationship with God Almighty, and be aware of anything coming into your life that is not of God. 1 Peter 5:8 also says to STAY ALERT, because the stupid enemy is looking for who he can devour. Meaning, he is looking for someone that has a chink in their spiritual armor or someone who has forgotten one of their essentials. He’s going to try to sneak in to steal your joy, make you feel unworthy, try to confuse the Word, or throw you into a downward emotional spiral.

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. [1 Peter 5:8]

STAY ALERT, don’t allow him one inch or he will go as far as he possibly can or as far as YOU let him. This is why we need to stay persistent in our prayers. We need to pray at all times and on every occasion. We also need to speak the Word of God in these prayers, speak the Word to the situation, and speak the Word to the enemy. Then pray in the Spirit because this gives him absolutely no room to invade your mind, your family, your health, or anything else.

We also want to be persistent in our prayers for one another as Ephesians 6:18 says. We all are targets for the enemy and the bigger the influence someone has the bigger the impact they can make. The enemy therefore will go after these people with more of a vengeance. Pray in the Spirit for our brothers and sisters, our pastors, the evangelists, the teachers, preachers, and anyone in ministry.

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak! [Matthew 26:41]

As in the backcountry, we would not want to be without fire, as a believer we do not want to be without the power that comes from praying in the Spirit. Let’s STAND FIRM girlfriends not only for ourselves but for each other. You have seen it many times, when one person falls many will fall with them. We do not want to be that person; we must STAND FIRM. We need to take hold of all the essentials the Lord has given us to survive as we carry the ten essentials into the backcountry.

We must STAND FIRM and we not only want to survive but we want to be victorious in the life we have in Christ.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. [Ephesians 6:18]