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Praying in the Spirit: How Prayer Language Comes by R. Graves  

4/9/2006 1:26 pm

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4/15/2006 1:56 pm

 Praying in the Spirit
How the Prayer Language Comes
Robert Graves
The charismatic experience of tongues that accompanies the baptism in the Spirit has been forgotten by a large portion of the Church, mainly because the Church has forgotten what Spirit baptism is. Let’s look at it first in the light of an analogous experience the Church has not forgotten: water baptism.

Though there are various methods, water baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is a distinctive practice of Christianity. The Lord Himself commanded His disciples to go into all the world and baptize believers (Matthew 28: 19 ). Virtually everywhere there are Christians, there are baptized persons.

Wrapped in camel’s hair and desert dust, John the Baptist came calling on his listeners to repent of sin and be baptized. But when Jesus came to John, John’s ministry of water baptism diminished. And John had the distinct privilege of proclaiming what would seem to be a greater baptism.

Greater than water baptism, you ask? Greater than the ordinance that every Christian is commanded to undergo? Greater than this distinctive feature of Christianity known on every continent of the world? Yet these are the words of John the Baptist himself; and all four Gospel writers recorded them (an obvious indication of its importance).

The earliest, Mark, inscribed these words of the Baptist to his disciples: “I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (1:8 ). Luke makes it clear that John believes his ministry will he superseded by Jesus’ and his water baptism surpassed by the baptism of the Messiah: “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come. . . . He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (3:16 ). Matthew and John repeat this promise (3:11; 1:33 ).

John did not think that water baptism was enough, nor did Jesus, for He commanded His water-baptized disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and thus empowered for ministry (Acts 1:5-8 ).

And the words of Peter that recommend water baptism (Acts 2:38 ) are made with
one thought in mind: Believers need to receive this gift of the Holy Spirit—a gift subsequent to salvation, available to all, yet missing from the lives of many Christians. Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, tells us that
repentance and water baptism make ready the believer to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Spirit Baptism is an Observable Event
Have you been baptized in water? How do you know? A seemingly foolish ques tion. First, you had a
knowledge of what water baptism was; then you were conscious of the physical experience that matched
your mental conception.

But what of Spirit baptism? There is no reason to think that you would be any less conscious of it than of water baptism. After all, it is a greater baptism performed by a powerful Baptizer. Not only that, but Paul implied that believers could know if they have been baptized in the Spirit when he asked the Ephesians if they received the Spirit after they believed (Acts 19:2 ); they would later receive this gift after water
baptism and with charismatic evidence. Paul’s question to the Ephesians is meaningless if they could not sense such a baptism.

Not only is it perceptible to the recipient, but its evidence is observable by others. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:. This power, though personal, will spill over into your individual ministry and lifestyle. Because this evidence is perceptible to others, the twelve disciples could direct the church to choose men for service who were “full of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 6:3 ). And Paul
could see that certain Ephesian Christians were not filled with the Holy Spirit. Thus, he commanded them not to be “drunk on wine ... instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 ).

Something must have made
their deficiency discernible to Paul.
The verses immediately following Ephesians 5:18 suggest the evidences of the filling: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (19-21).
Incidentally, do these verses suggest a connection between worship and the filling with the Spirit? Look
again:
(1) Speak with psalms, hymns, and songs.
(2) Sing and make music to the Lord.
(3) Give thanks to God.
(4) Submit to one another for Christ.
Can you imagine what kind of worship would exist in a church where there were no speaking of psalms, no singing unto the Lord, no giving of thanks unto the Great Creator and Sustainer, and, finally, no caring for one another?

No wonder Paul sensed that something was wrong at Ephesus! If we desire to worship, let us be filled. If we are filled, we will evidence it by (1) speaking; (2) singing;
(3) giving thanks; and (4) submitting. I call these lifestyle evidences.

These come to mind when we are
considering men and women for responsible ministries in the church. These are lifestyles, but before there was time for a lifestyle of worship to develop, there had to be an initial moment when the believer was introduced to this dimension of Christian living. Pentecostal/charismatics identify this moment as Spirit baptism.

Faith, love, or joy may be a result of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, these are characteristics
that may go unnoticed initially, especially by others. These long-range evidences are certainly important. Still, the Bible indicates that there is immediate, observable evidence to confirm that Spirit baptism has taken
place. What is the immediate confirmation in the mind of the believer, and what is the evidence—the “wet clothes” of water baptism—to convince the believing community?

We have an important clue in the reaction of Simon to his Samaritan neighbors who received the Holy
Spirit. This story demonstrates the presence of an immediate, observable phenomenon that accompanies
and verifies the Spirit baptism event
(Acts 8:18 ). Here was a man who was considered to be more than
mere man. As an accomplished and respected sorcerer, they called him “the divine power known as the Great Power” (Acts 8: 10 ). It was said that Simon amazed the people, but when Philip came into that city with the power of almighty God, it was Simon who was amazed. It was said that the people followed Simon; now it was Simon who followed Philip. So great were the signs and miracles Philip exhibited that even Simon the magician believed and was baptized.

Yet apparently something was missing. The people believed; the people were baptized in water. Wasn’t that enough? When Peter and John arrived in Samaria they found out that the people “had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus” (8:16 ). The Holy Spirit had not come upon them. Though they
had “received” the Holy Spirit as a salvation event, they had not “received” the Holy Spirit as a vocational event.

When Peter and John discovered that the Spirit had not fallen upon them (and how did they know unless
something observable or perceptible was missing?), they laid hands on them and prayed for them and the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit.

How did anyone know that they received the Holy Spirit? Something happened to them! And it was so powerful, so spectacular that Simon actually saw it and tried to purchase this
power from the apostles. Since Luke writes that exorcisms, healings, miracles, and great joy (Acts 8-8,13 ) occurred during Philip’s ministry and Simon was privy to all these, it is safe to assume that what Simon saw was something
other than these phenomena.

What was the evidence? An examination of all passages in which the immediate, observable evidence of Spirit baptism is described yields one common denominator: glossolalia, that is. speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues ... declaring the wonders of God” (Acts 2:4, 11). The “gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured
out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God”
(Acts 10:45 ). The “Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:6 ).
While some mistakenly think there were only three or four instances of Holy Spirit baptism in these
accounts, there were in fact no fewer than 162 (allowing ten for Cornelius’ household and twenty for the Samaritan “Pentecost”). This number makes for an undeniable pattern: Of the 162 Spirit baptisms described in Scripture, the only common, immediate, external evidence is not wind or fire or love or joy or prophecy, but singularly and invariably glossolalia.

Wanna go deeper?
Receive the Gift of The Holy Spirit
Toronto Blessing Part II: Soaking Prayer
Praying in the Spirit: How Prayer Language Comes by R. Graves
Evidence of The Holy Spirit at Work
Blaspheming Holy Spirit
Jesus: Ultimate Example of Being Holy Spirit Filled!
GLOSSOLALIA: Declaring the Wonders of God

Robert W. Graves is the author of Increasing Your Theological Vocabulary, Praying in the Spirit (Chosen,1987) and The Gospel According to Angels (Chosen Books, 199. He is a Christian educator and a former faculty member at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas.
This chapter from Praying in the Spirit appeared in the Fall 2000 (Vol 3, No 4) edition of
the Pneuma Review. Copyright © Robert Graves. All rights reserved.
ephesians1955
39 posts 

4/10/2006 3:56 pm

 I agree with WorshippingOne.
Thank you for posting this. I know there will be those here who probably won't agree with the theology, but in my most humble opinion, this is one of the best and clearest presentations of what those of us in the charismatic/pentecostal camp hold to and have experienced along with the scriptures to back it up!

All my life I was taught against personal prayer language. During a family crisis a friend helped me along while we sat in my car behind Wendy's on a rainy, cold afternoon. Life has never been the same.

WorshippingOne
663 posts 

4/9/2006 6:50 pm

 Thank you for posting this. I know there will be those here who probably won't agree with the theology, but in my most humble opinion, this is one of the best and clearest presentations of what those of us in the charismatic/pentecostal camp hold to and have experienced along with the scriptures to back it up!

The only thing I'll add is that I, personally, did NOT experience a manifestation of my personal prayer language at the time I was baptized in the Spirit. See my comment in reallysaved's blog under one of her polls concerning tongues. What I didn't include in my testimony there is that I believe the reason I didn't immediately manifest it was for my protection. I had no clue what had happened to me and neither did anyone else in that church that night. If I HAD started speaking in tongues, they probably would have all tried to cast the devil out of me...if they believed in doing that, and I don't think they believed in that, either, come to think of it. I was 12, for heaven's sake. At the very least, they probably would have tried to say it was just emotionalism and did their best to pursuade me it wasn't of God.

Anyway...only God knows for sure, and at this point, it's not important. I am spirit-baptized and NOW have the evidence of speaking in tongues/in my prayer language. And I thank God for it! What a gift--and I'm not talking about tongues. I'm talking about the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. Who wouldn't want all of Him they can get??!!

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