Two Ways to Pray

TWO WAYS TO PRAY

Paul mentioned two ways of praying:

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟓
𝟏𝟓 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧? 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨: 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨.

(1) Praying with the spirit; and

(2) Praying with the understanding.

In the context, praying with the spirit meant praying in tongues.

So there were two ways Paul prayed: in tongues; and with his understanding.

Notice he said, "I will..."

“I will" indicates volition. It meant Paul could decide whether to pray (and sing, and give thanks, and bless) in tongues, or with his understanding.

Once you've been filled with the Spirit and initially spoken in tongues, thereafter you can speak in tongues whenever you will. Like Paul, you can decide whether you'll pray in tongues, or with your understanding.

Since it was possible to speak in tongues at will, that meant two things:

One, it meant they could make use of the great blessing of speaking in tongues more and more. And Paul encouraged them to.

Two, it also meant Paul could hold them responsible for how they were behaving publicly with the gifts.

(Some people have mistakenly thought that Paul was rebuking the Corinthians for speaking false tongues, mere gibberish, or even demonic tongues, rather than genuine tongues. But that wasn't the case at all. Their tongues were real. It was their behaviour that was a problem, not their experience with tongues.

If their tongues weren't real, Paul wouldn't have started out commending them for coming behind in no gift.

He wouldn't have commended them for being zealous of spiritual gifts.

He wouldn't have told them that when someone gave thanks or blessed publicly in tongues, they were indeed giving thanks and blessing well despite no-one understanding them.

He wouldn't have said that those who were speaking in tongues were edifying themselves.

He wouldn't have said that even though no-one understood them they were speaking to God, speaking mysteries in the spirit.

He wouldn't have reminded them not to forbid anyone to speak in tongues.

He wouldn't have said he wished they all spoke with tongues.

He wouldn't have said that two or three of them addressing the congregation in tongues would be sufficient before someone else with the gift of the interpretation of tongues should ideally be given a chance to interpret.

And he wouldn't have said that someone could himself pray to interpret. Why interpret gibberish?

And Paul wouldn't have told them that if there was no interpreter, they could continue speaking in tongues unobtrusively to God in prayer.

If their tongues weren’t real, he certainly wouldn't have identified with what they were doing by saying that he himself spoke in tongues just like them only more than them all.

He would have just told them to stop it and get real!

So, no - their tongues were valid: only, some of them were lacking common sense and courtesy while in church. Paul was just wanting them to behave sensibly in church, including in their expression of the gifts.

The fact that Paul was holding them responsible for how they expressed the gift, shows it was possible to speak with tongues at will - otherwise he couldn't have expected them to be responsible for where, when and how they expressed it.

If it wasn't possible to speak with tongues at will, the situation in the church at Corinth which Paul was addressing could never have even arisen in the first place. There could never have been a need for the advice Paul gave. Everything would have all been perfect all the time.

Some people also say that in order for tongues to be valid, they had to be tongues known to the audience. But Paul wouldn't have said what he said there, if unknown tongues weren't valid.

Some also say that the only valid purpose of tongues was to preach to unbelievers. But Paul wouldn't have said what he said if that was the only valid purpose for tongues.

It was entirely Scriptural for tongues to be unknown; and praying in tongues was a valid use of the gift - or else none of Paul's statements make good sense.)

You can pray in tongues; and you can pray with your understanding also. We can pray both ways.

Paul could say:

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟖
𝟏𝟖 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐦𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥:

He was talking about praying privately to God in tongues. Paul prayed much in tongues! More than them all.

Tongues is a valid way to speak, sing, pray, give thanks and bless, Paul said.

Praying in tongues is praying with your spirit to God, by the Holy Spirit within you, praying out mysteries in the spirit, praying in the Spirit, as led by the Spirit, praying according to the mind and will of the Spirit, with utterance given by the Spirit, rather than praying with your understanding in your learnt language.

An evangelist I know who has the gift of the word of knowledge and who prays for the sick and has seen miracles, and demons cast out, says praying an hour a day in tongues keeps the pump primed for more powerful expressions of the Spirit. He pointed out that you can pray in tongues while doing little daily chores here and there: it all soon adds up to an hour a day. It keeps your spirit edified and exercised, ready to hear and move in the Spirit, he said.

I heard of a truck driver who decided to spend his eight-hour shifts behind the wheel praying in tongues. After some time he started getting revelations in the Word. He started recording MP3 files, and putting them online. Pretty soon people all over the world were benefiting from his exhortations. It all came from praying in tongues.

When another young minister was still a teenager, he'd spend time praying in tongues in a hay barn. One day he felt that by the time he would be in his 60s, one of the biggest thrusts of his ministry would be the printed page. And it came to pass. Some 65 million of his books came to be in circulation. Plus a monthly, free full-colour teaching magazine. He said he'd prayed it all into existence decades before by praying in tongues as a teenager in the hay barn. In fact he credited all the blessings in his ministry to two things: praying in tongues; and acting on the Word.

At another season he was often getting up in the night to pray in tongues. He was praying for a greater manifestation of the power gifts not only in his own ministry but in the wider body of Christ. One night, he said, he 'hit a real gusher' - and he knew it was accomplished. Soon afterwards, healing evangelists started rising up holding tent meetings everywhere, expressing the gifts of healing and the working of miracles. Praying in tongues contributed to that ‘voice of healing’ revival coming about.

Another time while praying, he saw a vision of a flower garden, he said: he foresaw what became known as the Charismatic Renewal. The Charismatic Renewal came about in answer to prayer in the Spirit.

When you pray in tongues, you can pray for things you mightn't know how to pray for with your own understanding.

Sometimes all it takes is a sentence in tongues, and it's like a 'reset' button for your spirit. It doesn’t always have to be long times of prayer. You straightaway feel refreshed. Restored. You might smile, or even laugh in the spirit.

You can also pray that you might interpret, Paul said. As you pray in tongues, revelation sometimes comes up from your spirit where you have been speaking mysteries, into your understanding.

You can pray both in tongues, and with your understanding.

𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝟓:𝟏𝟔
𝟏𝟔 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡.

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟒
𝟏𝟒 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭.

“‘If’ ye shall" ask, leaves room for the possibility that you might not ask. But if ye shall, Jesus will do it. Will you ask?

Then another way to pray, is to pray together with another person.

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐖 𝟏𝟖:𝟏𝟗
𝟏𝟗 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐤, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧.

There's something about two or more praying together in agreement.

It's like the Psalm that promised that the Lord commands a blessing - life forevermore - where brethren dwell together in unity. God seems to smile upon believers meeting together.

There has been more than once when I was in a shopping centre, and I felt led to go down the travelator to the level below. I didn't know why, but I just did so. As soon as I got down to that level, I saw a brother I know in the Lord. We fellowshipped a little while, then went our ways. God loves it when two believers even just so much as come across each other in a shopping centre. There He commands a blessing.

How much more then, if two believers agree together in prayer and ask for something. Jesus knows His Father. God will hardly be able to help Himself. He will do it for them, Jesus said.

God also answers prayers prayed alone. But something special is promised when we get together with another believer, and when we agree in prayer together.

"Anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven," JESUS said.