Day 23: Supernatural Prayer

We have looked at some examples from God’s Word where the Holy Spirit leads us in prayer. There are, of course, many other kinds of prayer. Those are just four examples that I gave you, to encourage you to yield to the Holy Spirit in your prayer life.

The final example we will look at, is supernatural prayer. In 1 Corinthians 14:14–15 Paul is speaking about praying in an unknown tongue, entirely supernatural, possible only through the Holy Spirit, and he says this:

“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”

When Paul says, “I will pray with my spirit,” or “sing with my spirit,” he means, “I’ll pray words given me by the Holy Spirit in an unknown tongue, words that I do not understand.” But he also says that’s not the only way I’m going to pray and sing, it’s just one kind of way.

And then, finally, there’s what I call “travailing” prayer. In Romans 8:23 Paul speaks about this and he says:

“Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves…”

He’s talking about a prayer that cannot just be expressed in words. It’s so deep, it goes so far beyond our natural understanding, that we just have to let the Holy Spirit travail through us. It’s very important to remember that in the kingdom of God there is no birth without travail, just as in the natural order.

There was a great move of God in the year 1904 in the little country of Wales and the man whom God used as an instrument to bring about this tremendous revival was named Evan Roberts. But his brother recorded later that months before the revival broke out—they were of a poor family, they shared the same bed—he said night after night his brother would be writhing and groaning in his sleep, uttering terrible groans which the brother couldn’t understand. That was the travail of prayer that brought forth the Welsh revival.

Reflect: Do I appreciate supernatural prayer in the same way the apostle Paul did?