11/08/2017
What bubbles up from within you during prayer? Do you ever begin to pray and then hear yourself as if from some faraway place; speaking in a language of groans and utterances that you can’t translate into words, but feel perfectly conversant in within your heart? Our spirit, and the Holy Spirit that resides within us, speak in a dialect known only in heaven.
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Romans 8:26-27 KJV
I was watching a documentary on earthquakes and was amazed by something called liquefaction in which solid ground suddenly begins to behave like a liquid and bubbles to the surface, or flows like water. In researching this phenomenon here is how it is described in texts...
“A saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress, usually earthquake shaking or other sudden change in stress condition, causing it to behave like a liquid.” - Wikipedia
Sometimes our prayers can feel like this, we are praying along, and as we reach the point of fervency, or become overcome by heartbreak, or joy, the spiritual pressure within us reaches the point at which our oral prayers change from words to utterances, or the equivalent of solid ground turning to liquid. Maybe we need a new word for this.... I will call it “spiritefaction! Actually we already have phrases for this phenomenon... we call it being “filled with the Spirit”, “filled with the Holy Ghost”, or, if it takes the form of language, speaking in tongues.
Some resist this “spititefaction” because they view it to be barbaric, others find it to be scary, some find it betrays their academic self-righteousness, but for many it is as natural as taking their next breath. Regardless of how it is viewed it happens, and it is as emotionally satisfying as the cooing of lovers.
There is a time and place for every form of prayer, whether is be joyful, sorrowful, intercessory, public, private, intimate, or familiar, but there are also times when words fail us, and a moan or utterance communicates best the feelings of our heart. The moans and strange utterances are the wails or laughter of our heart, and the speaking of strange tongues are the crying out of our very spirit, but both are forms of communicating directly with God.
“For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.”
1 Corinthians 14:2 KJV
There should be no prayer that we withhold from God. If you are wrapped up in academic or spiritual elitism, and feel that moaning lessens you, or is a loss of self-control, I challenge you to let go of your grip, and abandon your stuffiness. The next time you are really hurting, or feel overcome with strong emotion, just stop searching your vocabulary for the right words and give rein to your heart; let that groan within you come forth, and speak directly to God in the language of our most basic selves. You don’t have to publicly pray in this manner, or even confess it to your friends... this can be your secret time with God, and it will satisfy you in a way that you can’t explain.
Praying in the Spirit, or as I called it “spiritifaction” changes the solid of our prayer life into a liquid and flowing form of prayer that defies containment. It wells up from deep within us and fills every crack and crevice in our spirituality with a mortar that will harden almost instantly, and strengthens us when it does so. If this sounds odd to you, then I ask you a simple question... “What is a sob?” We can’t explain it, although many have tried, but it is real, natural, and comforts us in some unknown way. We have given up trying to define sobbing, crying, laughing... they are just a part of who we are emotionally. I propose to you that moaning and utterances are just as natural in our spiritual communication with God. Let go of your fear of ridicule.
“If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?”
1 Corinthians 14:23 ESV
There is a time and place for all prayer. This is equally true of praying in the spirit. Pray this way when you are comfortable doing so. Let the Spirit lead you, but don’t allow your inhibitions to rob you of one of the greatest forms of prayer, and comfort.
“So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.”
1 Corinthians 14:39-40 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the intimate prayer I have with you. I thank you for the most basic utterances that well up from within me... those that you know so well, and which reveal to you my spirit’s longings and emotion. Most Gracious Father, I thank you for the movement of your Holy Spirit within me, and the strange tongues that it speaks by the use of my lips, and voice. Never let me withhold the desire of my spirit to communicate its deepest feelings and heartbreak to you; never let me say to the Holy Spirit within me, “Speak not!” We realize that there is a time for all prayer, and we ask that you direct us as we pray Father. Let intimate prayers be for those times and places reserved for such, just as joyous prayer is best in times of celebration, but always let us pray, and as we do, encourage us to be open and hold nothing back from you. Heal us in every way as we pray in this manner, and direct us in your steps from our prayer closets. Praised be your name Holy Father, and May our prayers of praise and thanksgiving know no end, and no bounds. Let the liquid nature of prayer fill us, and allow our innermost desire to praise you come forth.
Rich Forbes