Overcoming
 The Fear Of Praying  In The Spirit
    This article addresses the issue of the FEAR of praying in the Spirit in relationship to praying in tongues.   Please know that an individual may at times pray being prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray with his understanding?  Yes, absolutely!  However, Paul said, "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"  (I Corinthians 14:15).  Paul did both, which implies that we should also do both!  Neither needs be or should be omitted.  Furthermore, God may at times bring us to the point where our intellect fails us so that we come to depend more on the Holy Spirit and the work of the Spirit in and through our spirit with our intellect disengaged.

    Since the ability to pray in the Spirit is a gift from God and is for our benefit, it is a major point of contention with our enemy the devil.   Remember that he has come to steal, kill, and destroy.    He will question the legitimacy of anyone praying in the Spirit.   He will use confusion, misunderstandings, deception and fear to keep us from using what God has given us as Believers. 

    I grew up in a church which taught nothing on praying in the Spirit.  In college, I don't remember even hearing anyone pray in the Spirit.  In seminary, the topic came up, but was frowned upon.  It was even suggested by some that it was of the devil. Many churches still teach that it is of the devil.  As a young minister, I taught pretty much what I had been taught.  Monkey see ... monkey do.  Later as I sought and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I was encouraged to pray in tongues.  It seemed very, very awkward and I found much controversy surrounding it.  At first, I felt a need to hide that I sometimes prayed in the Spirit from others who were against it.  I felt somewhat discouraged, and only seldom practiced it.  As I became associated with others who were in the so called Charismatic Movement, I again found more controversy about praying in tongues.  Some were brash and stuck it loudly in your face and looked down upon you as being inferior if you didn't perform as they did.  Some taught that if you didn't pray in the tongues, you were definitely, in no way, filled with the Spirit.  I even came across some who believed that if you didn't pray in tongues, you weren't even saved.  I really don't like controversy, so none of this was an encouragement for me to pray in the Spirit.   There was also something of another underlying fear.  It was the thought of the Holy Spirit speaking directly as I prayed.   I knew that I had a choice whether or not to pray in tongues.  Therefore, a question arose which brought considerable doubt and fear.  When I chose to pray in tongues, will the Holy Spirit always be praying through me?  There were times in which, I felt a need to pray in tongues, but I was angry or depressed in my soul.  Would the Holy Spirit be praying then or would it just be me expressing my emotions?  Would it be of God or would it just be me making up some gibberish?

    Before going any further with the issues, I need to lay a foundation. Strangely enough we first need to see that we are made in the image of God having three distinct dimensions.   Let me reference another article "Discovering Your Identity".  Again, I will use the graphic:
 
 

God created us in His image and likeness.  We are like God in that we are foremost as spiritual being.  We have a soul comprised of the mind, will, and emotions. We, however, live in a house of flesh, our body.

One problem is that we often don't see ourselves as a spiritual being because we live in fallen, physical world.

    Before we give our lives to the Lord, we are spiritually dead because of sin.  The flesh dominates over the soul and the spirit.  However, when we give our lives to Jesus as Lord and Saviour, the picture changes.  The Holy Spirit comes to give us Eternal Life in the spirit-man or inner man.  The Holy Spirit joins with our spirit and we become a totally new person in the spirit-man.  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new"  (II Corinthians 5:17).  When that occurs we are born again. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever"  (I Peter 1:23). Even if we sin again in the soul, we will not corrupt the spirit-man!  In fact, the new, inner man, is born without sin or the capacity to sin.  "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God"  (I John 3:9).  Why? It is because the Holy Spirit lives within the inner man.  "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"  (I Corinthians 3:16).  Where does the Spirit dwell?  By the illustration of the tabernacle the Spirit of God rested in the Holy of Holies.  The Holy of Holies is a picture of the spirit of the Believer.

    I am convinced that when an individual is born again of the Spirit of God in the inner man, that God also gives him (his spirit) a new prayer language.  First, I believe this because it is the only manifestation of the Spirit given for self edification. "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself ...."  (I Corinthians 14:4a).  Other manifestations are for the benefit of others.  Second, I also believe it because Paul said, "I would that ye all spake with tongues ...." (I Corinthians 14:5a). Thirdly, I believe it because we don't always know how to pray with the natural mind.  "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"  (Romans 8:26).  Actually, years before, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit while I was worshipping God alone, driving a farm tractor out in a field, I prayed and sang in the Spirit. It was when I got religiously educated, that I backed away from doing it.  Then it came to light again when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues"  (Mark 16:17).   Definitely, praying in the Spirit is a "sign" that a Believer is filled with the Spirit because the Believer is energized with the power of the Holy Spirit to pray in the Spirit.

    Now, that I have laid the foundation, here is a real KEY in overcoming the fear of praying in the Spirit.  "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance"  (Acts 2:4).  It does not say here that the Holy Spirit prayed!  The people were filled, and THEY spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them the ability.   "For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter" (Acts 10:46).  Again, it was not the Holy Spirit, but rather the people they heard speaking in tongues.  "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied"  (Acts 19:6).  Again, "they spoke" in tongues.   In every case, the people spoke.  However, let us look a bit closer at what Paul said,  "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful"  (I Corinthians 14:14).   Paul said that it was "his spirit" that prayed.  We may use our mouths to pray.  We can use our minds, wills, and emotions to pray.  However, praying in the spirit is allowing your own "spirit" to pray, bypassing our intellect.   When one prays in tongues, his own spirit is praying!  He is not a robot of the Holy Spirit!  It is the new, inner man that is praying.  The Holy Spirit is always a gentleman, never ever forcing Himself on the Believer.   There is freedom here, not manipulation by 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"  (I Corinthians 14:2).  Paul says, "in the spirit" and NOT "in the Spirit" that one speaks.

    However, we just need to choose to allow the inner man to pray especially when we don't know how to pray otherwise. Paul prayed, "Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man"  (Ephesians 3:13-16).  We need to allow inner man to become DOMINATE in our lives.  "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness"  (Ephesians 4:24).  One way in which we can do that is by allowing our "spirit" to pray bypassing our understanding.  Also see: Mental Health - Praying In The Spirit.

    Going a step further, the Scriptures sometimes uses the expression of "praying in the Spirit or praying in the Holy Spirit". "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints"  (Ephesians 6:18).   "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost"  (Jude 1:20).  So how does this work since we have established that our spirit is praying?  Remember, that the purpose of our spirit is to commune with God. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth"  (John 4:24). The Holy Spirit also communes with our spirit. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God"  (Romans 8:16).  Only a very few Believers ever hear an audible voice from God, but every Believer has the capacity to hear the voice of God in their spirit.  "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me"  (John 10:27).  Therefore, when one prays in the Spirit, his spirit is praying being prompted by communion with the Holy Spirit.  "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"  (Romans 8:26).   In this sense, one is praying in the Spirit and not only in the spirit.  In this sense the Holy Spirit is praying through the individual.  Amen.