RSS

Category Archives: Prayer in the Spirit

The Sword and the Word

01 Feb

KeyI’m taking a few posts to talk about the Sword of the Spirit. This is our most important piece of weaponry in the spiritual battles we face.   In my last article we looked at the Greek word rhema. In Ephesians it said that the Sword of the Spirit is the rhema of God.

The rhema of God is revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit. That’s what the gates of hell can’t stand up against. Jesus mentioned this to His disciples.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Matthew 10:34

By His death, burial, and resurrection, Christ was bringing us what we needed for victory. He released a power that could overcome all the attacks of the enemy.

Under the Old Covenant they had no spiritual weapons. All of their battles had to be fought in the natural. That’s why there were so many death penalties. The only way to stop the spirit of adultery was to put to death the person who was controlled by it.

Now we’re under a new and better covenant. It’s interesting to see that nowhere in New Testament are we told that God will fight our battle for us. We now have a weapon that the enemy can’t defend against. He can debate the Bible with you. But there’s no defense against the revealed Word of God spoken against him.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Hebrews 11:3

The rhema of God created the universe – everything – both visible and invisible.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Hebrews 1:3

The universe – both visible and invisible is sustained by the rhema of His power. So it’s clear from Scripture that the rhema of God is the power of God.

This is also the power of God in me.   When I hear from the Spirit of God, I’m receiving His power. When I act upon that Word, I’m walking in the power and authority of the Lord. So using the Sword of the Spirit means that I’m hearing from God and acting on it.

Quoting Scripture didn’t create the world. Quoting the Bible doesn’t sustain the world. It’s the Word of His power.

It’s the rhema of God that formed the atoms of all that we see. It’s the rhema of God that keeps them arranged the way they are. But the rhema of God can also rearrange them. When I hear from God and say “Be healed” by the rhema of God…cancer cells become healthy cells.

“That’s good for a pastor or an evangelist, but not me.”

“He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
John 8:47

He who belongs to God hears the rhema of God. Do you belong to God? Then it’s for you. Spend time in the Lord’s presence and expect to hear a Word that will change your life.

Question: Why aren’t more believers listening for God’s voice?

© Nick Zaccardi 2016

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 1, 2016 in Power of God, Prayer in the Spirit, Spiritual Warfare, Word of God

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Where Do You Worship?

07 Oct

ThroneWorship is a word that we use a lot as Christians. Do we really understand what it means? We call church buildings “place of worship.” But that’s not entirely correct. Actually, there are many churches where there hasn’t been any real worship for years, yet they still call what they’re doing “worship services.”

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16

The Bible is clear that for us, the temple is not a physical building. We find this thought in more than one spot in the Word. When we’re told that you are the temple, sometimes the you is singular and sometimes it’s plural.

Regardless of the tense that’s used, the meaning is clear. Worship takes place in people. It’s not about a special location. It takes place in me or in us.

But what is this place of worship that we’re called to? Throughout the book of Hebrews, the writer uses the term draw near only for worship.

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 12:22-24

The true place of worship is around the throne of God; for He’s the only one worthy to be worshiped. The Apostle John had a vision of the majesty of this place.

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
Revelation 4:4-6

True worship takes place around the throne of God. The fact is that when we worship, we are transported in spirit to God’s throne. That’s because worship is a supernatural encounter with God. It has nothing to do with our flesh, but everything to do with our spirit.

In talking to the woman at the well, Jesus spoke about this truth.

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
John 4:24

When you pray in the spirit, you’re brought into the very presence of God. Your spirit is there with others in God’s throne room.

That’s why it surprises me that there are those who simply ignore this awesome opportunity that we’ve been given. We’re allowed instant access into the place of worship in the throne room of the Sovereign of the universe. Take advantage of this great invitation that we’ve been given.

Question: How often do you worship in spirit?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
1 Comment

Posted by on October 7, 2015 in Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk, Worship

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Healing Principles – Intercession

02 Oct

HandsThis will be my last post on the principles that govern the healing that Christ provided for us on the cross. In my last article we saw how healing is based upon a Word from God. We need to really grasp this point.

Healing is not based upon my need. Neither is it based upon my love for the sick person or my desire to see them get well. Healing is initiated by a Word from God for me to take authority over that sickness.

That explains what James said in his letter.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 5:16

We see two important thoughts in this verse. First of all there’s confession of need. I already talked about this one in a former post in this series. If nobody knows about your sickness, how can they be in prayer for you?

The word confess literally means to speak out where you’ve missed the mark. This includes if you are missing the mark of God’s perfect health.

The second thought is just as important, yet highly overlooked in our generation. James says to pray for one another for healing. I believed that we’ve totally misunderstood what he’s saying here.

He’s not talking about laying hands on people to bring healing. This verse is speaking about our daily routines. We should be praying and interceding for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Then, from time to time we will receive a Word for someone’s healing…or other situations they may be going through.

The last line of this verse clinches that for me. It says that the energized prayer of the righteous is a mighty force.

Energized prayer – I believe he can only be talking about prayer in the spirit by using that term. Paul talks about it in that way as well.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Romans 8:26

When I intercede in the spirit for my fellow believers, I’m praying beyond my limited knowledge. Then the Holy Spirit is free to give me a Word for their healing. That’s the precise way that the healing ministry of Jesus took place.

Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
John 5:19

The whole ministry of Jesus was Word based. He heard from the Father, and then did what He saw. Of course, that meant spending a large amount of time in the spirit, listening to the Father’s voice. That’s the biggest hurdle for us. We need to take the time necessary to operate at this level.

I believe that the day is coming when the church will finally be so upset by our lack of power, that we’ll press in and learn to hear God clearly. That’s what will initiate the final harvest before the coming of the Lord.

We need to be a people of prayer. Prayer in the spirit and intercession for others should be a part of our daily walk. This will bring us to where we need to be as God’s people.

Question: What would the church look like if this was in place?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
1 Comment

Posted by on October 2, 2015 in Healing, Power of God, Prayer, Prayer in the Spirit, Spiritual Walk, The Church

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Let it Burn

04 Sep

forestI’ve been posting about how the Word of God can ignite a fire in our hearts. The question I want to answer today is; why would I want this?

As I look out across the body of Christ in our generation, I see a very interesting phenomenon. The strength of God’s people seems to be higher than it’s been for a long time.

People attend churches where the times of worship are deeply moving. The preaching of the Word is anointed. This is especially true with the accessibility of great men and women of God over the internet. From what I hear, prayer is an important part in the lives of many believers.

What bothers me is that in spite of this spiritual strength, the church as a whole is having almost no impact on society. Yes, I know there are individual local churches that are bringing increase into God’s kingdom – but a great many are not. If anything, it looks like God’s people want what the world is offering them.

This places us firmly in the category of being double-minded. Let the Scripture be our judge.

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
James 1:6-8

This is where we find ourselves. We have a seemingly deep spiritual walk, yet we lack the power of God. It’s because with our focus on both Christ and the world, we end up double-minded.

Our cry to God should be the same as the man who came to Christ on behalf of his son who needed deliverance.

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Mark 9:24

I recently watched a special about forest fires. I learned that not all forest fires are bad. Sometimes there are small fires that burn up all the little leaves and twigs on the forest floor.

That’s a good thing, because if it doesn’t happen regularly this debris can pile up and start a huge fire later on. That kind of raging fire can destroy the whole forest.

What floored me was that the documentary called these little ones, “cleansing fires.” Then they made a statement – “We need cleansing fire!” It wasn’t a preacher who said that, but I found myself saying “amen” to a TV documentary.

Over time, as we live in the world, doubts and distractions build up in our lives without us ever knowing it. Over time, if left unchecked, they could destroy our walk with God. We need the cleansing fires of the Holy Spirit to burn away this accumulation of junk on a regular basis. This clears the way for the power of God to manifest in my life.

We must spend time in the Holy Spirit. We must hear His Word to us. Then as we meditate on that Word, we fan it into flame allowing it to consume all the deadwood of doubt that’s been piling up in our heart.

Question: What do you consider regular time with the Holy Spirit?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
1 Comment

Posted by on September 4, 2015 in Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk, Word of God

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Spiritual Words

19 Aug

WifiI’m posting about the tremendous amount of power we have access to while praying in the spirit. It’s all about how our spirit and the Holy Spirit work together to bring about God’s will in our lives.

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2:11-12

God does not desire to hold anything back from His children. Verse 12 tells us, literally, that we can know by seeing what God has freely given us. This is not known to us by reading the Bible. It’s not revealed by hearing great sermons or prophetic words. It’s only known in that intimate place when my spirit and the Holy Spirit communicate in the language of heaven. This is reinforced by the next verse.

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
1 Corinthians 2:13

What is it that the Spirit of God teaches us? He teaches us the wisdom of God. But He can’t put it into human words. They’re not adequate for the task. The Spirit must use spiritual words.

What is a spiritual word? If you ask some people, they’ll tell you that King James English is speaking in spiritual words! Using “thee” and “thou” does not mean you’re speaking in spiritual words.

Spiritual words can only be words spoken in the spiritual realm by your spirit and the Holy Spirit. It’s the language they use to communicate on that higher level.

Look at it this way. If I had a friend in Italy, and wanted to send him a message, I could type it up and send it Airmail. They would then receive it in about a week or so. This is how humans have conversed long distance for thousands of years.

Now, with my computer, I can type up the letter using E-mail. When I hit the “send” button, the entire letter is converted into digital words and sent into the internet. My friend can then receive it instantaneously. But in order to use this marvelous technique, my computer must be interfaced with the internet so that this letter can travel through cyberspace.

But it’s much more than that. It’s not only English words that can be converted into digital words. I can convert pictures into digital words and send them just as fast. More than that, I can also convert songs and videos into digital words and send them instantly across the planet, simply because of the power of the internet. I can’t do that with human words.

This is the truth that Paul is trying to convey to us about the language of the spirit. It was something that he had an intimate knowledge about, but we’ve all but lost in our modern age. He’s trying to tell us that there are deep principles that God wants us to learn. The problem is that if the Lord has to use the English language it will take Him 20 years to get it across to us.

Yes, God has many means at His disposal. He could use the Bible, pastors, teachers, situations and a host of other things. But if He could communicate to us by the Spirit, using spirit words, He could get the whole message across to us in one instant. The language of the spirit is the single most efficient way of communicating with the Father. Every believer should be using this gift that has been bestowed upon the church.

Question: What have you learned from the Holy Spirit while praying in the spirit?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 19, 2015 in Power of God, Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

The Holy Spirit Working With You

17 Aug

SpotlightI’ve been posting about how prayer in the spirit allows the Holy Spirit to bring your prayer life to a whole new level. It causes your spirit and the Spirit of God to interact together. Yet, even this is only the tip of the iceberg.

However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” – but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10

The power of the Spirit takes us beyond our own human understanding. No eye has seen – You can read the Bible from cover to cover and not see everything God has prepared for your life.

No ear has heard – You can listen to every sermon, prophet, and apostle yet still not hear all God has for you.

No mind has conceived – You can’t brainstorm, imagine, or even dream up everything that’s your portion in the will of God. BUT…God has revealed it by His SPIRIT.

He then goes on to explain that the spirit can investigate everything, even the deep things of God. I believe that Paul is talking about your own human spirit. Your spirit can search out all things.

You may think Google is good. The Bible tells you that your spirit is the greatest search engine ever created. I know that Paul was given an enormous amount of revelation. He wrote most of the New Testament under the direction of the Holy Spirit. How did he receive all of that? By spending time in the spirit.

Here Paul tells us the secret of this supernatural revelation. It can only be received in the spirit. He makes it clear that your flesh (eyes and ears) cannot grasp it. Neither can your soul (mind) come up with it. It has to be a work of your spirit.

If this is true, then you must know how to use your spirit in order to access this information. It only comes to a person who knows how to interact on the spiritual level. This means that you must know how to pray in the spirit in order receive the revelation that’s referenced by this verse.

Your body and soul can never search out the deeper things of God; it will only be accomplished by your spirit working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2:11-12

Remember when I asked you to keep an open mind about Romans 8:26-27 in my last post? I told you that I believed that Paul was talking about our human spirit as the one who searches our hearts. I told you at that time that we would eventually get to a verse that supports that assumption.

We are there now. Verse 11 above makes it very clear that your spirit knows the thoughts of your heart. The fact is that your spirit knows you intimately.

In the same way that your spirit knows your thoughts, God’s Spirit knows His thoughts intimately. Now for the question that can unlock the power of God in your life. What if these two spirits get together and compare notes? Your spirit knows the needs and the questions. God’s Spirit knows all the answers. The result is a release of the power of God over your life and ministry.

Question: How does prayer in the spirit affect your life?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 17, 2015 in Power of God, Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Spiritual Interaction

14 Aug

PowerlessIn my last post I started to talk about prayer in the spirit. We saw that it’s a spiritual communication with the Lord. But how does this help me?

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
Romans 8:26-27

This is a verse that the translators had some problems with. First of all, there’s no capital “s” in the word spirit. They did that because they believed that this passage was referring to the Holy Spirit.

Actually, this verse is talking about the interaction between our spirit and the Holy Spirit. I believe that the first part is talking about our human spirit. I would ask you to trust me on this for now.

We will look at another verse in my next post that will bear me out (1 Corinthians 2:11-12). At that point, if you disagree, you’re free to disregard what I say. But for now I ask you to keep an open mind.

I believe that verse 26 is saying that our spirit cooperates with our weakness. It’s very familiar with the failings of our flesh. Because it knows you intimately, your spirit works with your weakness.

What is the weakness that it’s talking about here? The literal Greek in this verse says, we do not know, by seeing and observing, the objective of the prayer precisely as needed. We don’t always fully understand what we’re praying for. As a pastor, when someone comes forward for prayer, I want to see them blessed. If they say, “Pastor, I’m having severe headaches – pray for me.”, then I want to see them healed. So I pray in the name of Jesus, against that sickness.

What this verse is saying is that I don’t always know what’s happening. According to my observation, the person needs to be healed of the headaches. However, what if I don’t know that this person has been nursing bitterness against a brother in the Lord? What if the headaches are a physical manifestation of this bitterness?

There are many sins that can cause physical symptoms. The objective of the prayer should be to let go of the bitterness. That’s why the Scripture says that I don’t always know the objective of the prayer exactly as needed. This is a part of my weakness that my spirit helps me with.

So, what does my spirit do to help me? According to this verse, my spirit intercedes over me with sighs that cannot be spoken. Literally, you cannot put what the spirit is doing into words. The fact is, your spirit intercedes for you.

Now, here’s the great part. It says that he who searches our hearts does this work. It’s my spirit who searches my heart. Again, I’ll show you this elsewhere in Scripture in my next post. My spirit searches my heart AND knows the mind of THE SPIRIT.

Here I believe that THE SPIRIT is the Holy Spirit of God. This can only be what it means. Why would Paul feel it necessary to tell us that the Holy Spirit knows the mind of the Holy Spirit?

So what this tells me is that my spirit knows my weaknesses and searches my heart. But, because of the fact that the Holy Spirit now resides in me, my spirit also knows the mind of the Holy Spirit. And it’s this same Holy Spirit that intercedes for all the saints in the perfect will of God.

This is simply the most powerful interaction that anyone could ever hope for. These two things are happening as we pray in the spirit. My spirit intercedes for me knowing both my needs and my weaknesses. The Holy Spirit intercedes for the saints knowing God’s will. As they get together and share with one another, there’s nothing that they cannot accomplish together.

Question: How does prayer in the spirit bring your prayer life to a whole new level?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 14, 2015 in Prayer in the Spirit, Spiritual Walk

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Building Yourself Up

12 Aug

Music ManMany people ask why prayer in the spirit is so important. Many times it’s used as a spiritual toy that we only take out to play with on Sunday mornings. Scripture lets us know that it’s much more than that.

But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.
1 Corinthians 14:3-4

I’ve heard many people talk about this passage of Scripture. Some think it means, “Prophecy good, tongues bad.” The truth of the matter is that there are two totally different gifts that are to be used for two totally different purposes.

The reason God gives you the gift of this spiritual language is to edify you! The word edify literally means to build up. I can’t serve God without constantly being built up on the inside. One of the most important reasons that God has given us this gift is so that we can regularly strengthen ourselves by the spirit.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
1 Corinthians 14:14

This verse tells us that it’s our spirit, not our mouth that’s doing the praying. My mind doesn’t understand what’s taking place. This is because the transfer is spiritual. At one point the Lord gave me an excellent illustration to emphasize this truth.

During a sermon when I was speaking on this topic, I asked my Assistant Pastor to come up front to help me demonstrate. I gave him no prior warning as to what would be happening. I then gave him a CD player and told him to place the earphones on.

I then told him and the congregation, that when I press the play button, my assistant would hear a pastor preaching a salvation message. What I wanted my assistant to do was to speak out loud exactly what the pastor on the CD was saying, word for word. The result got quite a reaction. This because the pastor on the CD was preaching in the Korean language!

This is a beautiful picture of what happens when we pray in the spirit. Your mind hears your spirit praying in a language it doesn’t recognize – the language of the spirit. It tries to mimic it with your mouth, but only ends up sounding unintelligible.

This is why what we hear coming out of someone’s mouth does not always parallel what’s said by the gift of interpretation. Your spirit might be interceding for a need, while your mouth is merely saying “Praise the Lord” over and over again in Russian.

It’s interesting to note here exactly what the gift of interpretation is as mentioned in the Bible. The word the Apostle used was a word that means to put into words. Basically this means that the message we hear by the gift of interpretation was not in words until it was interpreted. This goes right along with the truth that it’s our spirit praying and not our mouth.

This is also why the gift of tongues will cease after the resurrection. The only reason that we speak this way during the use of the gift is because our mind doesn’t grasp what’s taking place in our spirit. After the resurrection we’ll still communicate with God in the spirit, but because our mind and body will be perfected, it will not have this outward effect anymore.

Question: How have you been built up by praying in the spirit?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 12, 2015 in Prayer in the Spirit, Spiritual Walk

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Directing Your Thoughts

18 May

 

cross 2I’ve been posting about how our minds are renewed by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. This was also evident in the life of Christ.

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
Luke 24:45

The word understand in this verse literally means to put together. The Lord opened up the minds of these disciples to put together all that was happening. This included the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ, as well as the Scripture that foretold it. They had to walk in a supernatural understanding in order to grasp what was happening.

We need this ability of the Holy Spirit in us to put together – understand and apply – all that’s in the Scripture. If I don’t cultivate my spiritual prayer life, then where will all of this understanding come from? We can receive these blessing nowhere else but from the spirit.

Paul understood this and tried to make it clear to his readers. In the following verse, the apostle is taking an Old Testament verse and revamping it for a spiritual people.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16

What this verse actually says in the Greek is, “Who has known the mind of the Lord well enough to be knit together with Him.” But we hold, possess the mind of Christ.

What an incredible truth! In the spirit we have access to the mind of the eternal God. The big question is; will we lay claim to this gift by the spirit?

It’s clear that the Holy Spirit is needed in order to renew our minds. But this renewal is more than just accessing God’s knowledge. It’s much deeper than that.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…
Philippians 2:5

This means that the direction of our minds should be the same as Christ. This is evident in our current church experience. So many of our prayers seem to go unanswered. We think we’re praying “in the will of God.” But we don’t see anything happening.

Many times we don’t receive when we pray because we’re headed in a different direction than Christ. We want the blessings of God. We just want them for a different reason than He does.

We need to direct our mind like Christ. When the Lord walked the earth, His mind was directed by the Spirit. That’s what renewal is all about. It’s not just changing what we think about, but how we think.

This is a difficult thing to do in the natural. Actually it’s pretty close to impossible. Trying to get the mind to renew itself is a losing proposition. Instead, the best way is to activate our spirit in order to keep our mind Christ-centered.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians 3:2

This would be quite a challenge for us to do in our own power. I know I can accomplish this temporarily. I wanted to see how long during the day I could make myself think about the things of God. I found it to be a lost cause. The littlest things would distract me and refocus my attention on the things of earth.

Prayer in the spirit, however, allows you to zero in on things above for an increasingly longer time. Your mind will begin to follow the lead of your spirit. You will begin to understand the things of the spirit like never before.

In this way your mind will start to become reset and refreshed. When this is taking place it goes a long way to changing how the outward man reacts to life. If we’re going to win the battle of the mind, then we must pray in the spirit regularly.

Question: How have you noticed your prayer life affecting your thought life?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 18, 2015 in Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Daily Renewal

15 May

ButterflyIn my last post I began talking about the renewing of our minds. We saw from the Ephesians 4:23 that it’s a work that’s accomplished in the spirit.

…to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
Ephesians 4:23

Even the phrase be made new is full of meaning. It’s the Greek word ana-neoo. Neoo means brand, spanking new, right out of the box. Ana is a prefix that adds an intensive repetition. This renewal is to be done over and over again.

This is the only place in the Bible that this word is used. Every other place the word renew means to freshen or renovate. In this verse we’re talking about resetting everything back to the original factory settings. This is the ultimate do-over. But it can only be done in the spirit.

That’s why I place such a high emphasis on prayer in the spirit. Without it we have no chance of overcoming the sin nature, or walking in the renewed life. I feel that renewal of the mind is the most important part of the process. Without setting our mind correctly, it will never fully cooperate with God’s plan.

This is reiterated throughout Paul’s ministry. At one point he felt the need to remind Titus, a young pastor, about these things. He reminded Titus what they were like when they first came to God. They were just like everyone else in the world. They thought and acted like everyone around them.

…he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit…
Titus 3:5

The salvation process is described here in two parts. First, the washing of rebirth – the removal of the old man and the putting on of Christ. Then came the renewal by the Holy Spirit. We have to give up the idea that it’s just about reading the Bible.

As important as Scripture is to us, I know many people who aren’t even saved, who read the Bible every day. Their lives show no improvement because of this practice. The Bible will only bring change if it’s activated by the Holy Spirit.

That’s why this is not a one-shot deal. The word renewal contains the thought of repetition. We must continue in it day after day. Prayer in the spirit is not a holy “toy” that we take out of the box merely to play with on Sunday mornings. It’s a vital agent of change that needs to be cultivated day after day. We must continue to refresh and reset our minds.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16

In the context of this verse, Paul is not talking about the entire church. We read this and think that every Christian is being renewed daily. That is absolutely not the case. In all of 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, Paul is talking about himself and his ministry team. Paul, who prayed in the spirit more than most believers of his day, was allowing himself to be renewed daily in the spirit.

This is why our daily time with the Lord is so important. We must take the time to read the Bible and pray in the spirit. Reading gets the written word into you. Prayer in the spirit activates that word and brings it to life within your heart.

That’s how you live in daily renewal, just like Paul. Not doing this is one of the biggest hindrances to serving Christ in His ability.

Question: How do you spend your daily with the Lord?

© Nick Zaccardi 2015

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 15, 2015 in Power of God, Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk

 

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →