Page 47 - The Importance of Prayer Student Textbook

7.2 Objectives

1. In this section the student will be introduced to prayer nuggets and you should organize and
practice praying them.

2. The student should be able to articulate what yielding your members to the Holy Spirit means.

3. Because there is such controversy on the subject of “Praying in the Spirit” the student should
look up the verses given and be able to clearly define what this term means.

4. The student would be benefited greatly to memorize and use several of the epigrams I used in
the Sun Stand Still section of the lesson. (To understand what an epigram is see Appendix #3)

5. The student should begin to make a list of prayer promises and begin to feed the fires of their
prayers with the fuel of God’s word.

6. The student needs to carefully study the section on hinderances to prayer and closely examine
your unanswered prayers in the light of this section.

7.3 The Lust and Groanings of the Holy Spirit or Yielding to the Holy Spirit

According to John 15:5 I am the vine you are the branches, he that abided in Me, and I in him
the same shall bring forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing. What can we do
apart from Christ according to John 15:5? Nothing of eternal value or consequence can be
done for Christ apart from yielding to the Holy Spirit that worketh in us. Philippians 4:13
says, It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Romans 8:26
says, And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God
wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
There are times in prayer that all we can do is groan. Have you ever heard someone else pray and their
prayers moved you to groan? Another verse in Psalm 39:3 says something similar. My heart became hot
within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue. Notice the progression in this verse.
1 there was a time of musing or meditating on the character of God or something else. As the psalmist
st
did this a fire began to burn so red hot in his heart. This then led the psalmist to open his mouth
regarding this burning. Seldom do we hear messages on prayer that tells us to say nothing and just muse
on God. Another verse found in Galatians 4:6 speaks to the issue that God has sent the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts, crying (that is prompting us to cry, spontaneously, as the expression of a new spiritual
instinct), Abba, Father! All these verses lead us to the doctrine of yielding to the Holy Spirit in prayer. Or
we may call this section the lust and groanings of the Holy Spirit.

An interesting verse is found in James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, The Spirit who
dwells in us yearns jealously? NKJV To better understand this verse it would be good to look at how it is
translated in various versions. (NASV) Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: He
jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us? (NLT) God is passionate that the spirit he
has placed within us should be faithful to him. Let me elaborate just a little on the various translations.

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