Page 57 - The Importance of Prayer Student Textbook

language given by the Holy Spirit to various speakers individually. The expression is broad enough to
indicate a wide variety of phenomena”. In footnote 46 he goes on to say, “The phrase “pray in the Holy
Spirit” in Jude 20 is not the same expression, since it is specifically the “Holy Spirit” who is designated.
Jude is simply saying that Christians should pray in conformity to the character and leading of the Holy
Spirit, and that may certainly include praying in tongues, but it would include any other kind of prayer
in an understandable language a well. Similarly, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and
supplication” (Ephesians 6:18) is specifically a statement that claims to cover all prayer that is made at
all times. It refers to prayer in conformity to the character of the Holy Spirit and sensitive to the
leading of the Holy Spirit, but it should not be restricted to speaking in tongues. Once again, it may
include speaking in tongues, but it should include all other types of prayer as well”.

I realize that my comments opened up the door for the discussion of cessationism verse
continuationism. It is beyond the scope of this work to carry out that discussion. However, the second
paragraph of this section clearly identifies the views of this author. However, in the above paragraph I
realize that those holding to a more charismatic view may view the doctrine of praying in the Spirit in
the terms I have used. Please note that I emboldened portions of the above paragraph for emphasis.

Cooperate Prayer

John Franklin has written a book entitled And the Place Was Shaken how to lead a powerful prayer
meeting. This book focuses extensively on cooperate prayer. This statement startled me as I read it. The
greatest workings of God come from corporate prayer, and we will not see the power of God in
sufficient measure to transform the world around us until we pray together. As a leader you must make
praying together a priority equal to preaching and teaching. He repeats himself again and bases his
theology on the numerous verses found in the book of Acts. (Acts 1:14, 24; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4) He
states that prayer is mentioned five times by the time we reach Acts chapter 6 and every time people
were praying, they were praying corporately. If you look carefully at Acts 13:1-3 you will find the great
missionary movement that Paul lead was birthed in a cooperate prayer meeting. In fact, he goes on to
state that out of the thirty-seven times the Lord speaks of prayer in the New Testament he uses the
plural form of the word thirty-three times. Therefore, we could rightly translate Matthew 7:7 and Mark
11:25 this way. You all ask, and it will be given to you all; You all seek, and you will all find; you all knock,
and it will be opened to you all.

Could it be that our western culture has influenced our interpretation of the scriptures and we miss this
emphasis in the west? What I mean by this is that too often I believe we read scriptures thru the filters
of western civilization and because of our radical emphasis on individualism, we could be missing the
cooperate nature of many passages of scriptures. For example, in the West when we read Acts 2 and see
the generous distribution of material goods we say, ok, but then exclaim nowhere does the Bible
command this. When the Voices of Zambia travel with me and they receive their paycheck at the end of
the month, they almost universally share the money they have made with their families. A child from
the west doing the same thing would hardly consider doing something like this.

Can cooperate prayer be abused? Yes, just as much as an overemphasis of individualism in prayer. The
one abuse of cooperate prayer that I witness most is that of the use of speaking in tongues, all at once,
without an interpreter, in a cooperate setting. See I Corinthians 14 but pay attention to verses 16-18 if
you praise God only in the Spirit, how can those who don’t understand you praise God along with you?

How can they join you in giving thanks when they don’t understand what you are saying? You will be
giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you. I thank God that I speak in

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