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Praying in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:15 KJV) 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. (Matthew 6:14-15 KJV) For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: {15} But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Ephesians 4:32 KJV) And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. The two passages above are both dealing with forgiveness. One says that they are to forgive in order for them to be forgiven and the other says that we are to forgive because we have been forgiven. In these passages, we see that the motivation and the results are different. A practice can be throughout the scriptures but result can be different in different dispensation. PrayerPrayer is a way for you will (thoughts and intent of your heart) to be conformed to the thoughts and intents of God's heart (will). Prayer will always function in accordance to the dispensation one is in at the time. Dispensation of Law - Conditional, physical(Exodus 19:5-6 KJV) Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: {6} And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. In the dispensation of the Law, it was "if you will do, then this will happen"; it was conditional. In Deuteronomy 28, it is obvious that the blessings and the curses were visible and physical in nature and always conditional; that is, it based upon what the people did, whether the obeyed or disobeyed. (2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. The way prayer worked under the Law was conditional, one had to perform (do certain things) and meet certain conditions and the results were physical. They would know their sins were forgiven because God would heal their land. In the dispensation of the Law, prayer was conforming one's will to God's will. Kingdom (New Covenant) - Unconditional, physical(Ezekiel 36:24-30 KJV) For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. {25} Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. {26} A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. {27} And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. {28} And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. {29} I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. {30} And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. When the Kingdom is set up prayer will be an unconditional (will/shall) and the results will be physical and spiritual. If one is part of the believing remnant, God will do certain things for them. Prayer will be different in the Kingdom (New Covenant) than it was during the dispensation of law because it is will be unconditional, not based on the people's performance. (Matthew 21:22 KJV) And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. Notice that it says whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive, this is because they will be conforming their will to God's will. **Prayer works for the age in which people are living; it is people conforming their will to God's will in accordance to the age in which they live.** Dispensation of Grace - Provisional, spiritual(Romans 3:22 KJV) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: By this verse, we are able to see that grace is offered to all and comes upon all who believe. The provision has been made to all, but it has a limited application, to those who believe. God's grace is provisional, the provision has been made but one needs to believe. If God's grace is provisional then prayer in this dispensation of grace is also provisional. (Ephesians 1:3 KJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: The dispensation of grace is spiritual in nature. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings; we wait for the things that are physical. God deals with us in the spiritual realm today. Grace is provisional and spiritual. What to pray about(Philippians 4:6-9 KJV) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. {7} And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. {8} Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. {9} Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. God wants us to pray today and he wants us to pray about everything in our lives, even of the physical things. When we pray today, the answer is peace, the peace of God. Peace is a spiritual commodity. When we have the peace of God we have an answer to our prayer, even though it is an answer that we cannot see. Just because we cannot see it does not mean it is not real. (2 Corinthians 4:18 KJV) While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. The things we see are temporal, the things which we do not see are eternal. The real things are those things which we cannot see. We are made up of three parts body, soul and spirit, yet only the heart and mind are kept. Our body is physical. Our soul is the seat of our will and emotions; it is our heart. The spirit is our mind; it is the analytical part of us, it is the part in which we know there is a God. Our mind is spirit because it can think in the abstract; it can believe something that it cannot see. This is what makes us different from animals. Animals have a mind but cannot comprehend what they do not see. (Philippians 4:7 KJV) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The result of prayer is the peace of God, which shall keep our heart and mind. Paul tells us nothing about keeping our body as the result of prayer, but he does tell us that concerning the body we need to wait for physical deliverance. (See Romans 8:18-23) Since prayer is something that we expect to receive results we need to understand those results of prayer to be spiritual. How does the peace of God come?(Philippians 4:8-9 KJV) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. {9} Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. In the dispensation of grace, we access the provisions of God by faith. Philippians 4:8 tells us what things we need to think about. Where do we find these things that are listed? Verse 9 tells us that we learn about them in the writings of Paul. Paul tells us that we have the provision of the peace of God. We access the provision by faith; we have to believe what Paul wrote. We will not have the peace of God if you are trying to pray according to something you read about in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John this will only lead to discouragement and frustration because you will always wonder why prayer does not work for you. God made a provision for salvation for all but each person has to access that provision by faith. We cannot access the provision by faith for someone else, each person has to have faith themselves in order to access the provision made by God. Paul's example(2 Corinthians 12:7-10 KJV) And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. {8} For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. {9} And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. {10} Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. Paul had a physical problem and he prayed about it and the prayer was answered. Paul prays about the thorn in the flesh, but nothing changed in his body. The prayer did change his spiritual outlook of the problem. His prayer affected his heart and mind (soul and spirit). In verse 8, he wanted to get rid of the problem. In verse 9, he gladly glories in it. What changed? Not the physical condition, but Paul's outlook on it changed (in the soul and spirit realm). The answer to Paul's thorn did not affect his body or the thorn, but it did affect Paul. What caused the change? Verse 9 tells us, "and he said to me"; it was the word of the Lord that caused Paul to change his outlook of the problem. The word of God changed Paul's perspective. Paul talked to God about a physical problem but the response that God gave him was not physical. Paul's prayer was answered and it changed Paul's life. The only difference with what happened to Paul and what happens to us is that we now have the written word of God. God spoke to Paul by revelation and Paul wrote it down. So the difference between Paul praying and us praying is that Paul has written down God's response. The answer to any prayer is found in God's word for us today, Romans through Philemon. Prayer changes youUsually when we pray we want the circumstance or other people to change, but what happens is that we change. We begin to take a different perspective of the difficulties we face each day and react differently, which can then cause the people we come in contact with to change how they interact with us. This can then make an unpleasant circumstance more bearable. As we access the peace of God we have a changed heart and mind. Praying in the spirit is this dispensation of grace is to align your will with God's will in this age. (1 Thessalonians 2:13 KJV) For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Reference used:
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