Praying in the Spirit and Encouraging One Another

This is a description of a powerful two-fold process.

Part 1 – Praying in the Spirit

Here are a couple of scriptures on praying in the Spirit – these are like a prescription from the Lord, to take/apply continually throughout the day.

1 Cor 14:4a
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself

Jude 20 & 21
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

God moves in and through Christians, the Spirit of God that is in us and is alive and active. This is why it is so important to apply the above two verses. This is letting the stream of life flow. John 7:38 tells us that the Spirit flows out of our innermost being, out of our heart.

Keep this flow going, keep speaking in tongues and don't try to figure it out. After you think you have prayed in toungues enough, do it some more. Paul told us that when we speak in tongues our mind is not fruitful but our spirit is moved (1 Cor 14:14). He tells us to pray both in the Spirit and with our understanding.

Here is the point - this process cleans the vessel. The flow of life is like a spiritual dishwasher, it cleans you up. When water flows through a pipe or a channel, it is kept clean. Only when the flow is stopped is when the debris starts to build up. When we keep the flow of the Spirit going in us, it keeps us cleaner and it also strengthens us.

Part 2 – Encouraging one another.

Jesus told us that we need to wash one another’s feet (John 13). We need this because the dust of the world accumulates on our feet as we walk in the world. Remember, even the perfect and sinless Lord needed to get His feet washed. Walking in the world made Jesus dirtyon the outside and He needed the foot washing.

Today we can do spiritual foot washing, where we refresh one another with the life and the flow of the Lord. (This comes from Chapter 8 of a book by Watchman Nee, called Love not the World) As we share life and scripture with each other it cleanses us on the outside and washes us from the dust of the world. We all have those times and days were we get bogged down, and when a brother/sister shares life with us it has an almost immediate effect of lifting our Spirit and refreshing us. This is like the washing of the feet by others to clean off the dust and the trappings of the world.

Now the really wonderful and powerful thing about this is that we can do both of these things together and we get cleaned and refreshed on both the inside and the outside.

As we practice both speaking in tongues and sharing life and encouragement with one another, we help to strengthen each other. This is what Paul talked about as he spoke of each joint supplying for the needs of the body, and how we grow together in love.

I pray this has been a blessing to you.