Transcription
[Music] Greetings in Jesus' name. I am Bishop Chester Wright, and this is the video teaching series, "Praying in the Spirit." This is part 1 of that series, and the lessons of part 1 are about learning to pray in the spirit. And this is lesson number 18. And we've had some really good lessons in this series. The last couple, I have particularly enjoyed teaching. I enjoy teaching them all. Anytime there's a flow of the Holy Ghost, I enjoy it. But there's, I have had a chance to share a couple of stories on the last one that are wonderful experiences in my life, and I enjoy giving God the glory for them.
In this one, we're going to go a little different direction. The focus of this lesson is how that I can pray in the spirit and pray in secret, even if I'm praying with others. So I read to you in 1 Corinthians 14:2: "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God; for no man understandeth him; howbeit he speaketh mysteries." And those mysteries are personal secrets of the heart shared with God. The Greek word translated "mystery" means a hidden thing or a secret, a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding. But also, it is things that are private to me. Okay?
And so this is especially beneficial if I'm praying with others and I need to pray about some things that it's nobody else's business. I understand from other teachings of Paul later on in 1 Corinthians 14 that when I'm praying with others, there are times that I need to pray in the language of my mind that they would understand, not so I'm praying for them to listen, but so that they could be edified and learn to pray also. But there are times when I am praying with people, my burden of prayer, and the things, you know, there are times I'll just say this, when I'm praying in the tongues in the spirit, I don't have any idea what, what, what he's praying about. I don't know.
There are other times when I have things in my mind before I go to prayer, and when I'm praying, I believe that he is praying for those things. I, I sense that he is praying for those things. Now, I don't know how he's praying for it, but I do know he's praying for those things according to the will of God, according to Romans chapter 8, verses 26 and 27. And so I trust him and I trust that prayer. And I've got years of experience with it, so that I have much built-up trust in that. And so I do that.
So if I go to prayer and I'm praying with others, I am, I am wanting to pray about things that, that are burdening me in my mind and my emotions, that's burdening me, and I want to pray about them, but it's not something I want, and I'm not prepared for somebody else to know. I may be praying for somebody that I'm burdened for, whatever they're doing or going through, and it's not anybody else's business. And so I am able to pray in tongues without divulging anybody's confidentiality or breaking anybody's confidentiality. I'm able to do that, and I want to be able to do that.
Some would ask, "Well, why should we pray in tongues if we don't understand what we're saying?" Because we don't understand, but God does. Again, "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God." Now, as I've taught in a previous lesson, that this proves this isn't talking about the gift of tongues, because the gift of tongues is God speaking through man in tongues as a sign, and then God interpreting what he just said through someone else into the language, the predominant language of those that are in the room, so they can understand what their minds. That's that direction of communication. But in this verse, the direction of communication is not God through me to others. It is God helping me to communicate with Him, or God communicating through me into the spiritual atmosphere.
And so this is an amazing, amazing thing. And there are times that God prays through me. He prays through. And others I've been with, uh, you know, they didn't know what they were praying for. I didn't know what I was praying for. I didn't know what they were praying for. But you knew by the witness of the Holy Ghost while we were praying that God was praying about some things very important to Him. And why shouldn't He be able to pray for things that He's not really yet ready to tell us about? So by praying in tongues, I can not only pray about myself and my family, the church, being prepared for things that are coming that He's not ready yet, yet ready to say they're coming, but He can also pray through me to prepare me for those things that He's not written yet, ready to tell me about. So I can pray in secret.
I'm going to read a couple of different translations here, just, just again to just emphasize the point over again from several different perspectives. The Amplified says, "For one who speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the Holy Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things not obvious to the understanding." And then the Bible in Basic English says, "For he who makes use of tongues is not talking to men but to God, because no one has the sense of what is he is saying, but in the spirit he is talking of secret things."
God is God. We are not. And when by His own word, He is the only one that had the right and the ability to legitimately live Himself without it being sin. And God has limited Himself for this dimension or dominion called time, temporal time, for that purpose. And so since He's limited Himself, what is He's limited Himself to do? He's limited Himself to do nothing in regards to His kingdom in the earth except through humans. Why do we think God sought for a man when He couldn't find one? He became a man. Why does He tell us to baptize people if He's going to do all that by Himself? He, He, and that person can do the repenting themselves. He, and that person, He can give that a person the Holy Ghost without any human involved. But you can't baptize people with this without somebody being involved. There has to be humanity involved somehow in a person's baptism.
So if God is doing all this without human involvement, then why would He? Well, why would He come up with a plan of salvation where people need to hear the gospel preached, and He won't let angels preach it, and He doesn't preach it directly to people except through human agency? And if God's gonna do it without human involvement, why in the world did He teach us to pray, "Sing, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"? Why, why did, why does He need us to pray that if He's doing it on His own? But because, according to His plan, He has limited Himself to do these things only through humanity. Why? Well, without getting too deep into this right now, just let me say this: The God that existed before everything, His name was I AM, and He was and is infinite. But He is love, and being loved, and there existing nothing and no one but Him, He could not fully express Himself as Himself, since He is loved, not has loved. He is loved without having something else besides Himself that He can give love to, and that hopefully that they will choose to give love in return.
Well, since love has to be a choice, or it doesn't have any value to Him, He had to create a being that had the power of choice. And He had to create something, since He could not duplicate infinite, this because there's only one infinite, there's only space for one who's infinite. He had to create something within Himself that wasn't infinite, in order for this being that cannot be God, because there can only be one God, one infinite, one I AM. He had to create a place for that one. And in creating a place for that one, He also wanted to create a way, means whereby for the rest of eternity, which is His ultimate goal, that created being, that finite one, would be able to interact with Him in their dimension, which is the finite dimension.
So God expressed Himself, all that was in God in His mind, He expressed Himself as Logos, not a separate God, but God that the bridge of the infinite to the finite. It's all, He's all God. All the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in the Logos, except that only in quality, not in quantity, as demonstrated by the fact that He created all this that exists by the Logos, the Word. But then He caused that Word, the Logos, to be made flesh. And what was that flesh? It was created like Adam, because Adam was created in the image, taking on the form and the likeness of what God decided He was going to be in His form to interact with finite man. And so when God created Adam, He created Adam to look like, in form and likeness, what God was going to become, so that when God became that, He could then interact with man, because man can't ever directly interact with the infinite. The finite can never directly interact with the infinite.
And so here we are. And He knew that when He Himself became a man, that He was going to retain that image and likeness, said make it into a glorified being, because that likeness would become His visible representation as the infinite I AM God to mankind and all of the universe for all of eternity. Not a separate God, but God manifested, God manifested or made known to the universe. And how did He bring about those people that were going to be those closest to Him for eternity? Well, with men, otherwise, including man in the garden, God would come and be with man. But starting on the day of Pentecost, God was in man. Actually, it started at Bethlehem, where God was in Christ, Immanuel, God with us. God was with us because God was in the only body God ever had, ever will have, the only visible part of God forever. Romans 1:15 is the image of the invisible God. He is the visible representation of the invisible God. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3, He is the exact representation to us, the exact manifestation to us of the infinite into the finite, to the, to the foolish degree possible for that to take place. You can't put infinite in the finite. The finite can be in the infinite, not all the infinite, but the finite can exist in the infinite, and the, and the infinite can relate to the finite. But you can't put all the infinite in the finite.
And so in order to take man and have a relationship with man, God created man. And then after He died in man's place, caused His own body to be the sacrifice for that man, that this physical representation of God ascended to heaven and now is sitting on the throne of the universe as the forever visible representation of the invisible God. But then He sent back or gave the Holy Ghost to all of those that would and will receive it, so that they could be made a part of a body that is going to become a glorified body, collectively and individually, in heaven, just like the one He has sitting on the throne in substance. All other men that exist for all of eternity will not have that kind of body. They won't have it.
So here we are. Here we are. We've been given this, even made a protector of this divine nature. We've even made fellowship with the divine nature. We're in communion with Adam and nature because we've been baptized by the Spirit. But that baptism of Spirit also put us in the body, and each one of us remembers in particular of that body. And how does the Head minister through His body into this earth? How does He do that? He does that by praying in the Spirit.
Now, the problem is this, with all that I just explained to you, you know, that's, that's some of the greatest revelation God's ever given me, and it's just put so many pieces together for me. When, with all of that, it's such a drop in the bucket of understanding God the way we're going to understand God when we get to heaven. And finite will never fully, never fully be able to interact with the infinite and understand the infinite. But we will so much more than we do now. But here we are. And how does He relate to and minister to this world so that He can gather to Himself those that are willing, that choose of their own free will to give themselves to Him to be a part of Him? As they do that by His Spirit. And how does He minister through us by His Spirit? Whether He is praying through us in tongues, or praying through us in the language of our mind that He gives us, or we're ministering to people with His words, His Rhema, to bring them life and bring, give them the opportunity, the invitation to become a part of this.
So let me read some more. The Holy Bible, Easy-to-Read Version of 1 Corinthians 4:2: "I will explain why those who have the gift of speaking in a different language are not speaking to people. They're speaking to God. No one understands them. They are speaking secret things to the Spirit." The Contemporary English Version says, "If you speak languages that others don't know, God will understand what you're saying, though no one else will know what you mean. You will be talking about mysteries that only the Spirit understands." Then finally, The Message Bible, which is not a translation, it is a paraphrase: "If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you, but no one else does, for you're sharing intimacy's just between you and Him."
And that's the other purpose of having this kind of ability through the Holy Ghost to speak in tongues, because what it lets me do is have an intimacy with God that I cannot have with just my natural mind involved. That's the will of God, because the scripture says, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." If, and I'm not mistaken, that's 1 Corinthians 6. "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." Well, that, that verse is just a couple of verses after the Lord said that we shouldn't take our bodies, the temple of the Lord, and join them to harlots. Just that couple of verses later, when He said, "He's joined of the Lord is one spirit," same Greek word, same English we're translating it, and the same context, but in a spiritual dimension. We are the Bride of Christ. His Spirit, He is the husband. He has come into our spirit and become one with this. And it is His will for that oneness to always be there.
And how do we have true intimacy with Him? Have intimacy with Him anytime we're able to pray in the Spirit and pray secrets between us and Him. I want Him to know my heart. I don't even know my own heart. You don't know your heart. None of us knows our heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says we don't know our own hearts. But when we're praying in the Spirit, He enables us to pray about things that our mind doesn't even know about us. I want to be able to do that. Don't you? So also, He's able to pray through me for others about things that I don't even know about. I don't know about Him.
So my question to you is this: If I'm praying in the Spirit and I'm praying in tongues and I'm praying secrets, who do you want to hear and understand your prayers? You, man, or God? Now, again, several verses later, Paul talks about the fact that when we get together with others to pray, we don't need to pray in tongues all the time. I don't have any problem with that. I agree with that. But when I'm praying by myself, I want to pray absolutely and much in the Spirit as as the Lord desires for me to. Now, He gives me, puts things in my mind for me to pray in English. I am more than willing to do that, because He's going to empower that, because He gave me those words. He's going to empower those words in prayer, just like He gives me the words to say in tongues.
So as discussed above, this is the flow that allows us to communicate the most intimate secrets of our hearts in a totally private manner, just between us and the Father. This flow is especially important because with my conscious mind, I don't know my own heart. I've already said that, but here it is in the notes, and so I'm going to read it to you again. Jeremiah 17:9 and 10: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." This flow of the Spirit in praying the secrets of my heart allows me to unburden my heart in a specific manner, rather than in the general way that is the product of my praying with head language. I can never pray as thoroughly about the things in my heart in English, ever, that I as I can in tongues. Why? It's one of the reasons. It's what I'm praying with my mind, I'm praying with my own faith. But when I'm praying with the Spirit, I'm praying with His faith. And He can pray in dimensions and to degrees in using His faith that I can't pray when it's my faith. No matter how, nor those words are, it's according to my faith. The Bible talks about according to the measure of faith we have in ministry and all kind of different things, and different people have different types of faith. So when each one of us prays, we can only pray according to a measure of our faith. But when we're all prayed together, and we're praying in the Spirit, we can all pray with God's faith, which makes us equal.
I need to be able to completely unburden my heart to Jesus. I need to be able to know that all of my secrets have been prayed for. The flow of the Spirit praying the secrets of my heart to the Father, and it enables me to be able to do that. This flow could also be especially useful, as I've said before, when needing to pray about personal things when we're praying with a group of people. Now, when the Bible says, "Confess your faults one to another," I do not believe that He is telling us that we have to tell anybody the gory details of our faults and failures and struggles and sins. Those things were between me and Jesus. And I know they're between me and Jesus because Psalms 32 and 1 says, "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." And I am so thankful that He loves me enough and loves you enough that He respects us enough to let us fail in private, most of the time, so that we can repent in private, and so that He, our sins can be covered.
I've heard this for years and and repeated it for years. Exposure of sin is like God's last act of mercy, because His desire is to keep our problems between Him and us as much as possible. And we determine that He doesn't. I respond to Him. My willingness to obey Him determines how private He can keep our failures. But if we repent and keep going back over and over and over again, and we don't really, really change, then in His love and mercy, there comes a point in time to get us to move into a different dimension of urgency in getting forgiveness and change. He lets our failures be exposed. He lets our failures be exposed. And so the ability to pray in tongues lets me fellowship with Him. Lets me be intimate with Him. Lets Him pray things through me that He's not ready for me to know. Lets Him pray through me for things that I don't want anybody else to know, whether it's about me or someone else I'm praying for. A ministry to all of those things are possible if I'm willing to be humble enough to let the Spirit bypass my brain and do the praying through me, if I'm willing to do that.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Father, I pray that You would give us the grace that we might humble ourselves before You, that submit and surrender ourselves to You, and submit our will to You, that we can trust You enough that You would pray through us according to Your perfect will with Your faith, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so, and let it be so. God bless you.
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