Prayer is Friendship with the Holy Spirit
2 Corinthians 13:14, the verse we often call 'the grace', talks about us having “fellowship with the Holy Spirit”. Fellowship according to Strong’s Concordance means: partnership, participation, social intercourse, communication.
Prayer is a relationship with the Father and the Son by fellowship with the Spirit. The disciples related to Jesus, God in the flesh. What could be better? They spoke with Him, questioned Him, touched Him, and followed Him. When the time came for Him to leave them they were devastated and did not understand Him when He said:
“It is for your good I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you” (John 16:5-7).
Flesh and blood is always limited, and one of the biggest hindrances to our spiritual life is that we prefer to depend on flesh and blood. In John 20:17 Jesus says “Do not hold on to me”. Mary naturally wanted to hold on to what she could see, and in the same way so do we.
However, Jesus knew there was something better for the disciples than His just being with them. By His Spirit He would be in them. His heart cry was “ ... that I myself may be in them” (John 17:26).
Pentecost was God breaking the constraints of flesh and blood, pouring out His Spirit. Prayer became fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit and the Nations
When God speaks of the Holy Spirit coming, it is often in the context of nations hearing the gospel.
“I will pour out my Spirit on all people ... And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:28,32)
“Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in my name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father promised” (Luke 24:47-49)
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8)
If we let the Holy Spirit have His way in us, He will share with us His heart for the nations. He will disciple us and guide us into all truth (John 16:12-13). The Holy Spirit is so beautiful, and He has the same attributes as Jesus and the same passion for the nations. He reveals Jesus to us. More than that He is the Spirit of Jesus, look at Acts 16:7, Romans 8:9, Galatians 4:8.
The Holy Spirit and us
When we are born again we are born by the power of the Spirit (John 3:5,6). We receive the Holy Spirit when we start our new life. John tells us in his first letter “you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth” (1 John 2:20). The anointing is the Spirit of Truth Himself.
God’s call and His gifts are irrevocable and He will never take the Holy Spirit from us. We can grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30), restrict Him (Galatians 5:16-17), but no matter how great our sin (except blasphemy against Him) the anointing will remain.
However, we all know that someone can be born again, but not really fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit. There are two stages to living in the fullness of the anointing;
But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him (1 John 2:27).
We have an anointing, He remains in us ...the anointing teaches us ... it is real, but see what the teaching is, abide in Him. We are freely given the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, this is the first stage. The second stage is that we seek to be where He is and stand with Him. The disciples had to go to Jerusalem. We often say, ‘Come Holy Spirit’. We need also to ask ‘Where are you standing Holy Spirit? I want to be where you are’. As we stand into Him, the anointing we have when we are born again is activated. We talk about letting Jesus into our lives, but He is also inviting us, “Come into my life”. He wants to lead, and we are to follow, to be with Him wherever He is taking us. When we are in Him and He is in us, power will flow.
Develop relationship with the Holy Spirit. We never need to be without Him.
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13).
He is always about the Father’s business, just as Jesus was. Find what He is doing and do it with him - that’s when anointing is activated. Prayer is that communion with Him. Let Him do His work. “The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what we ought to pray for” (Romans 8:26). We cannot pray apart from Him, we need to be in utter dependence on Him.
The work of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit does some beautiful things for us and all who are open to Him;
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged (John 16:8-11).
1 He convicts of sin ... “because men do not believe in me”. The root of sin is unbelief - “All that is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). Do I really believe God will speak to me? Does He really care? Let the Holy Spirit uncover hidden doubts.
“The work of God is to believe” (John 6:29). Let the Holy Spirit uncover the real prayers in our hearts, not what we think we ought to pray. Real prayer comes from love, not duty. When unbelief is rooted out, faith can grow.
As a person prays, so will they be. The sin of unbelief keeps us small-minded. Let the Holy Spirit blast us open. His concern is with the nations. If we pray with Him we will find ourselves praying over the nations.
2 He convicts us of righteousness ... “because I am going to the Father”. Jesus went to the Father via the cross, and won righteousness for everyone who would believe. The Holy Spirit brings us face to face with the Righteous One. He shows us our sin and then reveals to us the fact that we have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus.
Another meaning of ‘convict’ in Greek is ‘convince’. We need to be convinced by the Holy Spirit of our righteousness, so that we can be effective.
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). We stand righteous before God and our prayer is powerful and effective.
3 He convicts us of judgement ... “because the prince of this world now stands condemned”. The condemner is condemned. The Holy Spirit convinces us of our authority over Satan. We are righteous and he is condemned. We must know our authority as we pray to be effective. Luke 10:19 says “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy”. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of our authority over the enemy. He enables us to overcome. So too will He free us from sin (unbelief) and convince us of our righteousness. Note that He will also do this for the world (v8)! Is there someone hardened in sin? Pray the Holy Spirit upon him. Don’t go by your emotions, just ask the Holy Spirit.
Is there someone with such a low self-image that they lose all hope and others lose hope for them? Pray the Holy Spirit to convict them of their righteousness in Him (Zacchaeus - tax collector).
Is there someone so bound in Satan’s power that no one can get near them? Ask the Holy Spirit to come with His power (Legion - Mark 5).
Prayer puts faith in God’s ability, not our own. The Holy Spirit continually enlarges our concept of God. We begin to see that God so loved the world, so who are we to be choosy!
Assessment: Friendship with the Holy Spirit
How do you know you have an anointing?
Answer a) From Scripture
b) From Personal Experience
How does the Holy Spirit help us to pray? Give a personal testimony.