Lesson 79: The Holy Spirit and Prayer, part 1
John 16:23-26 - In that day you will ask nothing of Me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day, you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
Jude 1:20-21 - “Praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God.”
The words of John (I John 2:12-14) to little children, to young men, and to fathers suggest the thought that there often are in the Christian life three great stages of experience. The first, that of the new-born child, with the assurance and the joy of forgiveness. The second, the transition stage of struggle and growth in knowledge and strength: young men growing strong, God’s word doing its work in them and giving them victory over the evil one. And then the final stage of maturity and ripeness: the fathers, who have entered deeply into the knowledge and fellowship of the Eternal One.
In Christ’s teaching on prayer there appear to be three stages in the prayer-life, somewhat the same. In the Sermon on the Mount we have the initial stage: His teaching is all comprised in one word, “Father.” Pray to your Father, your Father sees, hears, knows, and will reward: how much more than any earthly father! Only be childlike and trustful.
Then comes later something like the transition stage of conflict and conquest, in words like these: “This sort does not go out but by fasting and prayer;” “Shall not God avenge His own elect who cry day and night unto Him?” And then we have in the parting words, a higher stage. The children have become men: they are now the Master’s friends, from whom He has no secrets, to whom He says, “All things that I heard from my Father I made known to you;” and to whom, in the oft-repeated “whatsoever you will,” He hands over the keys of the kingdom. Now the time has come for the power of prayer in His Name to be proved.
The contrast between this final stage and the previous preparatory ones our Savior marks most distinctly in the words we are to meditate on: “Until now you have asked nothing in my Name;” “At that day you shall ask in my Name. “We know what “at that day” means. It is the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The great work Christ was to do on the cross, the mighty power and the complete victory to be manifested in His resurrection and ascension, were to issue in the coming down from heaven, as never before, of the glory of God to dwell in men. The Spirit of the glorified Jesus was to come and be the life of His disciples. And one of the marks of that wonderful spirit-dispensation was to be a power in prayer before unknown—prayer in the Name of Jesus, asking and obtaining whatsoever they would, is to be the demonstration of the reality of the Spirit’s indwelling.
Prayer: Oh my Blessed Lord Jesus, teach me to understand Your lesson, that it is the indwelling Spirit, streaming from You, uniting to Yourself, who is the Spirit of prayer. Teach me what it is as an empty, wholly consecrated vessel, to yield myself to His being my life. Teach me to honor and trust Him, as a living Person, to lead my life and my prayer.