When it comes to transformation of lives and destiny, so many people; although hungry for more of God and stirred up in their spirits to pray much in the Holy Ghost, gave up before any noticeable results had occurred. Then I realized that most of those people had given up because they were looking for their answers in the wrong place. When it comes to the issues of the spiritual, it is always inward transformation before outward change (most often)
Let me give you an example. Suppose a believer gets all excited about praying in tongues.
He decides, Look out, devil! I’m going to lock myself away somewhere and pray in tongues an hour every day. And woe to the man who tries to get in my way to stop me! He’ll have boot marks on his back end!
So this man marches to his prayer closet with a ten-pound Bible under his arm. Yes, sir, he’s going to pray in tongues an hour every day. There’s just one problem. He’s coming into this commitment as a manic-depressive suffering from a terminal disease who is in the process of filing bankruptcy!
But this man doesn’t care, because he’s found the answer. He thinks, I’ve found someone who knows my weakness and will pray for my problem. Everything is going to be different now!
One month goes by. This believer prays in diversities of tongues one hour every day. No change. Two months go by. He’s still praying in tongues. No change. Three months go by. Now he’s out watching the horizon.
“What are you looking for?”
“Oh, not much. But, you know, I put my time in. I’ve been praying in tongues for three months! If anyone should receive an answer, it’s me!”
I’ll tell you what that man is doing. He’s out looking for the spectacular and missing the miraculous! In other words, he’s expecting God to answer the mysteries he has prayed out in tongues by changing his outward circumstances in some magnificent way. Meanwhile, he is oblivious to the miraculous work of the Holy Ghost that is taking place inside of him.
Perhaps this believer imagines a big, white stallion with flaming, red eyes riding over the horizon and thundering down into the valley to his house. As the stallion approaches, he recognizes who is in the saddle.
“Oh, boy, it’s Jesus! Wow, this praying in tongues stuff really works!”
Jesus reins in His stallion next to the believer and says, “First of all, give me a list of everyone you owe money to.” The man gives Him the list, and Jesus gallops off on His horse, leaving a cloud of dust behind Him. Jesus is back in a half an hour and tells the man, “Every bill is paid off.”
Then Jesus says, “Excuse Me a minute,” and takes off after the spirit of poverty that He has just spotted slinking around in the shadows. The big stallion stomps on that slimy devil until he’s just a miserable heap on the floor — and instantly poverty is broken in the believer’s life!
Jesus trots back on His stallion and dismounts. Then He walks over to the believer and lays hands on him — and the disease and manic depression immediately disappear! The believer exclaims, “Oh, my! I’ve been made a new person, and I only prayed for three months! This stuff really does work!”
Jesus gets back on his horse and begins to ride off. All of a sudden, He stops and rides back.
He says, “By the way, I forgot this.” He reaches into His pocket and pulls out an envelope containing ten thousand dollars. “This is for eating and fellowshipping in restaurants after church services,” He informs the delighted man.
Then Jesus rides off toward the horizon. Silhouetted by the setting sun, He rears up on his stallion, shouts, “Hi ho, Holy Ghost, and away!” and gallops off. The believer sighs, wipes his forehead with the back of his hand, and says, “Now that was a real deliverance!”
Many people make the same mistake as that man did. They pray in tongues, looking for their outward circumstances to suddenly change. But they miss where the supernatural transformation actually takes place — in their spirit.
And too often they give up before God can finish working in them the most important changes of all. They look for the spectacular but miss the miraculous.
And too often they give up before God can finish working in them the most important changes of all. They look for the spectacular but miss the miraculous.
Remember, praying in tongues is like any other prayer — it is designed to be answered! But because it is our human spirit doing the praying (1 Cor. 14:14), it is also our spirit man receiving the answer to our prayers. Therefore, its inward transformation before any meaningful outward change.
Now let me show you how the spirit man receives the answer to the mysteries prayed out in the Holy Ghost. Let’s just suppose that I hold a crusade where hundreds of people get excited about praying in tongues. In fact, they are so excited that even after i leave town, they decide to spend a certain amount of time in prayer every day.
But after a few weeks of seeing no apparent changes in their circumstances, one by one they begin to drop away. Finally, there is only one person left who is still keeping his commitment to pray in tongues every day.
Let’s say this one man hangs on to his commitment for several months, praying in the Holy Spirit and looking for change. Gradually something very miraculous begins to take place inside of him.
Something happens to his insight into the Word. Scriptures he never understood before come alive. In casual conversation with his friends, he can suddenly explain verses that used to be a mystery to him. When people come to him with their problems, he wonders, why don’t they do this and this? Because it all seems so clear to him.
This man is experiencing the effect that praying in tongues has on his spirit. He is experiencing the way God answers this kind of prayer.
In this same way, your spirit can begin to receive wisdom and direction to fulfill God’s special plan for you. You can develop a kind of “know-so” whereby you just somehow know what God wants, even though at times you don’t know how you know.
Now, all this doesn’t mean that noticeable results won’t begin to show up in external circumstances.
They will! The most unexpected, incredible things will begin to take place. God will work in your job, in your family, and in your body. Friends and loved ones will notice the difference in you as faith and assurance begin to radiate and flow out from your life.
I have seen many miracles take place as a result of perseverance in praying in the Holy Ghost. But, you see, first faith must come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). And as insight into the Word begins to increase, so does the purging process that transforms a person from the inside out. Then, according to God’s divine order, outward circumstances begin to line up with the changes that have already occurred in the hidden man of the heart.
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