This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. Hello, and thank you for tuning into this podcast, which is part of the Jesus Breaks the Chain series on Truth Network.
I'm evangelist Michael Bowen, and I pray that the Lord blesses you greatly, and you receive this word in love and in truth. This podcast is titled Praying in the Spirit. And right now, I just want to ask, Lord Jesus, come into this podcast, come into my heart, come into my mind, and have your way in this podcast.
Let me say the things that you would have me say, and let the people who need to hear this receive your word of truth that will be conveyed in this podcast by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. Well, if you are like me, then I know you've had some dry periods in your walk with the Lord. And when I say dry, what I mean is times when you feel disconnected from God, or disconnected, or not in tune with the Holy Spirit, and maybe you've become more worldly and fleshly in your thoughts and actions.
I want to tell you, this is common for all Christians and all believers, that we go through periods of dryness, and it'll be up to us when we go to those periods of dryness that we do something about it, that we don't remain dry and wither off the vine, that we receive that spiritual nourishment that will help us get out of those dry stages, get out of those worldly or fleshly thoughts and actions. You know, every day there is a battle in the mind that determines the outcome of the flesh warring against the Spirit within us and within our minds. That which controls the mind inevitably wins. Is it going to be the Spirit or the flesh that controls your mind? Are you going to be led by the Spirit or are you going to be led by the fleshly desires?
I'm going to tell you, a spiritually led mind is a mind that is aligned with the will of God and has the power to allow the body to act that will out every day. Galatians 5 16-17 says, I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
Says the Spirit and the flesh are at enmity with one another. They are at war with one another. They are opposite of one another. They do not have the same mindset. They do not have the same objectives. They do not have the same desires.
Hallelujah. They are contrary. They are different.
They are opposite. One leads one way, the other leads another. The Apostle Paul, I believe, gave us an example of this when he wrote in a letter to the Romans about the battle of the mind between God's law or precepts and sin. Sin is just the act of transgressing or going against this divine law of God or the will of God. In Romans 7 verses 14 through 25, Paul is talking about this.
It's a battle of Spirit versus flesh. Will I follow the flesh and allow sin to rule my body or will I follow the Spirit and follow the will of God for my life and do what God has called me to do and do the things that are pleasing to God? That's what being spiritually led means. Being a man of the flesh or worldly or fleshly desires is a man that is a slave to sin that cannot please God in his sinful nature and being led by that sinful nature. Romans 7, 14 through 25 says, we know that the law is spiritual but I am unspiritual. Paul saying this, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do for what I want to do I do not do but what I hate to do, what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it but it is sin living in me for I know that good itself does not dwell in me that is in my sinful nature or in the flesh. For I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out.
And I'm going to preface here, he can't carry it out when he is in this flesh or being led by the desires of the flesh back in in the scripture. For I do not do the good I want to do but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do it is no longer I who do it but is the sin living in me that does it.
He speaks of that again. So I find this law at work although I want to do good evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law, inner man he means, or in his spiritual man he delights in God's law. But I see another law at work in me waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death. Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law but in my sinful nature or in the flesh a slave to the law of sin.
Hallelujah. This is so important here it talks about how he knows the importance of of letting the spirit being spiritually minded because when he's spiritually minded he delights in God's law. He delights in doing the will of God but what a wretched man is he is in this body the body of flesh and if he's led by that body the desires of that fleshly body then he knows he's headed for death and destruction. But then here he says thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.
He delivered him through the word who is Jesus Christ and he delivered him by the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of Jesus Christ as our Lord. Here Paul speaks about the struggle of the spirit against the flesh and it takes place in the mind. He is describing a desire to do good but not being able to carry it out because of the sinful nature of the flesh. Paul knows that we all need power to overcome our fleshly sinful nature which left unbridled will always lead us into sin and destruction.
This is as true for us now as it was for Paul during his time when he wrote this when he was establishing the early church. Another place we see this in the scriptures is with the disciples of Jesus who were with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane who allowed the weakness of their flesh to hinder them from doing the will of God. In Matthew 26 verse 40 through 41 Jesus talks about it, then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and Jesus said to Peter what could you not watch me for one hour watch and pray lest you enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. I want you everyone to remember this that our flesh is weak everyone to remember this that our flesh is weak and Satan and his army of unclean spirits, the enemy of our soul will always battle to take control of our minds in order to be able to manipulate that weakness which is in our flesh. The world is full of temptation and there is the weakness in our flesh that causes us to desire the things of the world and not the things of God. This weakness in our flesh causes us to desire the things that bring pleasure to the flesh without concern for the consequences and we know that one of those consequences ultimately is death and destruction and separation from God for time and all eternity.
You know the flesh has an expiration date but the spirit within man or the spirit man is eternal. The flesh wants to get all it can get while it still has time before it will be destroyed and the flesh will go back to where it came to the dust of the ground. That is the nature of the flesh.
It's selfish and it wants more more more and give me give me give me. The flesh is it's just that way in that nature which is at enmity with the spirit. It's the exact opposite of the spirit. Once you have been enticed by the lust in your flesh then you can easily be led away from God into all manner of sin. The decision to sin is made up in your mind. 1 John 2 15 through 16 says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world then the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world and the world is passing away and the lust of it.
But he who does the will of God abides forever. Once your mind is set on the things of this world then your body is soon to follow in its actions. Your flesh will also try and manipulate your mind with its constant calling for you to fill its sinful desires. You know Margaret Thatcher has a famous quote regarding the thoughts in our minds that I really like. She said this, Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. And watch your character for it becomes your destiny. What we think we become. You know our destiny we want to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
You know our character becomes our destiny and we want to have a godly character. And it all begins with the thoughts you're having in your mind. Are you going to be spiritually minded or are you going to be carnally minded or fleshly minded?
You know what you set your mind on is what you will become. Do you set your things on the things above, the things that are important to God, his will? Or do you set your mind on the things below, the worldly things, the things that gratify the flesh? Your mind is a battlefield inside the war being fought for the eternal destination of your soul. Always protect your thought life and learn not to trust your own worldly and fleshly manipulated thinking which causes distortion from God's divine law of the spirit. Once again be spiritually minded so you will know the will of God and you will be able to align your thoughts and actions with it and him. And then out of that you will have godly character for all who are in the world to see that you will be a witness of Jesus Christ. Because to be spiritually minded is to have the mind of Christ as you are being conformed to his image.
One way I've found to dive deep into the spiritual realm to help me transform and renew my mind is by praying in the spirit. There's some scriptures here about being conformed to the image of Christ and having the mind of Jesus Christ. In Philippians 2.5, let the mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8.29 says, for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Galatians 5.24-25, and those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit. You know for us to crucify the flesh we have to walk in the spirit daily.
We crucify the flesh daily. It's something we have to do and it all starts in the mind. We know that we are in the world but we are not of the world. Being in the world has its casualties and one of those casualties is that we are constantly being pulled away from God, being separated from that which is spiritual, being blinded to the truth that our salvation and our destiny is in Jesus Christ alone.
Our destiny of eternal life is in Jesus Christ alone. John 17.14-19 says, this is Jesus praying to God the father, Jesus the son praying to God the father, and Jesus is saying he's talking about the disciples and disciples that would come forever. I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world I also have sent them into the world and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. You know God's divine law is established in his word. It is the truth that he has given to us in the scriptures that we can read about in the Bible.
It is the truth that is written on the hearts of all believers. One good check and balance with your thought life is to see if the thought you're having is lining up with the word of God. That is a fail-safe test that will tell you if what you're thinking is a spiritually minded or spiritually led thought. If it does line up with the word of God then it can be trusted and you can act upon it. You know thoughts lead to actions and so if the thought has been tested and proven good and spiritually led then you can act upon it.
Hallelujah. Contrary though, if the thought does not line up with God's word and brings confusion it's from the devil because God is not the author of confusion. If the thought does not bring glory to God then it is most surely being inspired by the flesh. One self-truth that I gained in my surrender to the Lord is realizing that my mind has been broken for some time and it cannot be constructed, it cannot be trusted. My mind has been influenced by the world and the flesh since the day I was born. I've also gone through 25 years of my life drug addicted where my mind was solely focused on pleasing my flesh and its wicked desire for more drugs. You know my mind needs an overhaul for sure and I know this.
It has been misfiring my whole life and now Jesus is giving it a tune-up. I've been clean and sober and delivered from alcohol and drugs for over nine years now and my mind is being transformed and renewed every day by the power of the Holy Spirit and by God's word, by the implanting of God's word. One of the most important parts of my overhaul and tune-up is when I spend time praying in the Spirit, praying in my spiritual tongue, when I can go deep into the spiritual realm, into the secret place of the Most High God. Once I accepted this, that my mind was broken, that my mind cannot be trusted by itself, it gave me a leg up on the enemy in my own battle for the control of my mind.
For me, I do not totally trust my thoughts at face value like I used to before I became addicted. Now I run them through the word and through God in prayer as a filter and wait for his confirmation before I trust my own thoughts. I also use praying in the Spirit to check my everyday thought life. When I do this, it brings me spiritual understanding, discernment, and a definite renewing of my mind. It transforms my mind from a worldly and fleshly perspective to that which is spiritual and aligned with God and his will for my life. Romans 12 32 says, do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and prove that God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will. This transformation by the renewing of the mind is an ongoing process within every Christian and believer and continues every day of our lives here in this world. We are being renewed daily towards our eternal goal as having the mind of Christ which is the mind of God Almighty himself. 2 Corinthians 4 16, therefore we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
The inward man spoken about in this scripture is our spirit man that is connected to God and is being guided by his word and divine law. As part of my renewed mind and my inward man, I now have a built-in warning signal like one of those spinning red lights with a beeping horn that goes off when danger is detected. When I have an old dangerous thought reach my awareness, the light goes on and off and the horn begins to blow and I realize the enemy has breached the fortress and gained access. That's just kind of a visual that I have about what happens in my mind. I have programmed my mind that when I have a thought that does not line up with the word of God, that is sinful in nature or is led by the flesh, that automatically that warning signal goes off and I start saying the name of Jesus and praying to God and calling on the name of Jesus Christ. And it's like danger, danger, danger in my mind. It sometimes startles me when one of my old disgusting worldly and fleshly thoughts makes its way into my consciousness.
You know the mind is a wicked thing, especially for those of us who have filled it with so much violence, filth, perversion and depravity like I have done being addicted to drugs for 25 years of my life. When I find myself in a place of dryness or disconnectedness from God and discern that my thoughts and actions are being guided by a carnal mind and a way of thinking that is mostly worldly and fleshly, I immediately go into my prayer closet to pray and I begin to pray in the spirit. I begin to pray in my spiritual tongue. There are often times when I get into the closet I do not even know what to pray about and cannot even come up with the words to make my petitions to God. I really do draw a blank sometimes.
I'm sure some of you can relate to that. When I'm in a situation like this I remember the scripture in Romans about how the Holy Spirit will guide, will be my guide, will be our guide. Romans 8 26 says through 27, likewise the spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercessions for the saints according to the will of God.
How powerful is that? So in my prayer closet I begin to pray in my spiritual language that was given to me when I was filled with God's Holy Spirit. I pray in my spiritual tongue.
When I do this I'm amazed at how things change so drastically when I begin to let the Holy Spirit intercede for me and the words of Almighty God roll off my tongue and come from my mouth in a language that is not a human language. In that closet I experience a spiritual breaking of sorts. It is a breaking of the carnal mind and flesh and in that I am overcome by the Spirit of God and I yield to it and let his spirit have its way in me. I can describe it as entering into a different dimension other than the physical realm of my closet and its surroundings. Once where there was carpet under my knees, darkness in the space, and clothes hanging all around is now a place of wind, breath, rain, fire, and power.
A place where I experience the presence of God through the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ entering into the throne room of God itself into the spiritual realm and as I pray in the spirit and speak in my spiritual tongue I am covered in a warm blanket of spiritual understanding, an understanding of the will and purpose of God for my life, and understanding why there is dryness in my life, why the world has has encroached upon me, has gone into my mind, or why I'm acting in a fleshly manner and the Lord works that out of me in that moment. In this place of submission to God and the Spirit I can I can feel myself being reconnected with God and my flesh and the world melt away and my flesh being crucified as the scripture says and so I continue to pray the words of the Holy Ghost within me and oftentimes it helps when I play worship music it brings me into that place of worship and praise and and opens up that spiritual realm it just helps me move into that place where I know I need to go where I know the truth is and where I know the dryness will be will be will be washed away by the by the rain downpour rain of the Holy Ghost of the Holy Spirit. You know there is a song that I particularly connect to when I'm in my closet when I'm praying praying in the Spirit and it's called Wind and Fire and it's sung by Ty Bellow and I want to share that song with you now and show you what it's like when I'm in my closet listening to this song and praying in the Spirit in my spiritual tongue and the lyrics of the song go like this we are wind we are fire we cannot be contained we can blow wherever he says blow we cannot be contained we can go wherever he says go we have power we cannot be contained we are when we are fire we are win we have power we are when we cannot be contained and I just love that song and I just love that song. Now I'll play the song for you to enjoy. Right now, open up your heart and your mind and yield to the Holy Spirit and let God have his way in you.
Begin to pray in the Spirit as you are led. And now I'm gonna play the song, Wind and Fire. Wind, fire, wind, power of the Holy Spirit, hallelujah. Yes, Lord, yes, Lord. We have power, we cannot be contained. We cannot be contained, we cannot be contained.
Thank you, Lord Jesus. Ababa, babo, sakata, tata, tata, tata, tata, de de de beau, sakata, indoloco, toa, sakata, tata, de de de beau, sakata, hallelujah. I have power in the Holy Ghost, ta. Ooh, come on.
Bise kete, te, te, te, te, beau, sakata, indoloco, esakata, te, da, da, de de beau, se, te, te. We cannot be contained. All our answers are in Jesus Christ. Move in my Spirit, O God. Take over my mind, O God.
Show me your mind, O Lord. We can do what He says to you. We cannot be contained. We are powerful. We are powerful.
We are powerful. We can say what He says. Say what He says.
Say what He says. We are not afraid. We cannot be contained. Broko esakate, te, da, da, de beau, sakata, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. I love you, God. You're a mighty God, almighty Father, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, mighty God. We love you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, holy, holy, holy Ghost. We are free, we are free. We are free, I am free in the spiritual realm right now. I cannot be contained.
No, not at all. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, basakata, te, de, de, de, de, beau, se, ke, te. E, de, de, de, de, de, beau, hallelujah, se, ke, te, ta, tata. I will not be contained. I am led by the Spirit. I will walk in the Spirit. Oh, God, show me your way. I love your way. I do not love this world. I do not love my flesh. I love you, Jesus. I love your will for my life.
I'm here for you. I cannot be contained. Asakata, e, te, brokho esakata, hallelujah. We cannot be contained. We cannot be contained. We cannot be contained. We cannot be contained. We have power.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yes, Lord. I love your Spirit, God. I love your Spirit. He that is born of the Spirit, You cannot contain. He that is born of the Spirit, You cannot contain. I am born of the Spirit. I am born of the Spirit. I am born of the Spirit. I belong to Jesus.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I cannot be contained. I am fire. I am wind. I have power. I am powerful. I am powerful. Hallelujah. Unbelievable moment.
Thank you for sharing it with me. What a wonderful moment we just had praying together in the Spirit. You know, when I pray in the Spirit, my spirit man comes alive and I am better able to tune into the frequency of God.
God is spirit and communicates with us in the Spirit. When we become dry, worldly and fleshly, we need to take time and go to a solitary place and pray in the Spirit to God. We must go to the well and drink from the Spirit and worship and pray.
Go to the well for our dryness, our worldliness and our fleshliness. When we seek God diligently in the Spirit, He will reward us in the Spirit in the most profound ways. John 4, 23 to 24 says, Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth. For they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit.
His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth. When we are reborn in the Spirit, we become spiritual children, children of God. And as children of God, we must come to the Father in spirit and in truth. And one way that I come to the Father in spirit and truth is when I go into my closet and I pray in the Spirit in my spiritual language.
Hallelujah. Romans 8, 12 through 16 says, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.
But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God, or we could say daughters of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we crowd Abba Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and we can communicate with God in the Spirit.
Hallelujah. With the spiritual language, the spiritual tongue that he blessed us with is a gift. When we gave our lives to him and were reborn, we were born in the Spirit. As that song says, born in the Spirit, I will not be contained. I cannot be contained when I'm born in the Spirit.
Hallelujah. There is no limit to the Spirit. Thank you so much for being a part of this consecrated and sanctified time with the Lord in this podcast.
My hope for you is that you can be inspired by this podcast to also embrace your times where you become dry, worldly, and fleshly. And instead of them separating you from God, you can counter-attack them through praying in the Spirit, which will draw you nearer to him. By going to God in prayer, you are showing God that you have faith in him and that you are diligently seeking him. And when you do this, the Word of God says you will be rewarded. Hallelujah. You will be rewarded with a new mindset, rewarded with power. Like the song says, we have power.
We cannot be contained. You will be rewarded with power to live your life out, walking in the Spirit and doing the will of God, and walking into your destiny of eternal life, and walking with godly character. Hebrews 11, 6 says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a reward of those who digitally seek him. I love you all, and I pray that you too can find the freedom that I found in Jesus Christ.
Jesus breaks the chains. It is my time of God praying in the Spirit that has led to the most profound changes in my life. Praying in the Spirit instantly connects me to my life source, which is God's Holy Spirit in truth. When I am praying in the Spirit, I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind, heart, and soul.
This is the greatest life I've ever lived, living my life in Jesus Christ as his fearless disciple. God bless you all. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you for listening. For more information on Michael Bowen's ministry, Sons and Daughters of Thunder, visit SonsAndDaughtersOfThunder.org. And remember, there is no addiction in Jesus Christ. Jesus breaks the chains.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-04-06 12:16:43 / 2023-04-06 12:30:40 / 14