"in the Spirit"
 

What does it mean to be "in the Spirit"?

What does it mean to be "praying in the Spirit"?

Is "praying in the Spirit" the exact same thing as praying in tongues?



"I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day" Revelation 1:10

"praying in the Holy Spirit" Jude 1:20

"Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?" 1Corinthians 14: 13-16

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

I believe praying in the Spirit is indeed praying in tongues.

Walking in the Spirit and after the Spirit means living a life before God without reliance on law-keeping methodology, but instead relying upon God's empowering grace to do good and avoid evil.

In the Spirit, generally speaking, I believe means a person is in deep communion with God and genuinely fellowshiping with Him in prayer.

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

I'll share my thoughts. Essentially the same as Bro. Blume's. I just word it a little different.

Praying in the Spirit is praying as the Spirit leads you to pray, be it in tongues or your native language.

To be "in the Spirit" means to be in present and conscious awareness of the abiding presence of the Spirit within you. Having the Spirit we realize that Christ is in the Father, the Father in Christ, and Christ in us... through the Spirit. This abiding in us is more than merely the Spirit dwelling within us, it is the Spirit's presence and permeation of our spiritual being, our inner man. Through this abiding reality we become one spirit with the Lord (I Corinthians 6:17) and branches of the vine, Jesus Christ (John 15:5). These realities being so, we realize that we are living extensions of Christ Himself. Being in present conscious awareness of this spiritual reality is being "in the Spirit".

And "walking in the Spirit" is allowing the abiding presence of the Spirit to lead and guide you in your thoughts, actions, and decisions. It is the opposite of living in accordance to the law, as Bro. Blume stated. It is the daily, moment by moment, willingness to follow the Spirit's will and leading in all things as opposed to any codified list of laws, standards, or regulations.

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

What about those saints who have not spoken in tongues since their initial infilling...those who do not have the gift of tongues? Does that mean that they can never pray in the Spirit?

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

:highfive Well said.

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

Jeremiah 31
31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

Ezekiel 36
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

Romans 8
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

Re: "in the Spirit"
 

An example of what false teaching does. If one understands the Apostles teaching they would see themselves being COMMANDED to pray in tongues ALWAYS!

Paul defined praying in the spirit as praying in tongues. Then he commands the Ephesian Christians to pray in the spirit ALWAYS.

Jude tells his readers the same thing.

Today many if not most who think they are "Apostolic" have been taught they will only speak in tongues one time and thats it, robbing them of all the edifying power God has for them.