How To Pray When Your Native Tongue Is Not Enough
In a world where the moral fabric seems to be turning toward serving yourself over others, and evil seems to be taking over this world, sometimes it’s good to know just how to pray when the words we pray do not seem to be working or enough.
I’ve been there and it can seem very lonely to be in this situation, however you know the Word of God – typically called the Bible says that we are to take heart for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! This alone should be comforting to the soul and it should cause your spirit and mind to KNOW that we are not alone.
Let’s look at a couple of things that I believe have hindered the church in recent years, and decades – and has probably caused many to fall away and or just not attend a service anymore.
I believe the first and most impactful reason that people – such as myself – do not attend church is due to the wrong teachings, due to the desire to have power over the masses. Yes, even the church has this problem.
So what do we do if wrong teaching is being taught to Christians that do not have a clue and are just “fulfilling their duty” to go to church?
The answer is an emphatic: “WAKE THE PEOPLE UP” to this very fact. Many Christians do not know how to pray so that it would build their faith up to their most holy faith. Do you know what verse this is referring to? Do you know what type of prayer would do this?
Jude 1:20 in the NIV says,
“But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,”
It’s clear to us now that the way that we are to pray is in the Holy Spirit.
Through the past few years, my observation of people has been taken to a new level. I think honestly that it’s a gift from God. I notice things that most would just continue on with their lives and never really cared to see what I find in life. I’m an observer first and foremost. So when i see things, I am also talking to the Holy Spirit about things I see in real-time. It’s not a recorded conversation to me.
Your Native Tongue & Prayer
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always,pray continually,give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
So, when Paul tells us to continually pray, he is also referring to praying in the spirit because if we are to pray in our native tongue, we would run out of things to pray for. The Holy Spirit gives us things to pray about through faith using our prayer language. I believe that praying in the spirit releases things to be manifest in others and our lives that are so great that if we knew what we were praying, we would literally use our words to destroy that blessing.
Now, I’m sure that this is done in most people’s lives already, but when you know how to speak the language of Jesus – you get so much more done.
1 Corinthians 13:1
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Again, we are told how to pray in love – otherwise we are just like a resounding gong! How would you approach a situation where your child kept saying something to you that you knew was just words and had no root? I think that when we start sounding like a resounding gong to YHWY, we are reminded how to pray with the added emotion of love. It’s all about making a connection with others and helping them out through our words of encouragement.
Using Prayer To Make It To Another Day
I was a very active child and teenager and because of this, for obvious reasons, I was outside most of the time. I loved sports of all kinds to the point of getting hurt (not on purpose) and being carefree. I was all about winning. So on this particular day, I started off playing with the neighborhood kids and since I didn’t mind playing any type of game, I agreed to play a game of “red light, green light”. It wasn’t too long before I knew who I was going to be competitive against – so I nudged, and made it as fast as I could to the goal. However, during this round I would try to stop but couldn’t. I went into a tumble and the next thing I noticed, I was running very slowly to my house where I would knock at MY OWN HOUSE – strange.
I had a broken collar bone.
What did I do that nobody really knows except me at that time? Well, at that time I was only 4 years old and I really didn’t have any structure on how to pray. So I simply asked God to heal me.
I”m not saying that praying in your native or understandable language is a bad thing, in fact, I believe that praying in your native tongue coupled with praying in the spirit is prayer that is very powerful.
Do You Have A Prayer Language?
The answer to this is found in the bible in the book of Acts 2:38-39 where it says,
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
In the very words printed in the Bible, it says we have these gifts already there waiting to be activated by each believer. How Awesome is that? By the mere saving grace and decision to accept Jesus into your heart, you have these gifts “installed” into your spirit!
Bottom line for those that are unsure of how to get your prayers answered is this:
- If you haven’t accepted Jesus into your life as your savior, do it now.
- Pray in the spirit for a little while and even set a timer when you first start out. You want to train yourself to listen to the voice of God (all three will speak to you – Holy Spirit, Jesus, Father – and you can tell by the way they speak and use their language when speaking to you.)
- Pray in your native tongue when the Holy Spirit directs you to do so with the words, word pictures, or visions He gives you.
- After you have prayed, be sure to worship and praise Him for answered prayer and then thank Him. He is the starter and finisher of our faith!
Next time when you are wondering how to pray, you can rest assured that there is a way to approach God and to literally get your prayers answered the save minute you prayed for things to happen!!
God Bless You!