Philippians 1:19
... for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,
Tag: Prayer and the Spirit
Paul is in prison and he is writing to the Philippian Christians to encourage THEM. That just seems odd. Here we have a man in prison who is writing a letter to his friends to encourage them to not be discourage, but to be filled with JOY. That is upside down!! Paul is in chains and thinking this may be his last circumstance to deal with and he is the one encouraging others. He has not lost hope, however, as the above verse shows us. He believes that God still has work for him. He tells us that their are to factors that will contribute to his release for the work: Their prayers and the power of the Spirit. That is a powerful combination in the Christian Church. When the Saints pray, it moves the Spirit of Christ to work in the lives of the unsaved and saved world alike. God works in our lives by the Spirit. The Spirit is moved by our prayers. We are given the responsibility in the Christian faith and journey to call upon God through faith in prayer. That moves the Spirit of God to act on our behalf to accomplish God's plan. The ironic thing is that it is the Spirit of God in us that actually prays. Note:
Romans 8:26-27
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
As we yield to Christ the Spirit moves us to pray for the things we should in the way we should. That activates the Spirit of God to move in the lives of the non-believer and believer alike to accomplish the will of God. That is how the prayers of the Saints and the Spirit of God work in partnership. The Spirit is the power and the presence, we are the conduit of faith.
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