Luke 11:10-13 NIV “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (11) “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? (12) Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? (13) If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Over my many years in ministry, I have heard of, and myself experienced, nudges from the Holy Spirit to pray. People report being awakened in the middle of the night with a specific burden for a person and they begin to pray. Thoughts are sidelined at work as we feel God asking us to pray for a person and/or situation.
But do we only WAIT for those nudges of the Holy Spirit, or may we ASK for them?
Have you ever thought about asking for words when you pray? How about inside information from the Holy Spirit? Perhaps you’ve never considered to ask for power or boldness to be more effective for Christ, or visons and dreams?
When we pray for another person, we usually start by asking, “How can I pray for you?” That is a fine question, but perhaps should be directed upward toward our Lord, rather than to the person. We need to be reminded of Paul’s writing to the Romans… Romans 8:26 NIV In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
We don’t know how to pray…
The Spirit of God knows how to pray.
We don’t have solutions…
The Spirit of God knows the will of God in regards to things.
Praying for words is seeking the mind, thoughts and heart of God on behalf of the person for whom you are praying. When God speaks in our waiting, we can speak forthrightly with words, dreams and visions that come from God, not from the storehouse of our own thinking or ingenuity.
Recently, I personally witnessed someone healed of depression when they were prayed for in this way. A woman came to our prayer meeting very discouraged and depressed. She was under a very heavy weight of darkness and self-destructive speaking. During our time of “praying solutions” I asked our people to pause. We asked the LORD for words … words that described her beauty and affirmed her value in the Body of Christ. As these words were spoken over her, she was miraculously healed. She woke the next day to a whole new revelation for her situation. She was changed and has a whole new perspective on her situations that held her captive.
Try waiting on the Lord for words that will heal and deliver. Hold back on suggesting solutions to God and listen for His voice.