If you were anywhere in the great state of Texas during the 1970’s and 1980’s, you will readily recognize this tag line from the Wolf Brand Chili advertising campaigns … “Neighbor, how long has it been since you had a big, thick, steaming bowl of Wolf Brand Chili? Well, that’s too long!” To us Texans, that slogan ranks up there with M&M’s (“It melts in your mouth and not in your hands.”), Tony the Tiger’s Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes (“They’re Grrrreat!”), Folgers Coffee (“The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup!”), and KFC’s (“It’s Finger Lickin’ Good.”).
To “borrow” from the Wolf Brand Chili slogan, how long has it been since you’ve prayed in the Spirit? Come on, really, how long has it been? In answering the question, I’ll “borrow” again from the slogan and say, well, that’s too long.
Why should we make praying in the Spirit a priority? Why is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray with and through us so important? Honestly, to attempt to do this subject justice, I wouldn’t use a blog post because this is book material. Space and your reading time won’t allow me to even begin to list the many, many reasons for and benefits of praying in the Spirit. I’ve always strived to keep the blog to something that can be easily read in 3 to 4 minutes. (I know that there are blog postings that I fail miserably in obtaining this goal.) So, for the sake of brevity, I’ll just list one of the many reasons and share it from several Bible translations and then let the scripture speak for itself. It’s taken from 1 Corinthians 14:4.
* King James Version – He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself;
* The Holy Bible in the Language of Today – When you talk in another language, you encourage yourself.
* New Living Translation – A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally in the Lord.
* The Arthur S Way Translation – He who talks with a Tongue may be advancing his own spiritual progress.
* English Standard Version – The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself.
* God’s Word for Today – When a person speaks in another language, he helps himself grow.
* Amplified Bible – He who speaks in a [strange] tongue edifies and improves himself.
* Weymouth New Testament – He who speaks in an unknown tongue does good to himself.
Need I write more? For this one reason alone, it’s easy to see that we must be people who pray in the Spirit. If praying in the language of heaven had no other benefits, its “me” transforming power is enough to cause me to decide that it’s been “way too long”.
