22 May Praying in the Spirit Illustrations – Part 19
Ready for another tool to use for sharing life-changing, spirit-equipping truths about the numerous benefits that come from praying in the Spirit? Once again, I will give a brief, skeletal overview of the illustration. Then, with the Holy Spirit’s help, you can personalize and modify the illustration to become a powerful teaching tool. The Importance of Praying in Other TonguesPart 19 – Praying in the Spirit is a No-Brainer! "For if I pray in an [unknown] tongue, my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my mind is unproductive [it bears no fruit and helps nobody]."1 Corinthians 14:14 (Amplified Bible) For this illustration, you will need a Bible, a poster board, marker, baseball, cupcake, and three helpers.Preparation: Have the poster board mounted so that the audience will be able to see the artwork being created. Have the baseball resting on a table. Lastly, place the cupcake on a plate and sitting off to the side. Note: Be creative with your comments about each of the volunteers after they have displayed their talent. There is so much humor that can be interjected into this illustration. Today, I want to showcase the brilliance found in this room by highlighting some amazing, incredible talent. To do this, I need to use three helpers. (Select three people to join you.) For our first helper, I want to challenge you to reveal your artistic abilities. It's quite simple. (Move the helper close to the mounted poster board.) Using this marker, I want to give you a whopping sixty seconds to draw a picture of my beautiful face. Remember to be kind! (Allow the picture to be drawn and then position the artist to the side of the poster board so that the picture can be "appreciated".) Next, I want to use our second volunteer to show off their incredible athletic abilities. Please go over and pick up that baseball and toss it to me. Notice that I said the word "toss". I really don't want to have to make a trip to the emergency room. (Allow the baseball to be tossed to you.) And last, I have saved my favorite display of talent for our third and final helper. Your talent will be showcased as you go over and pick up that cupcake and enjoy eating it. (Allow the helper to pick up and eat the cupcake.) I will admit that there really wasn't much talent to be seen in the performed tasks. But, pay close attention because we are now going to get to the reason for these three actions. (Turn to the artist.) When you picked up the marker to draw the "beautiful" picture of my face, which hand did you use to draw the picture? (Allow for the answer.) Is this because you are ______-handed? (Turn to the baseball thrower.) When you picked up the baseball, which hand did you use to toss the baseball? (Allow for an answer.) Is this because you are ______-handed? (Turn to the cupcake devourer.) When you picked up the cupcake, which hand did you use to bring the cupcake up to your mouth? (Allow for an answer.) Is this because you are ______-handed? (Ask your helpers to take a bow and then return back to their seats.) Notice that each task was performed by our helpers using what is called their dominant hand. And, you'll notice in each of the three tasks, in using their dominant hand, their other hand wasn't needed to accomplish the task. They could have used their other hand but they wouldn't have accomplished the same results. This other hand wasn't discarded or removed. It was still there, but not used. Let's look at our scripture. (Open the Bible to read our verse.) In writing this scripture, the apostle Paul is giving us insight for a way to accomplish one of the most incredible things, the ability to supernaturally, powerfully talk to God. Isn't that your desire? Did you notice that I said that it was supernatural praying? As we pray in other tongues, the Holy Spirit connects with our spirit and gives it a supernatural strength (dominance) that enables much to be accomplished. It would easy to call this power-packed praying. It goes beyond what could be accomplished with just using our mind to pray. Speaking of the mind, what about the mind while we pray in other tongues? Just like the "other hand" seen earlier in the tasks of our three helpers, the mind isn't accomplishing anything. It is still there but yielding no results. If you want to pray strong prayers, the kind that will cause much to happen, it is a no-brainer (no pun intended). Pray in the Spirit! ...