Luke 11:1; Job 37:19; Romans 8:26,27
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): I am sure we need take no time emphasizing the vital importance of this whole subject of prayer. In many ways there is nothing more important for us in this life and pilgrimage than that we should be well instructed in this matter. Yet there is nothing perhaps that seems to give people so much trouble and perplexity.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Observe our weakness in prayer: “We know not what we should pray for as we ought.” As to the matter of our requests, we know not what to ask…As to the manner, we know not how to pray as we ought. It is not enough that we do that which is good, but we must do it well, to seek it in a due order.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): I have often been struck with how often preachers and others misquote, “Lord, teach us to pray,” by inserting “teach us how to pray.” Man is occupied with the “how,” but God with the “pray”—which is often an inarticulated groan!
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Prayer is not easy; prayer, because we are what we are, is difficult and we need instruction. If we have never felt what our Lord’s disciples felt when they turned to Him one afternoon and said, “Lord, teach us to pray,” it is probably because we have never really prayed at all.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): “An easy thing to pray!” Who that has made the trial, and is concerned for the result of it, exclaims with Elihu, “Teach us what we shall say unto Him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness,” or, with the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Mark the grand characteristic of true prayer—in the Holy Ghost.
MATTHEW HENRY: We must pray in the Spirit―our spirits must be employed in the duty, and we must do it by the grace of God’s good Spirit.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): What is it to pray “in the Spirit?”
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: An incident within my own experience demonstrates this to perfection. I remember being in a prayer meeting that I used to attend regularly every week. On this occasion it was a hot summer’s evening toward the end of June or the beginning of July. We started at 7:15, and I asked somebody to open the meeting by reading the Scriptures and praying. He did so, and one or two others took part in prayer. Everything was just as usual―it was always a good prayer meeting, always a benediction to one’s soul. But then an older man stood up to pray, a man who normally stumbled in his praying. He was a man who knew his duty and he took part in prayer, but, we draw these distinctions, do we not?―there was nothing very inspiring about the way he normally prayed.
But this night, before he had spoken two or three sentences, I and everybody else present became conscious of the fact that something was happening. He was an entirely different man. His voice deepened, and he was speaking with freedom and liberty and an eloquence such as I had not only never heard from him, but perhaps had never heard from anybody else in prayer. He was a transformed man―entirely transformed―and the words were pouring from his mouth in perfect order and with warmth and freedom and power and liberty. The effect of that was that all the others felt the same power and the same freedom, and they went on praying non-stop, one after another, without anybody being called and without any intermission until about ten minutes to ten. We were all conscious that we were in the realm of the eternal and the spiritual. What was that? That was praying “in the Spirit.” It was the liberty and freedom of the Holy Spirit. And that is what I am referring to. It can happen in a prayer meeting, or it can happen you individually, in private, when you are led out, as it were. The Spirit takes hold of you, and you are praying in the Spirit with glorious freedom and liberty.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): By the greater part of those who call themselves Christians, the whole of this subject is accounted visionary and absurd. They have no idea of one person being filled with the Spirit any more than others: and all the joyous frames arising from His presence in the soul, they deem the very essence of enthusiasm. But what, then, can be meant by all those directions which are given us to “live in the Spirit,” “walk in the Spirit,” and “pray in the Spirit,” and to “bring forth the fruits of the Spirit?” And why has our blessed Lord so encouraged us to pray for the gift of His Spirit, if no such communication is to be expected by us?
WILLIAM GURNALL: Christ Himself assures as much. Take it from His own mouth: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? ” A father may deny his wanton child bread to play with and throw under his feet, but not his starving child who cries for bread to preserve his life. God can, and will, deny him that asks the Spirit to pride himself with his gifts, but not the hungry soul, that, pinched with his want of grace, humbly yet vehemently cries, “Lord, give my Thy Spirit, or else I starve, I die.” Nay, let me tell you, your strong cries and earnest prayers for the Spirit would be sweet evidence to you that you have Him already with you.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): The very ability to pray in the Holy Ghost is a sweet and sure sign of salvation.
WILLIAM GURNALL: Prayer, you see, is not a work of nature, but a gift of grace; not a matter of will and parts got by human skill and art, but taught and inspired by the Holy Ghost.
MATTHEW HENRY: Those that were endued habitually with the powers of the Holy Ghost still had occasion for fresh supplies of the Spirit, according to the various occurrences of their services. We have here an instance of the performance of that promise, that “God will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him,” Luke 11:13, for it was in answer to prayer that they were filled with the Holy Ghost: “When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness,” Acts 4:31. God gave them greater degrees of His Spirit, which was what they prayed for.
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Let me exhort you to pray for the Spirit above all, and to bless God for this Holy Spirit, as one of the greatest blessings of all.
JOHN TRAPP: A very grave divine writeth thus: “Yea, I had rather God should give me the gift of prayer than, without that gift, the whole world besides.”
A. W. KRUMMACHER (1796-1868): Pray in the Spirit―in the Holy Ghost, and not in your own self-sufficiency, and you will pray with power.
