Praying the Word: How Christ Becomes Your Prayer

But brother, you still haven’t told me what prayer is. Do you know what prayer is? This is just wonderful. Yes, sister. You know, our little minds bog down, but we have to say in a sense the Father is really on the front. And the Lord Jesus…let’s look at the last verse of scripture that was ever written to Corinth, okay? We can see a little bit. That’s the only way your prayers get answered, brother. Those are the real prayers. The grace, the Lord…the last verse is 2 Corinthians 13:14 – The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father, and the communion (fellowship) of the Holy Spirit…and sister, that word communion could just as easily be translated as the transmission of the Holy Spirit, the pipeline of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit connects…it’s like a pencil, sister. There is a writing down here. The Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus are here in me all the time. At the same moment, there is a transmission, a pipeline, and in the Father, and He is in me at the same time that He’s on the throne. Oh, brothers and sisters, someday you’ll understand that you’re in Him at the same time that you’re right here.

Now then, what’s prayer? Do you know what real prayer is? The real prayer is Jesus Christ in the Spirit. Prayer is Christ. Prayer is Christ. He is our peace. He says, “I’m your peace.” He is our rest. He says, “I’m your rest.” He says to you, “I am your food.” He says, “I am your drink.” He is your drink. Brothers and sisters, He is also your prayer. One of these days, you’re going to wake up and throw the cover of the bed, and you’re going to say, “Christ is my everything.” Christ is everything to me.

In the Old Testament, the offerings were offered up. They were a praise to God. And what were the offerings? They were a type of Christ. And the incense was offered up to the Father. What is the incense? The incense is the prayer that goes up, but brother, if you will look at what the incense is and what is made out of all, its element is Christ. It’s Christ ascending to the Father. It is Christ; it is the Father descending into you. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ on the one end, and it’s the Lord Jesus Christ on the other end, praying for your spirit and in your spirit to the Father, and it is the Father speaking to you in the Son to your Spirit. Brothers, when you’re in the Spirit, you’re in the Son. When you’re in the Spirit, and you speak…when you’re in the Spirit speaking to the Father, you are just offering up Jesus Christ. You may have a petition, but it is Christ as that petition.

Now then, now then, Ephesians 6:18 says, “Praying always with all prayer.” Now, brother, you pray a prayer. Have you ever thought about that? That you pray a prayer? Alright, if you pray a prayer, that’s two prayers, right? You pray a prayer. Alright, whose prayer is prayed? Not mine; you pray a prayer. You are praying the prayer of Christ. You are praying His prayer to the Father. This is what prayer is. You are praying the movement, the working, and the inventory of the Lord Jesus in your Spirit to the Father’s Spirit.

Now then, no one is going to believe this. Read that verse in the interlinear (Bible). Have you ever seen one of those before? Has anybody ever seen an interlinear Greek before? James 5:17 – Elijah, a man, with feelings like us, with prayer, he prayed. With prayer…he prayed for it not to rain, and it did not rain upon the earth; how many years? Three years and six months. Elijah prayed with a prayer. Whose prayer did he pray? Do you think that if Elijah just stood there and said, “Stop raining,” that it was done and good? Oh, there was a prayer in his spirit, and he prayed it.

Now then, brothers, if you will notice in Corinthians, it says, “When you come together, some have a prayer.” You come in, and you say it. I don’t care if you got it last Tuesday; if it was the Lord’s, it’ll last a little while. You just come in and you just…that’s right, amen, Praise the Lord…you pray with prayer. Amen. You ask why some people don’t get healed. Because you don’t pray with prayer. Why don’t some prayers get answered? You don’t pray with prayer. It is the prayer of the Lord Jesus, but let’s forget this stuff about praying for healing and praying for that. Brother, the purpose of prayer was not to get things.

If you will notice, that is pure religion. The Lord Jesus Christ said the Father knows the hairs on your head. He knows that the lilies do not toil and they do not spin, so stop sitting around asking for things. Your Father knows. If you need an automobile or money, or you’re hungry or something, you say, Lord, Matthew 5…and let it be. For prayer, brother, prayer is just the Lord Jesus, and you feed on Him; you just feed on Him. And He speaks to the Father, and the Father speaks to you. You know, listen, this has been…this has been right in front of us all the time, and we have not been able to receive it.

Romans 8:22-26, did you get it? Alright. The very earth has fallen and groans for the day it will be changed, because it is so weak. Now then, I, too, come to the Father. I have a hope. I have a hope that I patiently wait for, but I have an infirmity, and I come to Him, and likewise, the Spirit helps our weakness. For we know not what we should pray for, the way we should, but the Spirit prays; the Spirit makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered. Brothers and sisters, the Spirit is within you, and he knows your weakness, and He prays to the Father, and you don’t even hear it. It is with groanings. I mean, it’s not even uttered in words. It is in words that cannot be understood.

Now, tonight, step one: the first thing I would say to you about walking in the Spirit, living by the Life, is brother, when you want to groan, groan. There is the Spirit moving inside of you. You get up on one of your days with everything on you, and you’re weak. Brother, if you listen very, very carefully; sisters, if you listen very, very carefully, there’s some groaning going on down inside of you. You cry at times, Abba Father, and other times, the Spirit cries, Abba Father. Well, the spirit groans for you. It prays for you. It prays in you. The Spirit is praying in you. Just groan, and you’ll sense a rising; you will sense the weakness being strengthened. That’s step 1.

Brothers and sisters, just groan. Now I’m dead serious. I’m saying this to you, and you must do this. Let us say that the great battle begins in the morning, whether we set our mind on the flesh or the spirit. Brother, as soon as you become conscious, say, “Oh, Lord,” and you begin to exercise the spirit. Spirit, wake up; go to work. Just groan, “Lord. Oh, Lord.” Now, brothers, I don’t mean in a superficial way, but I mean with a real sense of being in the Spirit. Just groan, “Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is our prayer. Brothers and sisters, He is your food as the word. He is your food as the word. He is your air as the word. You breathe him. It is God-breathed, and you just breathe Him. And you can breathe His Name. “Oh, Lord.” Just breathe. The Bible says in Romans 10 that He is nigh unto you, as close as what? As close as your mouth. Just open your mouth. This is the beginning of the exercise of your spirit in the morning. Take a deep breath…and groan. And then, what do you do? What did he say? He says, close as your mouth. Therefore, you do what? You call on him. You call on him. “Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord.” Call on the name of the Lord. That’s just a little exercise of your spirit; a moving of your spirit. The Bible says in Luke that the Lord Jesus groaned…where? In spirit. Alright, do you want to be in spirit? Groan. Just groan. That is being in spirit. “Oh, Lord.” You can sense a groaning of your own with the groaning of the spirit. That’s number one. Sister. Brother. When you meet the Lord in your first consciousness in the morning, just say, “Oh, Lord.” Confess Him with your mouth and breathe Him in as a groan. “Oh, Lord.” Take Him in.

Alright, you have to really be serious about this. Not, “Well, maybe I’ll just be in the flesh today, but I’ll say Lord.” No, you have to really be serious. I intend to be set on the spirit. I need…I intend to draw upon him as my life’s source. I intend to be in my spirit and in Him. I intend to live by this Life. You start that day, “Oh, Lord.” With a groan, with a breath, and with a Word. The groan. The breath, and a Word.