Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

October 8– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“Praying in the Holy Spirit.”

—Jude 20

Take note of this grand characteristic of true prayer—namely, that it is “in the Holy Spirit.” The seed of acceptable devotion must come from heaven’s storehouse. Only the prayer which comes from God can go to God. We must shoot the Lord’s arrows back to him. That desire which he writes upon our heart will move his heart and bring down a blessing, but the desires of the flesh have no power with him.

Praying in the Holy Spirit is praying in fervency. Cold prayers ask the Lord not to hear them. Those who fail to plead with fervency do not plead at all. We might as well speak of lukewarm fire as of lukewarm prayer. True prayer must be red hot.

Prayer is to be persevering. The true beggar gathers force as he proceeds and grows more fervent when God delays his answer. The longer the gate is closed, the more vehemently he uses the knocker, and, the longer the angel lingers, the more resolved he is to never let him go without the blessing.

It also means praying humbly, for the Holy Spirit never puffs us up with pride. It is his office to convince of sin and so to bow us down in contrition and brokenness of spirit. We must cry out to God in the depths, or we will never behold God in his highest glory.

Prayer is to be loving. It should be perfumed with love, saturated with love— love for our fellow saints and love for Christ. And, it must be full of faith. A man prevails only as he believes. The Holy Spirit is the author of faith and strengthens us so that we pray, believing in God’s promise.

O that this blessed combination of graces, priceless and sweet like a shop full of spices, might be fragrant within us because the Holy Spirit is in our hearts! Most blessed Comforter, exert your mighty power within us, overcoming our weaknesses in prayer. [M&E]