What Is Praying in the Spirit?

Question 4013.

Praying in the Spirit is a phrase that has been pulled in two very different directions, and I want to bring it back to what Scripture actually means by it. For some it conjures speaking in tongues and little else. For others it sounds so mystical that they assume it is for spiritual high achievers and quietly leave it alone. Both reactions miss the simple, accessible thing the Bible is describing.

So what is praying in the Spirit, and is it something every Christian can do? The answer is yes, gloriously yes, because it describes the ordinary, dependent prayer of any believer who leans on the Holy Spirit rather than on themselves.

Where the Phrase Comes From

The exact expression appears twice. Jude 20 urges believers to be ‘praying in the Holy Spirit,’ and Ephesians 6:18 calls us to be ‘praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.’ In neither place is it presented as a rare or advanced exercise. In both it is set down as the normal pattern for normal Christians.

Notice the company it keeps in Ephesians. Praying in the Spirit sits inside the armour of God, alongside truth, righteousness, faith and the word. It is part of the basic equipment for spiritual life, not an optional extra for the few. Jude likewise sets it next to building yourself up in the faith and keeping yourself in the love of God, the staple disciplines of any believer.

So before we ask what the phrase feels like in practice, we should settle what it is, a description of how all genuine Christian prayer is meant to work, in conscious reliance on the Holy Spirit.

Praying in the Spirit Means Praying in Dependence

At its simplest, praying in the Spirit means praying in dependence on the Spirit rather than in the strength of your own religious effort. It is the opposite of praying in the flesh, where I rattle off familiar phrases, trust my own eloquence, or treat prayer as a duty to be discharged. To pray in the Spirit is to come weak and leaning, asking Him to carry what I cannot.

This connects directly to the Spirit’s wider work in prayer, which I cover in my answer on the role of the Spirit in prayer. There Paul says the Spirit helps our weakness because we do not know what to pray as we ought. Praying in the Spirit is simply prayer offered in that posture, owning my weakness and trusting His help.

So you do not need a special vocabulary or an altered state. You need a leaning heart. The most ordinary believer whispering help me, Lord, in genuine dependence is praying in the Spirit far more truly than the polished orator trusting his own delivery.

Praying in Step With His Leading

There is a second strand to praying in the Spirit, and it is praying in line with His leading rather than purely from my own agenda. Romans 8 says the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. To pray in the Spirit is to let Him shape what I ask, to be sensitive to the burdens He lays on my heart, to follow where He directs the conversation.

In practice this means I hold my own list loosely. I bring my requests, of course, but I stay open to the Spirit redirecting them, pressing a particular person onto my heart, turning my self focus outward, deepening a petition I would have skipped. Prayer in the Spirit has a responsiveness to it, a willingness to be led mid sentence.

This is the difference between dictating to God and praying with God. The Spirit knows the Father’s will perfectly, and such prayer lets that knowledge guide my asking instead of my own short sighted instincts.

Does Praying in the Spirit Mean Tongues?

Many will ask whether praying in the Spirit is the same as praying in tongues. As a careful continuationist I do not dismiss the gift of tongues, and I take 1 Corinthians 14 seriously where Paul speaks of praying with his spirit. But I do not believe praying in the Spirit can be reduced to tongues, for a straightforward reason.

Ephesians 6 commands all believers to pray at all times in the Spirit, and Scripture is plain in 1 Corinthians 12 that not all speak in tongues. If praying in the Spirit meant tongues, Paul would be commanding every Christian to do what he elsewhere says not every Christian is given to do. The phrase has to mean something open to all, and dependent, Spirit led prayer is exactly that.

Tongues, where genuine, may be one expression of praying in the Spirit for those given the gift, but the category is far wider. Every believer is called to pray in the Spirit, whether or not they have ever uttered a word in tongues.

How to Pray in the Spirit in Practice

This is wonderfully practical. You begin by acknowledging your need of Him, even with a sentence. Holy Spirit, help me pray, I do not know how on my own. That admission is itself praying in the Spirit, because it is dependence put into words.

Then you pray with the Bible open, because the Spirit who inspired the Scriptures loves to lead our prayers through them. Praying Scripture back to God is one of the surest ways to pray in step with His will, since you are praying His own words. A walk of being filled with the Spirit feeds straight into this, which is why prayer comes more freely when we are yielded and dries up when we are resisting Him.

And you stay responsive. As you pray, notice the people and concerns the Spirit seems to press on you, and follow them. Do not race through a fixed list with your eyes shut to His nudging. This is meant to be a conversation, not a recital.

Common Misunderstandings to Clear Away

Let me clear away two misunderstandings that hold people back. The first is the idea that this is a mystical state reserved for unusually spiritual people, a kind of altered consciousness you must work yourself into. It is nothing of the sort. It is simply prayer offered in honest dependence on God, and the plainest believer can offer it on the dullest morning of the year.

The second is the assumption that it must always feel powerful or emotional. Feelings come and go, and some of the truest prayers are prayed flatly, through gritted teeth, in seasons when God feels distant. Dependence is a posture of the will, not a temperature of the emotions, and a cold heart that still leans on the Spirit is leaning on Him no less than a warm one.

If anything, the absence of drama is a mercy. It means this kind of prayer is available to you in a hospital corridor, in a traffic jam, in the grey middle of an ordinary Tuesday, with no special preparation and no spiritual mood required. You simply turn, lean, and ask, and the Spirit does the rest. So do not disqualify yourself because there are no fireworks. The Father is not grading your feelings. He is receiving the prayer of a child who has learned to lean.

Why This Should Encourage You

If praying in the Spirit required a special gift or a heightened experience, most of us would be shut out. But because it means dependent, yielded, Spirit led prayer, it is open to the newest and weakest believer in the room. The trembling new convert who can barely string a prayer together but truly leans on the Spirit is praying in the Spirit.

That takes the intimidation out of prayer. You are not being asked to summon something from within yourself. You are being invited to lean on Someone who already lives within you and longs to help. The pressure is off, because the strength is His.

So the next time you feel unqualified to pray, remember that feeling unqualified is half the point. It starts exactly there, with a heart that knows it cannot and turns to the One who can.

So, now what?

So praying in the Spirit is not an elite spiritual feat but the ordinary, dependent, yielded prayer of any believer who leans on the Holy Spirit and follows His leading. It is praying with God rather than at Him, in His strength rather than your own, along the grain of His will rather than against it.

This week, try beginning your prayers with a plain confession of dependence, asking the Spirit to help you pray, and then pray with your Bible open and your heart responsive to whatever He presses on you. You may find prayer becoming less of a performance and more of a partnership. What would it do to your prayer life to stop trying to pray well and simply start praying in dependence on Him?

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God.

Jude 20-21 (ESV)