I have a choice to pray by the power of God’s Spirit or rely on my ability and effort to carry my prayer time forward.

We all know what it is to feel deadness in prayer, difficulty in prayer, to be tongue-tied, with nothing to say, as it were, having to force ourselves to try. Well, to the extent that is true of us, we are not praying in the Spirit. – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

How many times I have felt that a short prayer just doesn’t cut it. Then I start thinking about how well I can pray. I hate the next step – I trust my perfectly composed, doctrinally correct prayer that was prayed in the right diction, cadence, language, emotion and even volume. Definitely do not like the volume issue.

“Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.” – John 4:21-24 GNT

What am I doing? I am attempting to imitate the liveliness that the Spirit gives in prayer.

The Spirit is a Spirit of life as well as truth, and the first thing that he always does is to make everything living and vital. And, of course, there is all the difference in the world between the life and the liveliness produced by the Spirit and the kind of artifact, the bright and breezy imitation, produced by people. – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Praying through the power of God’s Spirit is for me to be caught up in the way the Spirit carries the prayer forward. He brings my prayer to life. My prayer is empowered by Him and is carried to the Father in the name of Jesus. I am in the presence of God speaking to God. The Holy Spirit is bringing clarity to my mind, He is moves my heart and gives me freedom of utterance and liberty of expression.

I am definitely not saying that it should feel like revival everytime I pray. I do a lot of groaning too but I know God’s Spirit translates that for me and intercedes on my behalf.

How do I start to engage with the power of God’s Spirit when I am praying? Humility is key – I admit to my inability. Joy is crucial – enjoying the creation of a living communion with God. Offering the promises of God to Him – done with boldness and assurance.

We should start with confession: we must admit our inability to pray as we ought. We must come face to face with our tendency to try to pray on our own. We start with the recognition that prayer is a spiritual activity, and the power of the flesh profits nothing at all. We should feel our dryness and difficulty and confess to him our dullness, lifelessness, and spiritual slowness and sluggishness – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This is not a passive experience – I yield myself to the Spirit – I find myself being lead to expectation and prayerful anticipation as I continue on my time with God.

You are aware of a communion, a sharing, a give-and-take, if I may use such an expression. You are not dragging yourself along; you are not forcing the situation; you are not trying to make conversation with somebody whom you do not know. No, no! The Spirit of adoption in you brings you right into the presence of God, and it is a living act of fellowship and communion, vibrant with life. – Lloyd-Jones 

For me I am sometimes transported – I start praying in my office and suddenly I am in the presence of God.

One of the key differences here between praying in the flesh and praying in the Spirit is that you don’t feel the need to rush to say anything when you pray in the Spirit. The living reality the Spirit creates is the awareness of God’s presence. Experiencing his presence will seem much more important than any petition you are going to make. – Lloyd-Jones

There are moments of boldness when I review the necessary promises I need for the moment. It is the rehearsal of hearing God’s Word stirring up my heart of faith. Even so, I find there is no presumptuous sense of demand.

Do not claim, do not demand, let your requests be made known, let them come from your heart. God will understand. We have no right to demand even revival. Some Christians are tending to do so at the present time. Pray urgently, plead, use all the arguments, use all the promises; but do not demand, do not claim. Never put yourself into the position of saying, ‘If we but do this, then that must happen.’ God is a sovereign Lord, and these things are beyond our understanding. Never let the terminology of claiming or of demanding be used. – Lloyd-Jones 

Lloyd-Jones once said that the quickest way to quench the Spirit is to not obey an impulse to pray.

Anicia Proba was a widow by her early 30s. She was present when Rome was sacked in 410 and had to flee for her life with her granddaughter Demetrias to Africa where they met Augustine. Augustine concludes the letter by asking his friend, “Now what makes this work [of prayer] specially suitable to widows but their bereaved and desolate condition?” Should a widow not “commit her widowhood, so to speak, to her God as her shield in continual and most fervent prayer?” There is every reason to believe she accepted his invitation.