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With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18a NASB1995).
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20).
We are encouraged twice in the New Testament to pray in the Spirit. We should do this, but what does it mean to pray in the Spirit?
When I research this passage, I often get two differing opinions from those who write books and commentaries: some say it means speaking in tongues, while others say it doesn’t mean speaking in tongues. Although it’s confusing, we are encouraged twice to pray in the Spirit, so it behooves us to discover how and what it means.
Let me share with you one of my favorite explanations. It’s by Michelangelo, who was the first social media influencer, no, not with vlogs, selfies, YouTube®, or TikTok®, but with the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and other centuries-influencing sculptures and paintings.
Having lived from 1475 to 1564, He was the first Western artist to have his biography published in his own lifetime — thus, my claim that he was the first social media influencer.
Michelangelo was also a poet, and he wrote a poem/prayer entitled “To the Supreme Being,” which has been an example to me on praying in the Spirit. Here’s the poem in Modern American English …
To The Supreme Being*
My prayers will only be meaningful if You give me the spirit to pray with. My heart, left on its own, is like dry, empty clay — it can’t produce anything good by itself.
You are the source of all good and holy actions, and they only grow where You allow them to. Unless You show us the right path, no one can find it on their own. Father, You must guide us.
So please, breathe these holy thoughts into my mind, so that goodness can grow within me, and I can follow in Your sacred footsteps. Free my tongue from its limitations, so I can have the power to sing about You and praise You forever.
What do we learn about praying in the Spirit from this poem? Michelangelo admits that He is but clay, that only God’s path succeeds, that our spirit is quickened when we hear His Word, then we have boldness to pray and act, and that in all things we must praise God.
And pause for a moment for this phrase from Michelangelo — breathe these holy thoughts into my mind! With God breathing His ideas into our minds, can praying in the Spirit have a better source of inspiration?
Perhaps you’ll have other thoughts when reading Michelangelo’s prayer. But I’ve learned from this prayer and my own experience that “praying in the Spirit” means interceding for God’s revealed will to us about our lives, the lives of others, and even world events.
Praying in the Spirit gives God an excuse to act! And it can be in tongues or not in tongues — both work!
*I used Claude.ai to put Michelangelo’s original poem/prayer into Modern American English.
(Bonus feature in today’s Interruption: What are the famous works of Michelangelo below?)
