Gloria Copeland — The Holy Spirit Is Our HelperPosted on September 16th, 2009

Gloria Copeland

The Holy Spirit will strengthen you with might in
your inner man to overcome the weakness of living
in a natural body. “But if the Spirit of him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:
11).

The Holy Spirit does not do the strengthening by
Himself. He comes to our aid. He is our helper. When
we pray in other tongues, the Spirit of God bears us
up in the weakness of our flesh—the part of us that
is earthy and natural—and brings us God’s answer to
the situation or problem.

Through the operation of the Holy Spirit within us,
we are no longer held in bondage to the natural
world. Our part is to give Him place and then yield
the control of our lives to Him. This allows the
supernatural power of God to flow in our behalf to
bring to pass the will of God. When we give place to
the Holy Spirit and obey Him, we are allowing God
to be God in our lives.

The Bible says, “He that speaketh in an unknown
tongue edifieth himself” (1 Corinthians 14:4). The
phrase edifieth himself means “builds up himself.”
Verse 14 says, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue,
my spirit prayeth….” Praying in the spirit is praying in
other tongues. When we pray in other tongues, we
allow the Holy Spirit to express His will through us.

After the new birth, I think it is most important to
give the Holy Spirit control over your life. Jude tells
us that we—the beloved—are to build ourselves up
on our most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost.

Whatever weakness of the flesh you have, praying
in the spirit—in other tongues—will overcome that
weakness and give you victory. If you’ll spend time
praying in the spirit every day, you’ll find earth’s
bondages can no longer restrain you. The law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes you free from the
law of sin and death. The Holy Spirit Himself is
enforcing your deliverance.

“For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth,
but my understanding is unfruitful” (1 Corinthians 14:
14). Praying in other tongues is the groaning too deep
to utter in our known language.

We can’t articulate in our known language those
things too deep for our understanding. But when we
pray in the spirit—in tongues—we’re not praying
according to our own understanding, or our own
limited knowledge, but according to the unlimited
wisdom and knowledge of God. We can pray beyond
our own knowledge. Thank God for praying in other
tongues! It will overcome our lack of knowledge and
spiritual insight.

Had we been taught after conversion to give place
to the Holy Ghost by praying in other tongues every
day, and to expect and obey the leading of the Holy
Spirit, our Christian lives would be far different.

Praying in the Holy Spirit and obeying the promptings
of our spirit would have kept us under the control of
the Holy Spirit while we were renewing our minds
with the written Word of God.

The believers Paul was teaching in the book of
Romans did not have the New Testament written in
a book. They had a letter from Paul. The complete,
written Word of God was not offered to them as it is
to us.

But they could go on to perfection—spiritual maturity
—by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Even though
we have the written Word as our textbook, we must
not fail to follow the Holy Spirit. In both the Old and
New Testaments, God has always been willing to
deal with His people, not only by written statutes
and ordinances, but also by His voice.

He admonished Israel if they would keep His Word
and obey His voice, He would be God in their lives
(Exodus 19:5; Jeremiah 7:23). When they came before
the walls of Jericho, it was His voice speaking to them
that gave them victory instead of defeat.

There is another side to this. Had Israel not been
keeping the written statutes and ordinances, they
would not have heard the voice of God that brought
them deliverance. We must learn to follow both the
written Word and the moment-by-moment direction
of the Holy Spirit.

Praying in the spirit is one of the weapons of our
warfare that is mighty (supernatural) through God to
the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).

God wants the Church of Jesus Christ to launch
an attack against the devil’s strongholds, and to pull
them down. We are to cast Satan out of his control
on this earth. Peter quoted Psalm 110:1 on the Day
of Pentecost, saying: “The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy
footstool” (Acts 2:34-35).

Jesus is going to sit at the right hand of the Father
until His enemies are under His feet. Who will do
that? The Father said, “Until I make thy foes thy
footstool.” God, by His Spirit, who was sent forth
on the Day of Pentecost to indwell born-again, new
creatures in Christ Jesus, is going to put Jesus’
enemies under His feet! The last enemy that will be
destroyed on the earth is death (1 Corinthians 15:
25-26).

The Church of Jesus Christ, by the power and control
of the Holy Spirit, is going to defeat death, as well as
every other enemy of God. The Bible tells us the
Church is going to overthrow Satan’s control of the
earth. The earth already belongs to Jesus, for He
said, “All power (authority) is given unto me in heaven
and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).

Why has Satan stayed in control, even though he
has no authority? Because the Church has been
carnally minded instead of spiritually minded. God is
demanding that we change.

Gloria Copeland

  • Share/Bookmark
Filed under: Gloria Copeland

Comments are closed.