You know there are people who believe that without preparation or without study of the Scriptures one can speak intelligently and effectively to people about God and his kingdom. However, since the aim of Scripture is to bring what God intends people to hear, be, and do, we expect our minds to be something more than a blank page. Our most important interaction being prayer, we should recognize that along with preaching and teaching prayer is an opportunity for inspired speech, and not without our mind being active and productive.

We pray with peculiar Spirit help or not at all

Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; (Romans 8:26) and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:27)

Letting God’s Spirit lead

As new born (newly begotten) children of God the Spirit leads the way, saying what we need to say in our new status, primarily acknowledging God and addressing him as Father, as Yeshua did.

But because you are sons, God  sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

It is the Spirit who cries “ABBA! Father!” teaching us the new language of prayer.

We may not wish to recognize that the tongues appearing on each head (Acts 2:3) in the Pentecostal Event are a paradigm of all believers empowerment to speak about God, because we have a hang up about people speaking in an unknown language (tongue, in Greek), but how can we deny that praying demands WORDS WE DO NOT NORMALLY OR HUMANLY POSSESSS?

Romans 8:27 says that we pray effectively when we connect with the Spirit’s unutterable groanings. It is not that we have learned the Lord’s prayer, or the prayer of Daniel, or the prayer of Moses. It is that we hear the Spirits groaning, and it is intelligible.  Therefore we should not let the phrase “too deep for words” lead us to think that we pray without our mind being activated.

I am sorry: you need your mind to pray, even though God, the Holy Spirit is praying for you. Notice the following distinction.

THE MIND IS UNPRODUCTIVE when one prays in a tongue

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive. (1 Corinthians 14:14)

THE MIND IS PRODUCTIVE when one prays to edify an assembly

What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the mind also. (1 Corinthians 14:15)

See verses 16 to 17 for the full picture of two kinds of praying. Now let us assume that the subject of our prayers is God’s will, and that will is made plain to us from Scripture.  Where else can we be certain of God’s will?

All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

• To teach
• To rebuke
• To correct
• To train in righteousness
• To equip for every good work

How then can prayer not be UTTERANCE (from Acts 2:4, I give utterance, αποφθεγγομαι), an apothegm (pronounced “apothem”), special, dignified or elevated speech?