"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God..." (Jude 1:20-21 NKJV - emphasis mine).
From this verse, it seems ordained that Christians somehow "pray in the Holy Spirit". So what does that mean? And how can the believer do it? Is it a form of ecstasy, a feeling, a transcending this life into a trance, an experience of speaking in tongues, a mountaintop that only a few can experience?
Well, if it's something all believers should experience (according to Jude), it should be available to all, not just the super-spiritual.
When you think about the phrase - pray in the Holy Spirit - then you'll find some keys to praying that way.
The word "in" (en in the Greek) is a preposition - it describes position... "in the house" or "in the car". Christians are "baptized in water" and "baptized in the Holy Spirit" (Acts 10:47-48 & 11:15-16).
This means that God changed our positional relationship to the Spirit. We once had no relationship to Him, but now we are "in" Him and He is "in" us!
So if I'm praying in the Holy Spirit, I'm praying in relationship to Him. I'm not praying "in the flesh" but I'm praying in the Spirit. I'm letting Him control my thinking. Since the Holy Spirit lives in me, I'm "controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit" (Romans 8:5-8 NIV).
As I'm praying in concert with what the Spirit is praying, He "intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26-27 NIV) and "by him we cry 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." (Romans 8:15-16 NIV).
This all happens because the Spirit dwells in us (1 Corinthians 6:19), because we have the right to be filled with Him (Ephesians 5:18) and because we dwell in Him and "are not in flesh but in Spirit" (Romans 8:9 Literal Bible).
So, just as the fish is in the water and the water is in the fish, believers dwell in the environment of the Holy Spirit. When that believer prays, he or she prays "in the Holy Spirit".
The easiest way to understand it is to ponder this: what would it mean to "pray in the flesh"? Well, the flesh is selfish, competitive, unholy, bent on doing its own will, uncaring, curious about evil, full of unhealthy desires, etc. Prayer in the flesh is prayer to get what I want so I can race ahead of everyone else. Prayer in the flesh can even be religious - "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector." (Luke 18:11 NIV).
So, praying in the Holy Spirit happens when spiritual people pray... and pray in concert with the Holy Spirit Himself.
(See more in H.A. Ironside's article on praying in the Holy Spirit.)
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