 I want to talk to you about how the Holy Spirit affects your prayer life. First Corinthians chapter 6 verse 17 says this, but the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. You do not have two natures. The flesh is not you. The flesh is not a part of your true identity. Yes, you still bear the responsibility of the decisions that you make in the flesh. That's true. But ultimately, that's not who you truly are if you're a born-again believer. The person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him, meaning that your spirit is one with the Holy Spirit. Who you are is connected with God. In the spirit, you're one with him. In the spirit, you already have peace. In the spirit, you already have love and power and grace and mercy and righteousness and clarity and revelation. All of those things are already yours by the Holy Spirit, not out of yourself, not of your own power, but from and by the Holy Spirit of the Spirit of God. So we approach prayer not from the outer shells of who we are. We do not approach prayer from the physical standpoint. In other words, there's no ritual you can perform in the natural that will cause a spiritual connection. There's nothing you can do with your emotions or with your intellect that will cause a spiritual connection. Prayer begins in the spirit. Prayer is by the Holy Spirit. Prayer begins in oneness with God. Many believers are of the impression or under the impression, I should say. Many believers are under the impression that they pray to become one with God or that they pray to connect with God and they look at prayer like a performance. They look at prayer like a task. They look at prayer as if it's something that they do in order to get God's presence. But the Holy Spirit dwells in you. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. You're not praying to acquire God's presence. You're not praying to acquire God's love. You're praying from connection with the Holy Spirit. You do not pray to connect with God. You pray from connection with God. You do not pray to acquire oneness with God. You pray from that oneness. That oneness with God, by the way, is why you desire to pray to begin with. And once you understand your heavenly position, once you understand the posture by which you approach prayer, then it begins to change everything about the way you pray. You see, when we approach prayer like it's a task or like it's a performance or like it's something that we have to do in order to gain God's attention, then we become discouraged when we don't feel certain things or experience certain things. Why? Because we're waiting for our emotions and experiences to validate what we should already believe because what the Scripture says. We don't go by feelings, we go by the word. And so if you approach prayer in that way, it becomes a religious task. And you become discouraged when you don't experience what you want to experience or when you don't necessarily see the manifestations of His power that you want to see or feel. But when you approach it knowing that the Scripture is true, you save yourself a lot of heartache. Far too many believers waste time. Please hear me now. Far too many believers waste time begging God to hear them, begging for God's attention. You should not be begging for God to hear you. You should not be begging for His attention as a born-again New Testament Spirit-filled believer. Why? Because you already have His attention. He's already hearing you. He's already looking at you. He's already listening to you. As a child of God, you already have His attention. You already have His affection. You already have the Heavenly Father's ear. He's listening to you right now. He's looking at you right now. So then when we approach prayer from faith, instead of begging God to hear us, we simply believe that He already does. Instead of begging for God to give us His attention, we simply know by faith in the word that He already has. And in this knowing, we operate out of this oneness. Now of course, this doesn't mean that we're already perfected, but we are already connected. I may not be perfected, but I am already connected. And it is from that connection that I am being perfected. It is from that connection that I am being transformed. It is from that connection that I receive the desire to pray, guidance in prayer, transformation in prayer. Why? Because He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. I want you to write this in the comment section right now. You may have trouble believing it. Maybe in your emotions, in your thoughts, there is some struggle with this truth, but I want you to write it by faith because it's true and because it's scripture. I want you to write, I'm already one with Him. That's where it begins. I'm already one with Him. Write it by faith right now, even if you're kind of struggling to believe it, whether you're watching live or on replay. I'm already one with Him. That's where prayer begins. Prayer begins in union with God. Prayer begins in fellowship with God. Prayer begins in this oneness. You are not praying, trying to acquire that union. The only reason you can pray in the first place is because you have been united with Him. In fact, and this is my first point, the only reason that you even desire to pray is because you've already been made one with Him. So number one, He gives you the desire to pray. Prayer is by the Spirit. Psalm 80, 18 says this, so we'll not go back from the quick in us and we will call upon Thy name. Here we see that they first must be quickened before they can call upon His name. In other words, the Holy Spirit has to plant that desire. Now, this may, of course, beg the question, does this mean that I can't just approach God anytime that I desire? Does this mean that I can't just pray anytime that I desire? No. This means that that desire itself comes from the Holy Spirit. You are drawn to prayer by the Holy Spirit. You are reminded about prayer by the Holy Spirit. As you're moving about your day, you will often sense these pools into the realm of the Spirit. These pools into the prayer room. He's drawing you by His Spirit. He's reminding you by His Spirit to enter those places of prayer. He's extending to you a royal invitation. He's extending to you an invitation to have an audience with God. And the Holy Spirit draws you. Perhaps maybe you've experienced that drawing from the Holy Spirit at midnight, at three o'clock in the morning, two o'clock in the morning, at one o'clock in the morning. I know I, myself, on certain evenings, certain nights, certain early mornings, the Holy Spirit will just pool and say, come, pray. Well, Jesus was often led to pray by Himself. He would often retreat. He would often go away. Those are the drawings of the Holy Spirit calling you to the places of prayer. My question is, are you ignoring the invitation? This, of course, doesn't mean that we're to live like hermits, live in the mountains, and never contact anyone and never participate and care about our responsibilities. No, this just means that we have to be attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. We have to be sensitive to His leading because He will draw you to those places of prayer. And, in fact, the very idea that you desire to pray shows you that He's drawing you. Again, I'm not saying you don't have the free will to call upon the Lord. I'm saying that desire, that unction to call upon the Lord, is only possible by the Holy Spirit. He gives you spiritual desires. You must act on those desires. The Holy Spirit, in regards to prayer, the Holy Spirit will give you the desire to pray. You must make the decision to pray. The Holy Spirit will give you the desire to pray. You must implement the discipline to pray. He gives you desire. You make the decision. He gives you desire. You act out the discipline to establish your life upon prayer. You know, when you go a day without prayer, you're saying to the Holy Spirit, I don't need you today. When you go a week without prayer, you're saying to the Holy Spirit, I can handle this week without you. When you live your life without prayer, you're saying to the Holy Spirit, I can live in my own strength and power and wisdom. I don't need you. A day without prayer is a demonstration of pride. A day without prayer is a demonstration of unhealthy self-reliance. We neglect these invitations. He calls us into the secret place. He quickens us, and all too often, we ignore him. He invites us, and many times, we push him aside. Ezekiel 36, 26, and 27 say this, and I will give you a new heart. It's what I read on just the last lesson that I did where I talked about the Holy Spirit and salvation, the same portion of Scripture. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. This is the description of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. This is the transformation of your nature. And I will put my spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. The only reason that we have the ability to obey God's decrees, the only reason that we have the ability to fulfill what God wants us to fulfill is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who gives us those desires and draws us unto obedience, who helps to make the path straight, who helps you to resist the urges of the flesh. Even now, maybe your flesh is fighting for entertainment, fighting for distraction, wanting to click on something else, watch something else, and the Holy Spirit is saying, no, this is spirit to spirit. This is feeding your spirit. You have to obey. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. So that's number one. He gives you the desire to pray. He puts that in your heart. Number two, He guides you when you pray. If you're like me, then it's possible that you've had a season in your life where you approached prayer very systematically. And I would often approach prayer ritualistically. And I would go through the list in my mind of all of the teachings I heard on prayer, all of the techniques I heard about prayer, all of the biblical truths I heard about prayer, nothing wrong with these. We need teaching on prayer. And of course, we need what the scripture says about prayer. But then I would get into the prayer room and I would wonder, can I pace? Can I stand? Do I have to sit? Do I have to kneel? Should I lie down on my face? Is it okay if I lie down in a restful posture while praying? Do I need to pray out loud? Or can I think my prayers in my mind? When should I pray for others? When should I pray my prayers of supplication? When should I pray in tongues? When should I pray against the enemy? When should I pray for the presence of the Lord? When should I worship? And I had all these different facets of prayer in my mind, all these different truths, all these different biblical realities about prayer. And I would become so mixed up with trying to go down the list in proper order and proper priority. I just didn't know what I was doing. And we complicate something that is spiritual. Remember this, that which is religious is always complex, and tedious, and burdensome. But that which is spiritual is always simple, not always easy, but definitely always simple. Psalm 14310 says this, teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your good spirit lead me on level ground. The Holy Spirit leads us concerning the things of God. Romans 8, 26 to 28, the verses say this. And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts, knows what the Spirit is saying for, the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. That's a key portion there. The Holy Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. In other words, He aligns us to the will of the Father when we don't know what to pray. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. So the Holy Spirit prays for us and aligns us with the will of the Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit prays for us and causes us to be inclined unto God's will. So He gives you the desire to pray. That's important. That's the beginning. He guides you when you pray, instead of having this long list of things that confuse you, confuses you, and you try to figure out where you should go in the realm of the Spirit, what technique to implement, what truths to apply at that time. You just go and you say, lead me Holy Spirit, and He'll let you know. Worship or be still or read the word or pray for your loved one or pray against the enemy here or pray against temptation there. He will guide you in those moments of prayer. Stop complicating it. He'll take care of it. So number one, He gives you the desire to pray. Number two, He guides you when you pray. This one's powerful here. He transforms you when you pray. Second Corinthians chapter three, verses 16 through 18. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. That's describing you and I, born again believers. We no longer have that veil to where we cannot see. That veil has been removed and now we can see clearly the Lord in the Spirit. Watch this, verse 17. For the Lord is the Spirit and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. So all of us describing the believer who have had the veil removed, had that veil removed, can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. Pause there for a second. Here's what's being described. The presence of the Lord is like unto a brilliant light. And we cannot see that light when we're wearing the veil over our eyes. But the moment the veil is removed, not only can we now see that light, but the brilliance of that light touches us in a special way. And now we become reflections of that light. Why? Because the veil has been removed. So we've had that veil removed and we can now see and reflect the glory of the Lord. In other words, you're not just witnessing the beauty of His presence. You're not just witnessing the beauty of His nature. But now you yourself become a reflection of that nature. And the Lord, who is the Spirit, just describing the work of the Holy Spirit here, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. I want you to write in the comments section right now, just say thank you, Jesus. This is a powerful truth. Just say thank you, Jesus. We should be grateful for something like this. I think so often we read over scriptures and we just kind of move past them casually without ever really stopping to consider the weight of the words written here in the Bible. Makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. Well, what's happening here? You're beholding Him. How do you behold Him in prayer, in worship, in the reading of the Word? Whenever you devote yourself to the spiritual practices of the believer, the life of the believer, you are participating in fellowship with the Lord. Reading the Word, that's a form of fellowship with the Lord. Worship, that is a form of fellowship with the Lord, technically. When you are praying, that is a form of fellowship with the Lord and you are communing with Him, but you're not just communing with Him, you're beholding Him. As you set your attention on Him, as you focus on the beauty of His glory, as you focus on the wonder of who He is, that light, that brilliant light begins to affect you profoundly. So now I can see Him. I can see His nature. I can see His goodness. I can see His love. I can see His mercy and compassion. I can see His power and authority and might. I can see that glory. And not only do I now see it, but I become a reflection of it. Why? Because I'm communing with Him. Because I'm looking unto Him. Because the veil has been removed and now I have unhindered fellowship. So that transformation begins to take place as I begin to surrender to that influence of the Holy Spirit within me. Again, not of me, but within me. Why He chose to deposit His Holy Spirit within us? I can never understand. Why He chose to let us be united with His nature? I can never understand. But that's what the scripture says. We're joined as one with the Lord. He's the Lord. We're not. He is God. We are not. But we become reflections. We are not the source of that light. We become reflections of that light. He makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. You know, it's impossible to accomplish nothing in true prayer. It's impossible to accomplish nothing in true prayer, whether you feel it or not, whether it looks like it or not, whether you believe it or not. For every moment you are praying, and I mean truly praying, you are being transformed into the image of Jesus, a reflection, I should say, of that image. For every moment you are praying, sin is losing its power. For every moment you are praying, old habits are beginning to weaken. For every moment you are praying, character flaws within you are being chipped away at. For every moment you are praying, impurities are being burned out of you. It's the refining presence of the Holy Spirit, and it happens when you pray. When you pray, you're looking unto Jesus. And when you look unto Jesus by the Holy Spirit, transformation begins to take place. Father, I pray you would help us do it. Come on, lift your hands, receive this now. I want you to begin to surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit that you might be made a person of prayer. Lord, I thank you for the work that you're doing in their lives. I thank you that you are causing us to be transformed. Just tell them that right now. I surrender. Tell them that right now. Change me, oh God. Tell them that right now. Make me like Jesus. Lord, cause us to listen for the invitation to prayer. Cause us to be sensitive to the voice of the precious Holy Spirit. And Lord, help us to listen to that voice as we pray, that we might be guided in the depths of glory. Lord, this is our prayer. As we spend time in your presence, you would transform us. Make us more like Jesus we pray. Touch them watching, touch them receiving this word now, let your healing virtue flow, let your delivering power flow break every addiction, every bondage in Jesus name, every sickness and disease. Let them sense your presence with them now. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. 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