Prayer and the Holy Spirit
A Sermon on John 4:13-14
Scripture
13Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing …
13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting …
Sermon Description
Prayer is a beautiful gift that has been given to God’s people, but it is not a gift to be taken lightly. The Bible tells that when the Christian prays, they are to pray fervently in the Spirit. What then does it mean to pray in the Spirit? In this sermon on John 4:13–14 titled “Prayer and the Holy Spirit,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses this topic by showing from Scripture how Christians should pray. He begins by saying that in order to pray in the Spirit, the Christian must be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. When this is done, the Holy Spirit will give the words to pray and will lead in prayer. It is through the Spirit alone that the Christian is able to have access to God, because it is the Spirit who enlightens the mind and reveals God. Dr. Lloyd-Jones then shows that the result of praying in the Spirit is the realization of God’s presence. Prayer is a privilege to be in the presence of the holy God. It is this act of bowing down before the Lord in humility and following the leading of the Spirit that leads to true prayer.
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.