The different dimensions of prayer
1. Praying with your understanding :
This is the type of prayer that you pray with your understanding, in the human language that you know and understand. This kind of prayer is limited to the knowledge you possess and centres around your own human understanding and possibilities. Paul advices us to pray this type of prayer in a congregation when there are other listeners who will benefit from what they receive in their human understanding.
yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. (2 Corinthians 14:19)
Unless you can interpret the tongues you speak or there is someone else who can interpret your tongues, refrain from speaking in tongues. Speaking with your understanding benefits your listeners unless the congregation decides to pray together in an unknown tongue for a particular prayer point or simply to stir up and energise/vitalise their spirits.
2. Praying in the spirit / Praying in other tongues :
This prayer is otherwise known as the tongues, praying in the spirit, tongues of angels Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels… (1 Corinthains 13:1) or utterances given to you as your spirit prays.
This kind of prayer is orchestrated by the spirit of God who is one with your spirit. This prayer is prayed by your spirit and is uttered by you, your understanding or mind has no part in it. This prayer covers every area of spiritual understanding as the spirit of God searches all things, even the deep things of God as you utter mysteries in the spirit, praying the perfect will of God.
For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. (1 Corinthians 14:2)
This type of prayer brings into alignment in the realm of the spirit, commanding angels and winning spiritual battles that you never knew you were facing.
When you pray in tongues, your spirit prays but your own human understanding is unfruitful, in other words your mind cannot understand the utterances and neither can your listeners.
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. (1 Corinthians 14:14)
Tongues edifies your mind and is beneficial for your spiritual growth and development and helps you understand deep mysteries. The Holy spirit can also give you interpretation of tongues through the gift if interpretation which usually is prophetic in nature.
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. (1 Corinthians 14:4)
Apostle Paul prayed more in tongues than anybody else and encouraged believers to pray more in tongues than with the prayer of understanding.
I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all. (1 Corinthains 14:18)
3. Groanings :
This is the deepest level or dimension of prayers where tongues and mysteries turn into groans that cannot be uttered. This kind of prayer cannot be articulated and is different from praying in other tongues.
It comes from the very depths of your spirit as the spirit of God leads you to simply sigh and groan and weep in His presence and you enter a place of total dependence on God and you receive supernatural substance of faith that you know and you know that you’ve already received the answer you’ve been praying for. Groanings and sighs usually lead to complete silence where you begin receiving answers and ideas and mysteries which start making sense. It is a place of decoding and total understanding.
This type of prayer in groanings and deep sighs is activated in your spirit when you’ve been praying in tongues and with understanding and you come to a place where you run out of words to say, and the spirit of God takes total control. The Holy spirit who knows all things begins to make intercession for you. He knows the perfect will of God and he begins praying in a language that is understood in the spirit realm and covers all areas that needs to be covered in prayer that cannot be covered by prayers prayed with understanding. The holy spirit who is one with your spirit prays through your spirit and this is the most effective and deepest dimension of prayer.
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession [a]for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-28)
