The Spirit of Prayer

About this book

Prayer was never meant to be a transaction. It is a courtship.Most believers pray to get something from God. The Spirit of Prayer is calling you to something deeper: to know Him.In THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER: Advocate and Wooer, Rev. Philip Ato Austin presents the Holy Spirit as both your Advocate, who groans through you and presses against spiritual resistance, and your Wooer, who is drawing you into union with God. These are not two activities. They are one.Built on Zechariah 12:10, Isaiah 32:15, Philippians 4:6 and 1 Corinthians 2:9-13, this book maps the road from surrender to breakthrough.PART ONE: THE FOUNDATIONYIELD, ENCOUNTER, and PURSUIT: the surrender that opens the door, what happens when you yield continuously, and the persistence that carries you toward union.PART TWO: THE OPERATIONHow the Spirit's knowing flows through your voice. Why tongues is the threshold to the fullness of the spiritual gifts. The two layers of resistance you are actually facing. How fasting weakens the flesh's leverage. The breaking and the quickening. A complete seven-hour prayer pattern. The stories of Hannah, Elijah, Anna, and Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus. And a sober warning for those who quit before delivery.Inside you will discover: - Why prayer built only on results is employment, not intimacy- What the Spirit of Prayer does when you cannot find the words- Why the flesh does not want to break, and what happens when it does- Why the hardest hour is often the hour before breakthrough- How fasting helps the Spirit move through you with less resistance from the flesh- Why union with God, not the answer itself, is the real goalThis is not an easy book. It is an honest one. It asks for your time, your comfort, and your control.The hours, the pattern, and the practices in these pages are advice drawn from personal experience. They are a guideline, not a dogma. Every believer is led by the Holy Spirit, and you are invited to build on what you find here as He directs.The book is only the doorway. The groaning is the real work.