If we refer to the same passage of scripture quoted previously, we see that the Holy Spirit tells us that strife between a husband and wife will prevent their prayers from being heard. In other words, when spouses are not walking in love towards each other, then they are walking in sin, and no longer walking in righteousness. The act of not walking in righteousness has the effect of having our prayers of the understanding no longer being heard by the Father. That same principle applies to every aspect of the believers’ life i.e. if they are walking outside of love towards any of their brethren, then their prayers of the understanding will also not be heard. However, in the spirit this is not the case, for our spirits cannot sin (1 John 3:9), and in fact it is our spirits, along with our consciences, that condemn us when we do sin. And so, because our spirits are always righteous, when we pray with our spirits, those prayers are always heard by God. Even the believer, who is walking in unrepentant sin, has their prayer that is uttered in the spirit, heard by God. Obviously, the spirit of that believer will be praying for the believer to be led to repentance, so that their prayers of their understanding can once again be heard by God. You can therefore readily see that being able to pray in other tongues is of immense value to the believer.
Michael E.B. Maher
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