According to Jude 20, if we would build up ourselves upon our most holy faith, we need to pray in the Holy Spirit. Faith is related to the Word, and in the Holy Spirit we have life. In this verse the Holy Spirit refers mainly to life, not power. However, some Christians today understand the Holy Spirit mainly in terms of power. In Romans 8:2 Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life. From experience we know that praying in the Holy Spirit is much more a matter of life than a matter of power. When we pray, we may not sense power; however, we often have the sense of life. Life is more precious than power. Actually, real spiritual power comes from spiritual life.
Genuine power is a matter of life. We may use seeds as an illustration. Seeds of every kind are small. Yet although a seed is small, it is dynamic and full of life. Because a seed is full of life, it is powerful. After a seed is sown in the ground, it sprouts and grows into a plant or tree. Although the sprouts may be very tender, they have the power to break through the soil. This power comes from the life in the seed. In a similar way, building ourselves up by praying in the Holy Spirit is mainly a matter of life.
The Holy Spirit in Jude is the Spirit for our prayer. We need to pray not in ourselves but in Him. Today this praying Spirit is abiding in our spirit; thus, we must live in spirit. Jude 19 says, “These are those who make divisions, soulish, having no spirit.” What should distinguish the believers from the unbelievers is that the latter are soulish, not using their spirit, while the former care for their spirit and pray in the Holy Spirit. We may illustrate the difference between believers and unbelievers in the following ways. When an unbeliever is going to travel, he exercises his mind to decide on the means of transportation. This means that he is soulish. However, when a believer is going to travel, he should make his decisions by exercising his spirit to pray. Similarly, the unbelievers exercise their mind and live in the soul to make decisions about their schooling. The believers, however, behave in a different way. Because they have the Holy Spirit within them, they make all their decisions by exercising their spirit to pray in Him. It is regrettable, though, that we sometimes behave the same as the unbelievers do. It seems that we do not have a spirit, that we are soulish. In everything, we need to pray in the Spirit. Unbelievers do not have the Holy Spirit in their spirit, but we the believers do.
Prayer should be in the Holy Spirit. Prayer, which is a matter of man cooperating with God, must possess two natures. Prayers that come only from man and thus are not mingled with God are merely religious prayers. They do not touch God, breathe in God, or reach God. This is the reason that Jude says we should pray in the Holy Spirit. Praying in the Holy Spirit means that we and the Holy Spirit must pray together.
The secret to the Christian life is to be mingled with the Holy Spirit. The spiritual life of a Christian is absolutely a matter of man being mingled with the Holy Spirit. When we are in the Holy Spirit, we live a genuine spiritual life. When we are not in the Holy Spirit, we do not live a genuine spiritual life. It is possible for us to have all kinds of religious activities, but if we are not in the Holy Spirit, there is no way for us to have a genuine spiritual life. This particularly applies to prayer. Apart from the Holy Spirit we have only religious prayers, which have no spiritual worth before God. If we want genuine, spiritual prayers, prayers that reach God, touch God, breathe in God, and are in God, we must pray in the Holy Spirit.
In verse 21 Jude says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” We should keep ourselves in the love of God by building up ourselves in the holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. In this way we should await and look for the mercy of our Lord so that we may not only enjoy eternal life in this age but also inherit it for eternity (Matt. 19:29).
If we do not build up ourselves in the faith and pray in the Holy Spirit, it will be easy for us to depart from the love of God. Actually, the words in the love of God mean in the enjoyment of the love of God. Here Jude speaks of the love of God not in an objective way but in a subjective way, in the way of enjoying this love. Hour after hour we need to enjoy the love of God. We should be in the love of God not only objectively but also subjectively. We need to keep ourselves always in the enjoyment of God’s love by building ourselves up and by praying. Building up ourselves is related to the holy Word, and praying is related to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if we have the Word applied to us and the Spirit working within us, we will be kept in the enjoyment of God’s love as we await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.