28/06/2016
I find lately that my prayer time is filled with many tears. I cry and grieve over the church just as much as I cry and grieve over our sin sick world. There are many references to tears in the Bible (Ps. 42:3, 56:8, 126:5, John 11:35, Acts 20:19, 2 Kings 20:5, Heb. 5:7 and Acts 20:31) Tears are a viable and valuable form of prayer. A gift from God. There is another form of prayer, however, that can reach levels of intensity marked only by the Holy Spirit as a burden to bring forth something new. This prayer, the prayer that births, is more commonly known as travail. Travail is a birthing anointing; (without travail we will not birth anything); to bear, to have a conception and then deliver it; to be disgusted or to feel disgust; to feel faint, grieved, weary, distressed or troubled. To toil and writhe in pain; to feel a weight upon you. To put to grief, intense pain, agony. It's a type of burden bearing. "He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow. He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver." (Lamentations 3:12-13) Travailing prayer isn't something that you can muster up on your own. Only God births travail. It can come upon you at any place and any time. It is a prayer for all times and a prelude to all seasons. I believe God is calling His people to travail again. We have only just begun to birth the new things of God and we won't know what this travail is until we yield to it. "The Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant." (Isaiah 42: 13-14) Elijah travailed for the birthing of rain: "And Elijah said to Ahab, 'Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.' So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees (a birthing position). 'Go and look towards the sea 'he told his servant. And he went up and looked. 'There is nothing there,' he said. Seven times Elijah said, 'Go back.' The seventh time the servant reported, 'A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea.' So Elijah said, 'Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel." (I Kings 18:41-45) Travail brings forth the very purpose of God: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." (Romans 8: 22-26) Jesus travailed in the Garden of Gethsemane: "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." (Luke 22: 44). This travail that Jesus experienced was prophesied in Isaiah 53:11. "As the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities." The book of Hebrews mentions the travailing prayers of Jesus: "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission." (Hebrews 5:7) Other examples of travailing prayer in the Bible can be found in Is 66:7-8, Jn 11: 33-34, and Gal 4: 19. Scripture clearly validates and confirms this form of prayer and intercession; but can it get flaky? "Travailing prayer becomes flaky only when it operates independently of pastoral leadership and outside of biblical guidelines." (Cindy Jacob's) To guard against flakiness, prayer warriors (intercessors) need to keep their hearts pure, teachable, accountable and devoid of a critical and bitter spirit. Who gets to travail? We are all called to travail. It is not reserved for those who are seemingly gifted or holy. In Romans 8, Paul speaks of people, those who have firstfruits of the Spirit and who are weak, not knowing how to pray as they ought. He says that prayer under the unction (grace) of the Holy Spirit with groanings that are unintelligible, is accessible to all believers. God may, therefore call on any believer, at any time, to travail in prayer for birthing his kingdom purposes. This is a challenging issue which the enemy has exploited. It has, in many cases, created much tension in our churches and ministries. Some would argue that travailing prayer, which can offend those who don't understand it, should be reserved for the prayer closet and not exposed to public church life, in the same way as natural labor and birth are carried out in the privacy of a home or delivery room. The evidence of the birth is eventually brought out of the delivery room into public view. Ideally while privacy is desirable, travail can suddenly come upon you and just as suddenly leave. It can be short or come upon you for an extended period of time. The important thing is to yield to the Spirit. The Bible says that Jesus sobbed and prayed openly in the streets while riding into Jerusalem (Lk 19). Because of the way travail comes over us and because Jesus himself travailed in public some would say we shouldn't hide travailing prayer simply because some are uncomfortable and offended by it, or fear it. There may be times, however, when those in leadership need to make a judgment call to move the travailing individual (s) to a side room so that people are not distracted from what the Spirit is doing with the rest of the congregation. Ultimately, the call as to whether we will travail in public or private is up to God.We can trust that God will give those in leadership the correct discernment. Intercessors are not headless nuts that should be relegated to the lunatic bin. When the movement of travail comes upon them they need to be allowed to stay with it until the burden is lifted, because there is something that God wants to birth. "I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that the child is born into the world." (John 16: 20-21) I am convinced that travailing prayer is not only scripturally valid, but it is needed. It's an essential and powerful weapon and tool of the Holy Spirit to birth to life, the end-time apostolic purposes of God in our churches today. If we are not riding the wave of change...we will find ourselves beneath it. , , , . JESUS IS LORD ! ~ Prophet Paul (FCMDM ) 🙏🙏🙌🙌🔥
