Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
10 9 2024
The Ministry of Intercession and Travail. It’s Time! Part 1 of 3
Our prayers are especially with all my readers in Florida and the Carolinas.
So many have been either directly or indirectly affected by this active storm season.
The pictures and stories have been heart-wrenching, and if there has ever been a time to do
more than pray…this is it. We are in the middle of a life-changing Presidential election that will shape the future of America. We are on the brink of World War III. We have a serious waffling of support for our strongest ally Israel. And we have two catastrophic record-breaking hurricanes back to back.
We know that this new hurricane, Milton, has seriously increased the stress of storm preparation in an incomplete recovery.
2 Tim 3: 1 “This also know, that in the last days, perilous times shall come.” Matt 24: 4 “ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. [5] For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. [6] And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”.
Wars, plagues, and natural disasters are all a sad reality of a world groaning under the curse of sin. Sometimes, we get this sense we are in the last days. I think we are all closer than we dare to believe.
I think it is time that we call our flesh into submission to the call of the Holy Spirit to pray with your family and stand in the gap for “The Storm” to come. We need to not just pray but intercede for our State, our city, for those devastated by Helene in the Carolina. Let’s take a walk into the deeper waters of intercession and travail. They are not taught much these days, but God would not have us be ignorant of His ways.
John 16:20-22: Verily, I say unto you, A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour has come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world.
Let us lay a foundation of Prayer: There is petition prayer, confessions prayer, Intercession, praise and thanksgiving, and adoration. Please note that Travailing prayer is another level of Intercessory prayer.
It is said that Prayer is to our lives, what fuel is to an engine. Yet we fight it! Intercession is a step up from prayer, like adding a supercharger to your car. … Intercession is praying God’s heart into a specific situation or standing in the gap on behalf of a person or region who is in need of mercy and grace.
God is looking for intercessors (his children) who will believe Him and continue to pray no matter how they feel or how big the problem looks. Yes in the middle of being overwhelmed.
Intercessory prayer warriors are believers who are willing to lay down their lives for their
brothers and sisters.
They act as an intermediary between the person and God for a precise reason.
Jesus is our example as he sits continually at the right Hand of the Father, forever making intercession for us. Rom 8:34
Travail requires the spiritual strength to bear the child. The fight, and its full assault, to push through the birthing process into the supernatural realm of God breaking the barrier that is preventing the breakthrough of someone or something. (Are you seeing this?)
The fact is, the call has gone out to you to begin praying for your families. If you have not heard it before, let me be the reminder of the voice crying in the wilderness. Many of you have answered that call. But too many are still on the banks of the river hesitating about walking into the deeper waters of God. But if you’re still reading this, I hope you can still come to realize the urgency of his call and that it is not too late.
And I pray you do not undervalue the power of your spirit, praying with the power of a community of prayer warriors united in intercession for God’s children. The Lord knew exactly how many people would hear the message regarding the storm. Not just with these hurricanes but in our America and our world!
I pray your spirit will come alive as you read this 3 part series on Prayer and Intercession knowing that it is not my voice but the voice of the Holy Spirit that calls us to the forefront of the battle to intercede and give birth to the revelation and liberty which is Christ Jesus our Lord
Douglas MacArthur said “the reason for failures in war is it was too late… too late for realizing the mortal danger, too late for pulling the allies together to fight. It was too late”. And even though this is not a spiritual context, it is very much what’s happening in our world today as people remain separated, too listless, and too lazy when it comes to persevering in prayer. People need to press through the labor of their faith into the marvelous things that Christ would do through them. Intercessors take it to an entirely different level. Like playing high school ball versus being in the NFL.
God is calling out an army but it will be your choice to join him. We face another day today to choose who we will follow. Two are better than one. (Eccl 4:9) A three-stranded cord is not easily broken.
Eccl 4:12 We are the army of Christ. 2 Tim 2: 3-6 “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life;
that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier”.
We cannot allow “too late” to happen to our obedience to his call. Gather the troops…your children, your family of believers, and pray together. We are on the eve of potentially the hardest hurricane to hit Florida in over 100 years. So whether you have evacuated to safe ground or you have stayed home.
Now is the time to intercede for your fellow brothers and sisters…not just for your property.
Know that the power of his Holy Spirit does not hide behind a veil, it is there before you, in his word… and it will come alive if you will but bend your knee in obedience to His calling. Today gather your family in hotel rooms or living rooms and swim into the deeper waters of intercession and travail.
Pray the scriptures!
Lord, open their eyes and ears so that they might hear your voice before it is too late. Friday, we look at part II of three parts on intercessory prayer. I beg you to pour your heart out to the Father today!
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Matt West Don’t Stop Praying
