Fearlessly Courageous
10 14 2024
Desk of Dennis Piller
You may have been a person who is been reading over this last couple of days as I wrote about intercession and felt a certain urge to pray. You may have felt this unexpected urgency to bend your knee at the foot of the cross. Perhaps without even a clear direction in which to pray. That often happens to an intercessor who may be standing in the gap for someone who lives across the ocean
in China or a region of the world.
Truthfully, in the aftermath of Helene and the once-in-a-century hurricane, Milton,
if you’ve felt an urge to pray for other Americans, friends, your city, and state, then you
are headed in the right direction. It is often that reason he wakes you in the middle of the night.
It’s not insomnia … It’s a call to intercede.
There are tens of thousands who have been impacted by these cataclysmic events. When you are looking at everything you own, float away. When you are older and don’t have another lifetime to rebuild…
it is easy to get lost in yourself. But God’s calling has always been a higher one.
Roman 8:28: “Everything works together for the good of those who love God and live according
to his purpose for them.” That is enough to choke on when we are in the middle of the storm.
But they are still true. He wants us to push through the birthing process to embrace a spirit-filled life.
It will show forth who you are and will determine where you go from here.
The spirit leads sons of God to life. The direction you take in the midst of the storm will reveal your desires. If the flesh rules, you will gratify the flesh.
If the Spirit leads you, HIS desire and strength will be yours. Gal 5:16-17
The word groaning in old Greek is translated as: “God talking.”
So when it speaks of groaning in the spirit by an intercessor in travail, it actually is
“God talking”. How powerful is that!
When we consider the story of Lazarus and what Jesus did when he heard the news, it spoke several times about Jesus weeping. Listen: “Weeping…weeping…greatly disturbed….deeply moved….weep….greatly disturbed”.
The word translated greatly disturbed is an immensely strong one. It means shuddered or agitated. This is the only place in the Fourth Gospel where Jesus reveals his deepest emotions. It spoke of how much Jesus loved Lazarus. He was paving the way in intercession and travail. I believe everything that happens in the natural first happens in the spiritual realm around us. And when he came to the tomb he said, Father, I thank thee for hearing my voice. A key principle of intercession and travail is Thanksgiving.
My granddaughter was flooded by Milton in Plant City, 60 miles from the coast, and in the dark, she waded with water to her waist as she carried her frightened four-year-old to safety. She was terrified but fought to keep her composure for her daughter. She prayed!
Many men do not understand the real impact of the birthing process. When an intercessor gets into higher levels, it is called travail. And just like there is often a birthing room when a woman is having a child. So is moving into this arena spiritually speaking. Travail may begin with weeping and groaning, but when it begins to move into the birthing process, it happens much like natural childbirth. The contractions may be five minutes apart, but they will continue to be shortened until there is this continuance of pressure and urgency to come forth.
Many mothers can attest they get to that point in delivery, and they wonder, what have I gotten myself into? This is too hard. But it’s too late; there is no going back; they have this natural instinct to continue to push through until that baby is born.
So it is with the spirit of travail you must not stop while that baby is still in the canal. You must continue to press through until you have that Spiritual release. And you will know that the battle has been won. Many times you may know what the battle is but they’ll be other times that it is not revealed to you. Just know that God has called you to stand in the gap for someone or something, somewhere in the world, and you are the one called to obey.
And when the baby comes forth, the labor pains are forgotten, and you rejoice. You see, it’s the imperishable seed, the word of God, that is inside of these people. (That seed within even a lost person was deposited by someone somewhere along their way.) And when an intercessor falls into travail, they are giving birth to that seed, that word of God that is already inside of them that needs to be birthed.
The truth is, the powers of intercession and travail are the Holy Spirit’s power to actually pull boys and girls and men and women out of the very flames of hell
When God has a call on a person’s life. When he has marked them for duty in his army. He will raise up an intercessor, a mom or grandmom, or an unknown person from India to battle for them in the spirit when they cannot climb the mountain on their own. That is the call of an intercessor. They walk in discernment and often the spirit of wisdom.
Romans 8:22 “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now”.
You have been given the tongue of men and of angels. When Peter was released from prison after the travail of the Christian community. It was the power of intercession that sent forth god’s angels
to deliver another soul in trouble.
In the power of the tongue, there is life and death and intercessors call forth life. Proverbs 18:21
I would pray and implore you to gather with some friends and purpose to reach out to help your fellow man. Do something…You won’t have to drive far or look hard to find devastation. You may have feed the homeless on thanksgiving…I pray that same spirit to move us all to reach our and
Love our neighbors as ourselves.
WILL YOU BRING YOUR FAMILY TO PRAY WITH ME AND THOSE SUFFERING FOR AN HOUR?
If you have missed the first two devotions in this series on Intercession and Prayer. Please take the time to go back to the two prior posts last week.
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Matt West Don’t Stop Praying
