PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT SERIES

RECEIVING PRAYER BURDENS IN THE SPIRIT

Let's turn to the book of Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Then we go down to verses 26-28 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

We realize that Romans 8: 28 is a very popular verse with many Christians where when some thing happens they always say all things work together for good. But it is not an unconditional promise. It is a conditional promise. There are conditions attached to the promise. Not all things work together for good. But all things work together for good provided people love God and they are called according to His purpose. Besides that, notice that verse 28 the first word there is and, which ties it to the verse before that. So we cannot read it in a sense as a verse by itself. We should read it all together verse 27 and then 28. And then we get the full meaning. Remember that the full stops are generally good. Sometimes they seem to miss the right place. In the original Greek there are no full stops in the whole bible. The sentences just go on and on. You have to read on and on to determine which part attaches to which part.

Lets look at verse 27 and 28 together and read it as one sentence and not as two. "Now He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the call according to His purpose." In other words unless there are intercessions made for or brought, there will be nothing that will work out for good. And we realize that when something happens it doesn't automatically work for good. It only takes place when prayers are brought to God for whatever those things are. The question is what are those things? The things are not the general word for things. It refers to whatever goes before the verses that are previous to that. And the only possibility is in reference to the intercessions that are made. Because the word intercession is in the neutral word, so there it will follow on with those things that we have interceded for. All things, all things that we have interceded about, all that we have prayed about, all that we have lifted up onto God.

So the promise is only true when there is prayer involved. Whether you praying for somebody or you praying for yourself the situation starts working for good. Now we realize that this is a very powerful promise of God. Despite whatever has happened, if there are enough intercessors, the intercession can cause things to work out for good the grace of God. So we see here that the things can refer back to the intercessions that we bring forth onto God.

And any intercessor realizes that you cannot intercede for something effectively unless you carry a burden for it. The most effective intercession can only be done as a result of carrying a burden onto the Lord. We must receive a burden from the Lord. When we say a burden we are talking about a prayer burden. We are not talking about receiving problems into your life. We are talking about receiving burdens from the Lord in your spirit man.

There are five sensations of the spirit man. The first sensation is tenazo, which is translated as groaning in Romans 8 verse 23 and all those other verses in groaning in Romans 8. The Greek word tenazo means the heavy intercession that comes forth from within. And we need to experience that kind of burden before we can move into the depths of intercession. By that we realize that there are degrees of intercession. It doesn't mean that there has to be a heavy kind. There are degrees of prayer burden just as there are degrees of anointing. There are degrees and levels of anointing, ministry anointing. There are different degrees of anointing as you minister. So there are also degrees of prayer burden that God placed. Sometimes it is just a tiny little burden sometimes it is a heavy one that causes you to be sleepless. But if it is the light type of intercessory prayer burden that God gives sometimes it gets ignored because we are not careful to pay attention to some of the things in our spirits.

Now the Greek word tenazo has been translated in many other ways that will help us to understand what the burden feels like. Let's look in the book of James 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold the Judge standing at the door! The interesting thing is that the word grumble is the word tenazo. It is the same word that is translated as groan in Romans 8: 23. Now if you put the word groan in James 5: 9 it will convey some meaning. And here the word groan is used in the verb form. In the Greek, certain words translated as verbs are often used as nouns in the original. For example, they believed in God is actually faith in God. To convey the word tenazo lets use it like a verb and then see its original meaning when used as a noun. We see here in James 5: 9 do not groan against one another brethren. Or do not cause a groan on one another. Do not cause a burden on one another. That is talking about a burden or a groan from a different perspective.

Now lets look at one more verse to see its translation and then we will go on from there. Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, so that would be unprofitable for you. Notice that the word grief is the word tenazo. So if we take the word grief and put it on James 5: 9 it conveys a better meaning. Do not cause grief to one another. I like the way the Hebrews expresses it. A prayer burden sends us like a grief inside you. If you pull that word further it conveys sorrow, sadness. We know what the emotional soul feeling of sorrow is like. We know what it feels like, the physical and soulish aspect of sorrow when you are grieved. It has a certain sensation on your soul.

Now the spirit sensation is as little bit like that. But it is different in that it is inside and not just outward. Outwardly you could be normal, your mind is peaceful, and your body is relaxed and calm. There is no physical circumstances or events or crisis that may be causing you to be in grief or sorrow. In fact you could be in the happiest state in life. And yet suddenly there can come this grief in the spirit, which is a prayer burden.

Some people misinterpret the grief they feel on the inside. When they sense grief, they think that the other fellow who is wrong. It is not necessarily so. There is a grief that is a prayer burden that arises from our spirit man. When you experience the spiritual realm of grief, it does not mean that there is something wrong with you, or something wrong with somebody else. For example you could be with certain people doesn't mean that when you're just sensing grief that it must be them. See the mind is very smart to misinterpreting and very fast to jump to conclusion. When I mix with people who jump to conclusion all the time with their mind to interpret the things of the spirit, they miss a lot and tend to hurt a lot of people. And the other thing is that they think that they are very spiritual. But they are missing it because some of their interpretation don't confirm to my spirit. I have learned not to jump into it.

Let say you are in a certain situation. The moment you receive a grief, you will think that there is something in that situation. Not all the time, sometime it is something far away that the news hasn't got to you yet. And don't just listen to the reasoning of your mind. Put it on freehold; don't jump to conclusions yet. The voice of the mind and the voice of the spirit are different. So just pray and intercede. The grief that you receive in your spirit may have nothing to do with your situation that you have been working on for a week or two weeks. It may come for a fresh area that the spirit is conveying. Otherwise how can the bible say trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding. There is many times when we receive in the spirit, which we don't receive in our mind until later. So try not to be a smart Alec. Let me tell you that even the most experienced or spiritual man cannot tell it straight away at times on the grief area because God can keep it from them just as God kept something from Elisha.

If we know all the time what the grief is, then Romans 8:26 will not be true. It says we do not know. If we say we do not know then we do not know. Rom.8:26 for we know not what to pray. If we know not what to pray, then what is the big fuss? If we know not what to pray, then Rom.8:26 can come to pass. There is something God puts in our spirit that our mind does not comprehend yet. And it may have nothing in relation to what we are doing at all. Sometimes we ask God what is it and straightaway we think the first few thoughts is the answer. Not that way because some of those thoughts come from our own mind. Because our mind is trained to echo from our resources of data just like punching a computer key and we can get some data out. We must remember that there are some areas that God wants intercession to flow forth first. We want to understand what this prayer burden is. We cannot be effective intercessors until we pray through. And this is what we must do.

One of the first mistake people do whenever they receive a grief or groaning in the spirit is they try to understand then they try to pray. They do it the wrong way. They are putting the cart before the horse. What we must do is not jump to the conclusion yet. Not ask our mind to quickly think of something, think of a reason before praying. That is what most people do when they receive a burden and a grief. They try to reason and get some knowledge. When the bible says you know not what to pray, so just start praying. Just to pray in tongues. What is the purpose of tongues? To pray beyond the realm of understanding. So the first thing to do when we receive a burden is to start praying in tongues.

And what does the burden feel like? It sense sometimes like a grief, a sadness, a sensation of pressure inside, and it can be varying in degrees until it can be very heavy. These are phrases to describe what the grief can be like to your life. The thing is that it does not always come at a time that you want it to come. The times we need to pray are not as organized as we would like it to be. No doubt we should be quite discipline and organized and set a time for God. But intercessory burdens cannot be organized. It comes as the spirit wills in the light of the situation of a spiritual battle that is going on in the spirit realm. And there are times when it comes on you in the midst of your work. You just pray in tongues and bring it before the Lord. Sometimes when you are praying it gets lifted off. And then sometimes it creeps back again. Sometimes that kind of burden come and go throughout the whole day. And sometimes I experience it so much I said Lord, "Aren't there any other intercessors? Lord, how about sharing it with some other intercessors too?" Sometimes it comes at two o'clock in the morning and I say, "Lord I am working that hard I need my sleep. I know you will sustain me. Why of all persons you bring it to me. I do regular office work. I do ministry work at night. There is completely no time. I have to budget my time for my family. So I said Lord isn't there any intercessors?"

That is the reason for this message. There are intercessors but they are not obedient. When the burden comes there are not enough to carry it sometimes. You see the burden that the Lord gives us has to do with His kingdom. So lets say there is a spiritual battle going on, and for the angels to interfere they will need enough prayer to give them permission to interfere. To work things out for the good of God's people. So when they want to need more prayer the Holy Spirit sends a signal, so that all receive the same prayer burden. The same prayer burden is divided among six people.

Now there is a law in the spirit that is quite same as the law in the natural. Lets say we have a heavy table. If there are sufficient men we could carry the table easily since we share that load. And if one person try to carry it, it is not as easy. Lets say there are about eight men carrying it. About half way two men took a rest the other six men will find the weight a bit heavier. And as they go along another two men quit. The load becomes heavier and heavier. Carrying a prayer burden in the spirit realm is like that. There is something urgent that God requires and the Holy Spirit quickly alerts the intercessors. It is not so heavy that you could just do it while you are working. At the light stage you can. So what do you do? You straightaway pray in tongues, whether you are in the car or while working pray softly. By light I mean you could still be able to pray quietly. If you are in a Christian office praise God that is the best atmosphere. So we learn to pray softly. We develop the skill how to pray softly. Sometimes when the Holy Spirit gives a light burden to six intercessors, three don't obey so the burden gets heavier on the other three.

Why doesn't God give the prayer burden to other Christians? And this is the strange thing. It seems that we can only pray within the jurisdiction that we open ourselves to. For example, if you have no contact or knowledge of certain things, it is unlikely that you move into prayer in that area. I am talking about normal Christians. I am not talking about intercessors yet. When you begin to move into high-level intercession, you could be used by God to pray for anything under the sun. Even things that you have no knowledge of, God's Spirit will just bring it to you.

But most believers do not receive a prayer burden beyond their realm of experience or enlargement in their spirit. The most obvious person to receive a prayer burden when something is needed in prayer for your family is obviously you. God will not choose me as the first person. If I am a under shepherd for the church, there are things in the general Body of Christ that God may put on me. But the principle of appointment makes it very unlikely for the Holy Spirit to give you something that you have no experience in and you are not involved in or you are not knowledgeable of those circumstances. God's Spirit puts a prayer burden according to your level of experience and according to your level of relationship. Because of my relationship with fellow pastors, if something happen to them, I may get the burden rather than you. But if you know them in some way through their writing or books, you may get a burden for them too. That is how it operates. When I need more prayer God will wake some of you up. It is very unlikely that God will wake you up to pray for somebody who you don't know.

The only possibility of God doing that is what I call high-level intercession. The high level intercession is what I call a special grace and a special anointing Of God where you have a special ministry as a worldwide intercessor. You walk the air of the earth looking for areas to intercede for. You move into it gradually. You start by learning to pray for different countries generally. Then through time it catch up on you and you move into that realm.

So God will never under general circumstances give a burden on you that you have no knowledge of. Although sometimes when we receive those burdens, we are not sure because we have so many areas of relationship, you can be aware the next time you receive a burden that it has something that you have a very significant part that you must do. Remember this if you have it and you don't do it, somebody else will end up doing your work. The intercession has to be done. Somebody has to do overtime because you took leave. The works still need to be done in the prayer area. So be aware of this prayer burden that God will give.

And there are different types of burdens and different types of cases. We have mentioned how it is important it is that when we have a burden, we should not start figuring out the burden first. Lets say God gives me a burden of prayer for somebody I don't really know. I may have met him once or twice. But the burden has dropped on me. Now this is what happens. Most people will try to understand before they intercede. They don't first intercede and then understand later. What happens is consciously I may misinterpret that burden to be for another person, for another Christian sister. I may think that maybe her life is in danger. Maybe there is something wrong with her. Maybe she needs my prayer. Maybe she needs extra prayer. When actually it is another brother who needed my intercession.

Now this is what happens. I began to concentrate or direct my intercession for her. How do we direct our intercessions? We direct our intercession by an action, a word or by visualizing. Like we could say, "Father God I now pray for so and so." So I am directing my intercession on her. Or I could write down her name and then direct it to her. Or I could lay a hand on her photo. Or I could just think about her in prayer. Or if she is here I could lay hand and pray for her. It does not mean that you pray for something only when the burden comes. We are talking about what to do when the burden comes; how to interpret it and how to flow with it. For example the burden comes for him and I am praying for her. I can pray for two hours and it won't leave. But if I had let my mind switch off for a moment and try not to understand and just say, "Lord I am not sure what that burden is right now. But whatever it is take my time and intercede through me."

But if I try to direct it, it won't lift off. Why? It is the wrong item. For example, in the natural there is much work allocated for everyone to do. Now if one department has failed in one area, it may affect the other departments in their workload. And so sometimes one department needs help and the workers don't move in there to help. And there is plea for more workers in this area but you didn't go to the right department. You went to another department. Do you know that the burden in the department that needed help will never go off? It will be there until it is handled and solved. So we realize that if we try to interpret the burden, it will never go off. We are directing our prayers in all directions like a wild shooter. What we should do is hang loose and allow the hands of the Holy Spirit to hold the gun and direct us. Then the burden will lift off faster.

If we pray before the understanding instead of trying to understand and then praying, it is more effective. The understanding comes sometimes after. Sometimes at the end of your intercession you still don't understand it. But later on maybe when the answer has come through God may remind you and say do you remember that. You interceded for him. So don't try to understand before intercession. Our souls are lower than our spirit. And we need to allow our spirit not to be hindered by the soul. The spirit will lead the way and our soul will follow and gain some understanding of things of God.

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