|
|
|
PRAYING IN THE
SPIRIT
SERIES
INCUBATING IN THE SPIRIT
There are three stages in travailing
prayer. First there is conceiving in the realm of the spirit, which we covered
in the last chapter. Secondly there is the incubation period where we will
cover in this chapter. Finally there is the period of labor or birthing forth,
which we will cover in the next chapter. Just as in the natural so is in the
spiritual. Many times we think that we have conceived but we have not. We have
only got it in our head and in our mind. The vision or the seed of God's word
or the rhema of God's word has only been
spoken and we have only heard it in our soul. It has not taken into our spirit
yet. So the effects of conception have not taken place. There need to be a
conception in the spirit before we can enter into the incubation period in the
spirit realm as we continue to travail. Then there is a final period where we
birth forth that vision and it manifests.
Just as in the natural so is in the
spiritual there are different symptoms that will come as we experience those
different stages in travailing in prayer. In conception we see how in the
natural that a pregnant woman experiences morning sickness, which are symptoms
and signs that tell her that she had conceived. So in
the same way in the spiritual realm there will be signs and symptoms if there
is a conception that takes place in our spirit realm.
Then there are also signs and symptoms
that are very visible as the pregnancy grows from month to month. As the child
grows there are signs of the movement of the child within the woman. She can
feel it. And sometimes the child kicks or moves and the woman feel it within
her. There are different signs and experiences at each period.
And finally there is the last stage which is
the birthing forth. It is a totally different signal altogether where there is
a show of blood. And the woman will know that birth is coming soon. So there
are different signs and symptoms that a woman needs to recognize in order to
flow along with God's order of conception, pregnancy and birthing forth. In the
spiritual realm there are also different stages and different symptoms that are
involved as we birth forth in prayer. And we need to recognize them. We need to
know what to do in order to maintain or flow along with what God is doing in
our lives.
The first stage of conception is always
the most interesting. That is when it is fresh it is new. And as it gets into
our spirit whatever rhema God has spoken. There is
freshness to it. There is an excitement that comes. The hardest stage is the
middle part where the vision is incubating in you. The vision is going through
the normal period of pregnancy for whatever area that you are conceiving God
for. Some things take a long time in this pregnancy period. Some things take a
shorter time. It depends on what we are conceiving in the realm of the spirit.
But God has His own laws and set times and seasons for each area of things that
He wants us to conceive.
In the middle section of incubating in the
spirit, we talk about maintaining that vision in our life in prayer. Prayer is
not only to conceive and not only to give birth. Prayer is a source of
maintaining the vision that God has in our life so that the vision will not be
aborted. So that the vision will be able to reach its completion of whatever
God has designed it. There are many visions that are aborted. There are many
visions that are unfulfilled for various reasons. Just as a fetus in its
mother's womb draws nutrition from the mother, the vision in our life during
the incubation period needs to draw nutrition from the word. And it needs to
draw its life force through the mother's system. It is the same in the
incubation period of the vision. We have to maintain God's vision for our lives
week after week, month after month. It is the hardest period. Any woman who has
been pregnant will tell you that the difficult time is during the nine months.
Whatever discomfort she experience is during those nine months. Whatever comes
at the end of giving birth can come forth quite fast. The hardest period for
people is not the conception of the vision or the final part, the birthing
forth. The hardest part is the in between period when sometimes it looks like
nothing is happening. You don't seem to notice much growth at first. That is
the hardest period to continue maintaining the vision, to continue maintaining
the vision through prayer. During the incubation period the vision within us
needs to draw nutrition. It needs to continually be fed with God's word.
Let's
look at Romans 4: 17-22 ( As it is written I
have made you a father of many nations) in the presence of Him whom he believed
- God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as
though they did; who contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the
father of many nations according to what was spoken, "So shall your
descendants be." And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own
body, already dead (since he was already a hundred years old), and the deadness
of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that
what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore "it was
accounted to him for righteousness."
It
tells us here in verse eighteen that Abraham contrary to hope, in hope
believed. It says in verse twenty, he did not waver at the promise of God
through unbelief but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God. Abraham as
we notice here experienced one of the longest periods in incubation of the
vision that God has for him. For his life it meant a promise child. God
promised him descendants and God spoke that into his life. And we realize in
Genesis chapter twelve he was about seventy-five years old. Sometime after that
God spoke to him about his descendants being like the dust of the sands. And
his descendants being like the stars of the heaven. That vision was planted in
his life. In fact the verse that tells us that Abraham believed and it was
accounted to him for righteousness in verse twenty-two. This is tied back to
the book of Genesis chapter fifteen verse six.
Let's look at Gen.15:6, and he believed in
the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. According to that
passage it tells us that from that time the vision was conceived, fand implanted into his being, faith was sown in his heart
and in his life. That is just three chapters after Genesis twelve. The time
frame was probably about in his seventies. Let's say that it was very soon
after that. That is, he is about seventy-five years old when he believed God
and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
It took a long time for Abraham to see the
fruit of God's promise. In fact when Abraham was ninety-nine years old he changed
his name. And that was when the manifestation started coming. And when he was a
hundred years old, the promised child came forth. That will give us a period of
twenty-five years of waiting on God. Twenty-five years of incubation.
Twenty-five years of maintaining it.
Let us compare Romans 4: 17 with Romans
4:18. Romans 4: 17 (as it is written, " I have made you a father of
many nations.) in the presence of
Him whom he believe- God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things
which do not exist as though they did. Roman 4: 17 is quoted from Genesis
17: 5-6 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be
called Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will
make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you and kings shall
come from you. At this time in Genesis 17 when Abraham's name was changed,
he was already ninety-nine years old and the following year, he will have a
child. This points to the end of the time of the
conception period.
Romans 4: 18 it says contrary to hope,
in hope believed, so that the became a father of
many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants
be." Romans 4: 18 is taken
from Genesis 15: 5 Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now
toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He
said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Genesis 15 it
points to the beginning of the conception period when the vision was implanted
in him.
Although there are only two chapters
separating the beginning (Genesis 15) and the end of the conception period
(Genesis 17), the time frame is about twenty five years. What we don't realize
is that between Romans 4:17 and 4:18 is a period of nearly 25 years. We read it
in one go and we think that all Abraham had to do is just to confess it and he
possessed it straight away. Some people start confessing the promises of God
but their confession can last only three months. Very few people can really
hold a prayer burden that is huge that is big that may take about two or three
years to manifest.
Now there is a slight difference between
the spiritual and the physical realm. In the physical realm when a lady is
pregnant and expecting there is a normal set period of about 9 months. In the
spiritual realm when we do not supply the impregnated vision within us with
sufficient nutrition or there is a lot of doubt and unbelief, we may not give
birth to that vision in the same time frame. It may take a longer time to birth
that vision. In other words the time for delivery is affected by how we
maintain the vision.
Timeframes and Seasons
Some of the delays are the result of God's
overall times and seasons. God has a set time and season for certain things to
be done. Simeon was faithful to God but he lived in a different time frame. He
was so old by the time Jesus was born. So God could only bless him to that
extent possible where He allowed him to hold baby Jesus in his hands. But he
never had the privilege of becoming one of Jesus' disciples. So there are set
times and seasons in the reasons why some prayers don't just come at once. One
of the causes is God's set times frame and seasons. For example if God has a
time frame and season for Jesus to manifest as a Messiah, no matter how you
pray, no matter how you try to quicken the process, it will not be quicken because there is a time frame. Simeon and Anna the
prophetess were people of prayer. In all their prayer God will reward them. God
gives them a foretaste for their faithfulness.
So there are time frames in God. God has
difference phases in our lives. There are time frames for us to move in. Moses
has a time frame. One of the reasons for his earlier failure that cause him to
run into the wilderness was because of the time frame. One reason we realize is
Moses' haste. In Stephen's account of Moses in Acts 7 the reason why Moses slew
the Egyptian was that he wanted the Israelites to know that his hand would
deliver them. That tells us that Moses knew that he had a call. Moses had a
vision in God. Moses knew and was conscious of a portion of God's will in his
life, that he was the chosen deliverer to the Israelites. We realize he must
have known something among the Hebrews for his own mother brought him up. So
Moses in his haste to show that he was the chosen and called one, he was
spending time with the Israelites. We realize it was not normal for a prince to
spend time among the Israelites. The
reason for his spending time there was to show himself
off. What Moses may not have known is there was a specific time frame that God
has set in the book of Genesis to Abraham as to how long the Israelites will be
in
There are three views to a revival. One is
that God sends a revival when He wants. There is nothing we can do about it.
Second view, is that the revival depends on us. God wants it all the time. But
it depends on our readiness. The third view is God has a time and season and He
also depends on us. If you examine all the scriptures, the most scriptural is
the third view because the bible does talk about the times and seasons of God.
If it is the time and season for God and we are not ready, there is a delay. If
we are ready and God's time and season has not come, God rewards us for our
readiness. But He has His own time and season that He will still follow. And of
course when the time and season is right and we are ready. That's beautiful,
just nice. Of course it is always good to be ever ready on our part. We may
sense a time and season but it is always good to be ever ready. Just like people
are saying I don't think Jesus will come yet because there are so many
prophecies not fulfilled yet. Does that mean that you prefer not to be ready?
Wait till the last minute when it is about to come. Things can happen very
fast. World events has been happening in the past months and show us that
within a matter of days God could fulfill prophecies if He so chooses. It is
better in the long run to be ever ready.
And so looking at that
we realize that just as Moses time there was a set time. And Moses may not be fully aware of the
set time frame of four hundred years. But there are other people like Daniel
who knows about set time frame. He was reading the prophecy of Jeremiah seeking
an understanding and it was supposed to be time for the Israelites to return.
According to his calculation the time and season has come. Let's look at Daniel
9:2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the
number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the
desolations of
This verse shows very clearly that the
third view of revival is the most scriptural. Sometimes when God's times and
seasons come and the people are not ready, there is a possibility of a delay.
So Daniel started praying and giving himself to God for the restoration of
Delayed Time
Sometimes the times and seasons of God are
right but because we are not ready, it cause a delay. It is OK if the delay is
there because it is not God' time yet. No problem with that, but there is
problem if God's time has come and there is still a delay. In God's original
plan the Israelites should have gone into the Promised Land. Because of their
disobedience there was a total delay and they were set back for forty years.
Those are called the wasted years. In the incubation period we need to be very
sensitive to that. We need to be aware when there is a time and a season for
something to come. And I sense in my spirit that one of things that God will
speak to His people, as His coming is drawing near, is to pray for His coming.
See in the Lord's prayer there is a little phrase that
says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. My friends, that is the prayer for the Second Coming. And we
are supposed to be doing that all the time. A prayer for Jesus' Second Coming
is not a selfish prayer because for Jesus to come He will definitely perfect
the church. He will definitely make sure the gospel goes forth and everything
that needs to be done will be done for the preparation of the bride. It is a
prayer of eagerness. Jesus doesn't want to come for a bride who says maybe I
will come to the wedding. As Jesus' coming draws near, Jesus is going to drop a
measure of His spirit that will cause God's people to literally be crying and
literally be praying for His return. See there could be a time and a season
that God has set and we are not ready, there would be a disastrous delay.
Does God incorporate delayed time? Yes.
Delayed time is considered wasted time. It is not recorded in heaven. Do you
notice something different between the book of First and Second Kings and the
book of First and Second Chronicles? In the book of Chronicles every thing that
did not glorify God is removed. But in the book of Kings, all is recorded
there. This is to show us an example of God's record and human record. In the
human record we record all those things. In God's record something that is considered
not of God's will are wipe out. It is
just blank. If a twenty year old Christian backslide
for twenty years and came back to God when he was forty years old and goes on
to live to sixty years old. When that person goes to heaven and looks at his
record, he finds only forty years are recorded. What happen to the twenty years
when he was backslidden? They are completely wiped out. So the bible tells us
only the time lived for God is recorded.
The life of Abraham is an example. There
were twelve years of those twenty-five years we can consider as wasted. Abraham
had twelve silent years when he got Ishmael. We say it took 25 years from
conception to bearing forth. Don't forget of the 25 years, you must take away
12 years. He chose an alternative road to try to fulfill God's vision. Ishmael
was about 12 years old when he was circumcised. It was a silent period. During
that period when Ishmael was going from one to twelve there is no record of God
speaking to him. There is no record of
him having a vision. Twelve silent years, I call them wasted years. Why,
because during those years all Abraham vision was focus on Ishmael. I prove it to you that he thinks that Ishmael
is the one whom he got through what I call a natural method that did not demand
any working of God. See in the book of Genesis when God spoke to him in Genesis
17: 18 Abraham said O that Ishmael may live before you. Ishmael in a
sense was his own flesh and blood. He still got his hope on him. Descendants would
be coming through him. But it was not acceptable to God. Twelve
silent years. So you minus 12 years out of the 25 is the real conception
period become just 13. And then you minus some more years when he went down to
That's the same problem the people have when
they are praying for the areas in their lives. What they are facing, many times
the abortion takes place in the middle part. A lot of babies are lost in the
middle period. From the time the baby is conceived to the time the baby is to
be delivered, a small percentage can be lost at the end there. But the most is
lost within that period. And a lot of visions and rhema
that God has spoken is aborted in people's life during that same period. This
is a very important period because we need to know what to do. In that period
there are certain strength and certain things that we must focus on. Just as in
the conception there are certain laws, which were mentioned in the last chapter
so also in the middle section of incubation there are certain laws that we need
to apply.
Patience
And one of those important laws is the law
of patience. Patience to work at it God's way not our way. One of the words for
patience is the word hopomone. And the word mone comes from the word mano,
which in John 15: 5 is translated as abide. It indirectly points to
abiding or resting in God's word, to allow God to fulfill it His way and not
our way. And so in that middle period when the vision has been conceived, we
need tremendous patience to hold fast to it. The devil will throw everything
against your way to try to make you doubt, to try to make you fearful. He will
throw everything he can against you to dislodge the baby in you, to cause an
abortion in your life. That is where we need to hold fast.
How
many times in the New Testament, we are told to hold fast. We are told to hold
fast because there is a snatch thief around. The devil will try to snatch what
is sown in our life. In the parable of the Sower, the
snatch thief stole the word after it was also conceived. He stole the word when
it has not been germinated yet. It was just on the surface on the
pavement. The birds of the air came ate
it all up. There was no conception. But in the other type of ground there was
conception. Jesus said they took root. But in time of persecution, they don't
have roots. Roots are for holding fast. Then others that fell among the thorns
are choked. Did they germinate? They did. Do you notice right at the end of
conception he tries his best. But when it is conceived he runs. Because when the
manifestation comes he is frightened. When we have conceived a vision, it is
implanted in our spirit and we have to be protective of that vision in our
lives. Don't let the devil steal it. The devil will send people to you to try
to cause you to doubt what God has said. His whole purpose is to steal, kill
and destroy. We need to be very protective.
As
we said one of the most important forces is patience. Patience is very
important because day in day out the vision is with you. People who don't see
you very often and after a month they say you are growing bigger. So number one very important force, patience. Faith and
patience possess.
Fellowship
The
other force that is necessary is what we call fellowship. If you fellowship
with the wrong kind, you are finished. One of the things that cause lack of
productivity in the seed that is sown. See the fellowship brings forth the
vision. If you have a vision of God in certain areas, mix around with the right
crowd that will help that vision come to pass. Some foolish ones mix with the
wrong crowd and mess their whole vision. Imagine if you have a vision from God.
And God has a call in your life to do certain things. And you start mixing with
the wrong crowd and you see what happen to that vision. The desire for it
starts disappearing. And sooner or later you will see the thorns start choking
the life of the vision. But the opposite is wonderful. If God gives you a
vision and you get the right people together and believe in that vision, it
gives life to the vision. The vision grows. The more you discuss the more it
grows. The more it grows the bigger it becomes. The clearer it becomes. I thank
God for the right people in my life at the important point. If not for the
right people some of the visions will never come to pass.
I want to show the example of the apostle
Paul. From the moment Paul was born again in Acts chapter nine, he went over to
People like John Wesley, Charles Wesley
and George Whitefield, who arose at about the same time in that First Great
Awakening came from a small little group in a college nicknamed the holy club.
If you read about the historical record about that time,
Fellowship is important because Paul told
Timothy as he wrote to him how the faith of his mother and his grand mother was
also in him. So there is an impartation
along the line. In the wrong fellowship it is harder to reach out the right
thing. You try to get involved with the people of the world and you get close
to them. When you get close to them it is hard to get close to God. But we
learn to be like Jesus to be in the world but not of the world.
Psalm 1 protects us and say don't walk
in the way of sinners. Don't sit in the seat of the scornful. Watch your fellowship because during that
period is going to cause a delay or at the worst an abortion of your whole
vision. Fellowship is fellowship in the word, fellowship in prayer as well as
the normal fellowship. When we all come and pray together, do you know there is
a kind of fellowship involved. Do you notice you relate differently with
someone whom you could pray together. Why because there is a deeper realm of
spiritual fellowship. I notice that when we have a business meeting, if we
could have a prayer meeting before that, the atmosphere is different. Why
because there is spiritual fellowship.
So number one patience. Number two fellowship.
And under fellowship remember it covers an exchange between members of the body
of Christ of their lives together. Praying together and not just sharing
together.
The Word
And
of course the next thing to be injected in this period is what I call the word.
The word is an important force to maintain and feed the vision. And I notice
this sometimes when I see the vision of God and know what God have. Then I can
have all kinds of things and face all kinds of obstacles. Then you get into the
word. You read the word. You meditate on the word. You see Jesus in the word.
You see the man of God in the word. Then you come out of it and say that is
peanuts. It is easy to achieve. But if we talk to people who have not much of
the word, neither they have that much faith, they say
it cannot be done. Impossible and they give you one thousand and one reasons
why it cannot be done. If you don't get back to the word and you keep hearing
that all the time, your vision gets smaller. And you could be like Abraham. I
think it is Haggai. There are a lot of Haggai around. Why because people listen to the
wrong voices. No it cannot be done.
But when you get back to
the word. You read the
word. You meditate on the word. Again you are refreshed and in fire for God.
You said it can be done. Every time I get back to the word I see that it can be
done. You strengthen the voice of God in you by reading the word. Feeding your vision with the word. The word is the
nutrition, which feeds the spiritual baby that you carry. The wonderful thing
about the vision of God is that you can have multiple visions. You could be
carrying several visions in you. You got to feed all of them with the word.
Worship
Finally but not least, there are other
points but I am just bringing the major points, is Abraham giving glory to God.
During the time of pregnancy and incubation is worship. Worship must come
stronger. Worship helps to maintain your contact with God for He is the one who
give you the visions. Other things will try to cut off that worship of God. But
when you continue to worship and give God the glory, continue to be resourceful
in finding ways to worship God. We talked about Mark 11:20-23 before. We see
Mark 11:20-24 speaks on two points. From point A to point B.
You pray believe you have received, point A. Then you will reach point B you shall have
them. One is in the past perfect tense.
One is in the future tense. Future tense is in B and you shall have them. See
Jesus play with two tenses. Now what happen is from point A to point B, what do
we do? Give glory to God between the time of conception and the time of
birthing forth. What do we do? When you done everything you need to do, what
else do you do? Praise, worship and giving glory to God.
That is the best position to be in waiting on God. The word wait implied a
sense of worship. Since there is a timing of God, what do you do when you are
perfectly ready and the time has not come? Worship God.
And in Kenneth Hagin's
book "I believe in Visions" Jesus mentioned some delays in his life.
Although Jesus never used the word delay, Jesus mentioned how he has not be faithful in certain phrases. And how he
sometimes has been living in His permissive will. In one of the visions
he shared about how Jesus appeared to him. Halfway in his conversation with
Jesus, he broke down and cried because he realized he has not been fully
faithful. Jesus took him to the garden and Jesus mentioned this to him that a
lot of His people had not waited on Him.
And as a result they have never move into these
phases.
|
HOME I INDEX I PRAYER
REQUESTS SITES I LINKS I CONTACT US I TOP |
|
|