TRAVAIL, A SPIRITUAL HAPPENING: Prayer Note # 47

    

 Dutch Sheets tells us,  “When choosing the term, [travail], the Holy Spirit uses a physical phenomenon—childbirth—to describe a spiritual happening or truth. 

In doing so, His emphasis is not on the physical realm but the spiritual. And the comparison is not meant to be literal or exact. 

In other words, the Holy Spirit is not trying to describe what is happening physically but rather spiritually when He uses the word travail. 

It isn’t a natural birth, but a spiritual one.

            The emphasis is meant to be on the spiritual power released to give birth spiritually, not the physical phenomenon that might accompany it (groanings, weepings, crying out, etc.) 

Most of us who have been associated with travailing prayer have made what happens physically the focal point, thereby missing the spiritual point that something is being born of the Spirit.

            In defining travail outwardly we have not only missed the real issue, but we have also unconsciously accepted what I believe is a lie of Satan: Only a few people can really travail and then only rarely. 

I do not believe this is true. In fact, I believe all of us can involve ourselves in travailing (birthing) intercession, and do so regularly. 

The key is to realize that the emphasis is on birthing something Spiritually, not on what happens to us as we do it.”

Prayer Note # 47 TRAVAIL, A SPIRITUAL HAPPENING -Taken from Dutch Sheets’ Intercessory Prayer (pgs 114, 115)   

The next Prayer Note: June 14^th THE BIRTHING PRAYER: Prayer Note # 48

Today’s 5th truth: If you are “born again”, you are justified.  (Romans 5:1)

This afternoon's post:  LEADING WOMEN IN PRAYER RETREATS

Tonight’s post on my blog:  INTRODUCING MEN TO PRAYER RETREATS

Granny's Guide to Marriage in Verse 

Tomorrow’s post on my blog:  IT IS OUR DIFFERENCES THAT MAKE USUNIQUE