Rev Dr Edgar Mayer;
For more sermons and other writings
check the following homepage: www.livinggracetoowoomba.org
Birthing
Prayer
The king
became sick – very sick – and then a prophet paid him a visit. He
said to him – 2 Kings 20:1 – I read from the Bible: “This is what the
Lord says: ‘Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not
recover.’” Bad news. This is not the
kind of prophetic word that anyone wants to hear: “You are going to die.”
The king was Hezekiah – (he reigned
about seven hundred years before the birth of Christ) – and the prophet – (who had come with this challenging word from God)
– was Isaiah.
This is what
happened next – 1 Kings 20:2-11: “Hezekiah
turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ‘Remember, O Lord, how I
have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done
what is good in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had left
the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ‘Go back and tell Hezekiah,
the leader of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David,
says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to
the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from
the hand of the king of
This is
teaching us much about prayer. Frequently, there is a prophetic word from God
where he tells you what he has in mind for you and others. In this case: “Put your house in order, because you are going
to die.” Then, the prophetic word
serves as a launching pad to get us praying. In this case: King Hezekiah
pleaded with God and argued with God, saying: “Remember how I was
faithful and devoted to you.” King
Hezekiah expressed to God that he did not agree with his plans for him and then
he wept bitterly with the result that God changed his mind – on the spot –
(while Isaiah was still on the palace ground) – and gave him fifteen more years to live. How much God must love us to
be swayed by our response to his declared will!
The
prophetic word from God served as a launching pad for Hezekiah’s prayers and
tears and – in like manner – much of our praying is informed by hearing
from God. Prayer is a dialogue. What is God saying to you? What are you hearing
from him when you read the Bible? This is important because when you hear from
God, then you know more specifically what kind of future you are praying into. Hezekiah
began to plead (more earnestly) for
healing.
So many
times we pray and haven’t heard anything. For instance, you may petition God
that you get a certain job and you get all upset because it is not happening
but you have not heard from him and therefore, you pray with not much
understanding. If you had heard from him, he may have wanted to tell you all
along that there is something better waiting for you than the current job on
offer. [Another example: You may pray to God for a certain prospective
marriage partner. Another example: Tatjana wanting another child but God
delayed the pregnancy so that the child would also be born in
When
Hezekiah heard from God, then he was able to respond with the appropriate
prayer for healing. And we learn from him. Hear from God first and then how you
respond to God’s prophetic word is always going to be absolutely crucial. God
absolutely values your prayer response. We find another clear illustration of
this principle in the Bible book of 1 Kings in chapter 18. After more than
three years of drought the prophet Elijah announced to the king Ahab – verse 41: “Go, eat and drink, for there is the
sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went
off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of
Some people
think that a prophetic word is foretelling the future which will happen no
matter what. This is wrong. Prophetic words are conditional and depend on our
reaction to the word that God is releasing to us. Are we taking in the
prophetic word and step out in faith? Are we in agreement with the will of God?
Do we repent and humble ourselves before God to avert the coming judgement (cf. Jonah)? Are
we bringing forth the prophetic word by co-labouring with God in prayer. Elijah
did and he did so with the perseverance which comes when you know what is going
to happen – when you know that your prayers are undergirded by the prophetic
will of God. I read from the Bible –
1 Kings 18:42-45: “ … Elijah … bent down to the ground and put his face
between his knees. ‘Go and look toward the sea,’ he told his servant. And he
went up and looked. ‘There is nothing there,’ he said. Seven times Elijah said,
‘Go back.’ The seventh time the servant reported, ‘A cloud as small as a man’s
hand is rising from the sea.’ So Elijah said, ‘ … go down before the rain stops
you.’ Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain
came on … ”
This is
practical. Seven times Elijah kept praying with his face on the ground and
seven times he sent the messenger to look whether the rain was coming. Elijah
persevered because he knew that he was praying a prophetic word from God into
existence. He knew that God was using him and his prayers to bring forth the
declared will of God. What are we hearing from God and what are we praying into
existence?
What are we
hearing here at Living Grace? The Bible teaches that music can bring on
prophetic revelation. For instance, we read in 2 Kings 3:15-16: “ … While the harpist was playing, the hand of
the Lord came upon Elisha and he said, ‘This is what the Lord says: … ’”
(cf. 1 Samuel 10:5-6; 1 Chronicles 25:1-3). At our prayer watch last week something similar happened to Christina (Weston)
while Marty (Pocock) was playing worship songs on his guitar.
This is what Christina thought that she was receiving from God for Living
Grace. Listen to it with discernment:
“With a starting point of being behind
the silver curtains that we couldn't see through, our church kept pressing in
to God and as we moved forward the curtains faded and disappeared to reveal 2
huge wooden doors. As the doors opened there was a crowd of people
including adults, children and youth. The crowd had their hands out as if
asking for something, our church began mingling with the crowd and then as
Marty began playing 'this little light of mine' the crowd and our church began
dancing and generally having a good time. There was lots of laughter and
joy. As Marty then moved on to playing 'turn your eyes upon Jesus' the
whole group turned to the left with their hands and heads raised towards the
cross. There was almost complete silence as the group focused on
Jesus. Marty then began to play 'come Lord Jesus come' (or something
similar) and again the whole group bowed nearly in unison, laid or knelt on the
floor. The spirit of the group was one of quiet and peaceful expectation as
people were simply waiting and opening their hearts for the coming of God’s
Spirit into both their own lives and the lives of others around them.
There was no sense of urgency to move on from this point as the group somehow
knew that it was important to wait for God’s timing and for everyone who needed
to be ready to be ready.
The last image I’m not sure what was
being sung (in real life) but the group has mostly risen to their feet, there
was all kinds of ministry happening with people being healed, burdens being
lifted, barriers/blockages and walls being pulled down. There were people
praying together, people crying and laughing. Overall there was a huge
sense of freedom, joy and happiness and the oppression and dullness that had
been there when the doors first opened were nowhere to be found … ”
This
prophetic word confirms a previous word about these being the days of small
beginnings and it also confirms the current warfare experience. It is also true
that we have a sense of great expectation but it is (indeed) like
being behind “silver curtains” which
still block a clearer vision of the future. Yet, Christina’s vision includes
two huge wooden doors that are going to open and there will be a huge sense of
freedom, joy and happiness – in Jesus Christ – among many. What are the two doors? When will they open? Can we respond
to this word by praying the opening doors into existence – co-labouring
with God?
We hear from
God and then we pray. I come back to king Hezekiah because there is more to
learn. He heard from God and then he prayed with the positive outcome that he
lived for another fifteen years. What were the components of his prayer
experience? Suzette Hattingh – in the
prayer school that we are studying together – identifies three basic components that together form our prayer
experience: a) prayer burden [others
refer to it as “identification”], b) travail and c) warfare.
I quote from
the prayer school manual: “A
burden is receiving the concern of the Lord and travail is the action of
bringing the burden to birth, characterized by weeping, groaning and pleading.
While travail is the action of bringing the burden to birth, warfare is the
action of working the burden through, which is characterized by aggressive
binding and loosing [wielding the word of God as the sword of the Spirit], resisting
and claiming the victory” (Suzette Hattingh & Gayle Claxton: Prayer
School Study Book,West Midlands: Voice In The City 2009, p49). Another quote: (Here the prayer burden
is not mentioned but is taken for granted.) “Warfare is addressed to Satan
and his forces, as we rise up in the Name of Jesus with all of Heaven backing
us up. Travail is addressed to the Father, something that flows from deep
within your spirit as a cry or sorrow before the Lord.”
This is
wonderfully precise: a) prayer burden, b) travail and c) warfare. Now – what component or components were active in Hezekiah’s prayer for
healing? I read again the relevant Bible verses: When he heard that he was
going to die, “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
‘Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with
wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah
wept bitterly.” I would say that the
strongest component of Hezekiah’s prayer experience was his prayer burden. He
did not want to die. This was personal. He was burdened with worries about his
own life and this is what drove him into prayer. Then, Hezekiah also travailed
in prayer but – again – not so much
expressing the concern of the Lord as his own concern for survival. Like
the prayer burden – it was still very
much about him and his own personal needs and agenda.
Yet, it
worked because God loves us beyond what we can imagine. God told Hezekiah – I quote again the Bible: “I have heard your
prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.” When we are burdened with something and then pray, God will listen. God
said: “I have seen your tears.” Your
burden in life is also going to be his burden because he loves you. Your tears
will touch the heart of God. He has compassion on you. At a time when God’s
people had drifted away from him (they were not praying to him) but were oppressed in slavery, God was (nevertheless)
touched by their burden. We read in the
Bible – Exodus 3:7-8: “ … I have indeed seen the misery of my people in
Hezekiah was
burdened for himself and then he travailed in prayer for himself. This was
okay. We all do the same when we pray through our own personal prayer lists for
family, friends, personal property and health. Only – (and this is important) – our prayer life cannot stop there. What about other prayer burdens –
the burdens that God is carrying for the world – people beyond us? Hezekiah showed an amazing lack of maturity
– especially for a king (someone in leadership) – when another prophetic word came to him in the very same Bible chapter
of his sickness and promised healing.
I read the
verses to you – 2 Kings 20:12-21: Messengers
from
These verses
break your heart. When it was about his own personal health, the prophetic word
swung Hezekiah into prayer action. When it was all about him, Hezekiah carried
a burden for prayer. He did not want to die and then he experienced that God
answered his prayers – did not ignore
his tears – and he lived. However, the
next prophetic word was not immediately impacting Hezekiah himself. It was
about a catastrophe befalling his descendants, the wealth of
And didn’t
he know that this is precisely what God wanted? The prophetic warning went out
for someone to carry God’s burden for
God loves to
show mercy. We cannot be like Hezekiah. It cannot always just be about us – our health, our wealth. There is more. You and I – become
burdened with what is burdening the very heart of God. What am I talking about?
What does this kind of prayer look like? Not many Christians seem to know.
One recent
convert writes (abbreviate and retell
in your words):
“I had been very fond of my legal profession
… In those early days of my Christian experience, the Lord taught me many very
important truths in regard to the spirit of prayer. Not long after I was
converted a woman with whom I had boarded (though I did not board with her at
the time) was taken very sick. She was not a Christian, but her husband was a
professing Christian. He came into our office one evening … and said to me, ‘My
wife cannot live through the night.’
The burden of prayer almost crushed me,
the nature of which I could not at all understand, but with it came an intense
desire to pray for that woman. The burden was so great that I left the office
almost immediately and went up to the meeting house to pray for her. There I
struggled, but I could not say much. I could only groan with groanings loud and
deep.
I stayed a considerable time in the
church in this state of mind, but I got not relief. I returned to the office,
but I could not sit still. I could only walk the room and agonize. I returned
to the meeting house again and went through the same process of struggling. For
a long time I tried to get my prayer before the Lord, but somehow the words
could not express it. I could only groan and weep without being able to express
what I wanted in words. I returned to the office again and still found that I
was unable to rest, and I returned a third time to the meeting house. At this
time the Lord gave me power to prevail. I was enabled to roll the burden upon
him, and I obtained the assurance in my own mind that the woman would not die,
and indeed that she would never die in her sins.
I returned to the office. My mind was
perfectly quiet and I soon left and retired to rest. Early the next morning the
husband of this woman came into the office. I inquired how his wife was.
Smiling, he said, ‘She’s alive, and to all appearance better this morning.’
I replied, ‘She will not die with this
sickness; you may rely upon it. And she will never die in her sins.’ I do not
know how I was made sure of this, but it was in some way made plain to me so
that I had no doubt that she would recover. She did recover and soon after
obtained a hope in Christ (Charles Finney: The Autobiography Of Charles Finney,
condensed & edited by Helen Wessel, Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship 1977,
p39-40).
This new
convert did not know what to make of his experience. He could not stop praying
for this woman. The inner urging was so strong – with weeping and groaning – which could be so intense that no prayer in English – no rational
thought in human terms – was possible.
What was this? An older Christian soon explained it to him. This is the Spirit
of God who comes upon you with what is burdening God and then – under this
burden – you travail (much like a
woman in child-birth) until you have
prayed this burden through to a positive conclusion and have attained the
answer to your prayers.
Some Bible
passages on this – Galatians 4:19: “My
dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is
formed in you.” Colossians 4:12-13: “Epaphras … he is always wrestling
in prayer for you … ” Romans 8:26: “ … the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
On the
positive side: when this experience comes, you no longer have the problem of
wondering how you can (possibly) pray for more than three minutes. When God
places his burden on you, you cannot but pray because you need to find relief. This
is an experience and one woman describes it in this way:
“Travail goes beyond the tears of
identification. It’s a cry that so grips your lower abdomen, it’s impossible
even to express it in sound. Along with the agonizing and deep inner groaning
there’s a sense of pushing against tremendous pressure. As mothers in the group
often testify, it’s just like being in labour to give birth. Accompanying the
travail is usually a deep sense of grief, almost anguish, similar to the
identification and warfare, but going deeper to touch a new depth of the heart
of God. The labour often is so strenuous that the temptation is not to push
through. But if we can hold on and don’t give up, then as release comes it’s accompanied
by a joy greater than anything I’ve ever experienced. It compares with the
thrill of a mother, who, having gone through the trials of pregnancy, finally
holds her long awaited infant in her arms. The grieving pain is forgotten.
Tears are washed away and hearts rejoice that a child has been born” (June
Coxhead: Tears Of Intercession, Chichester: Sovereign World 1990, p169-170).
Hands up,
please – who has already experienced this kind of praying? Who has experienced
that God’s grief and burden has come upon you in prayer and you knew that you
were praying something through that was God’s agenda and not your own? I don’t
think that I myself have ever travailed in prayer. It is not everyone’s calling
and the manual of our prayer school says it well – I quote: “Is everybody supposed to travail? No,
not everybody is supposed to travail! It is entirely the prerogative of the
Spirit of God that decides whom he wants to use for travail or not. Does that
mean I am not spiritual enough or good enough to be used if I have not
experienced travail? No, it has nothing to do with your own spirituality. It is
once again entirely up to the Spirit of God! Some he uses for travail – others
for warfare, others for both and others for just worship” (Suzette Hattingh
& Gayle Claxton: Prayer School Study Book,
However – at the same time – it could well be that God is wanting to use more of us in travail –
in birthing something in prayer – but we
are still too much like Hezekiah – just concerned with our own burdens – not ready to take on God’s. What do we need
to do? We need to get out of the way of God. What we need to do is that we “do”
less in prayer. Yes – by all means –
we pray through our lists and what
burdens us but then we stop being busy. We stop our many words that come from
an active and analytical mind. We let go of our plans and still the mind. We
become quiet before God and then let thoughts flow – not from an analytical
mind – but from intuition. As we are in the presence of God – we let the Holy Spirit direct the flow of
our thoughts and emotions without us taking charge of them. This is the most
frequent way that God speaks to us. It is a “still small voice” and then can become a more intense “birthing”
experience.
For me it is
hard to still my mind in prayer. I am used to double-tasking and rushing around
with much to do. Thoughts are racing through my mind and they make it difficult
for me to wait on God and let the Holy Spirit bring up his flow of thoughts.
One method that helps me to overcome this problem is prayer walking. As I walk – or better: as I stroll along – the quiet body rhythm of walking settles me down and I manage to let my
mind drift under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Other people find that when
they wake up, they are still in this relaxed state (maybe not quite fully
awake) which is a good time for prayer
and listening to God as the Holy Spirit makes our thoughts and emotions flow in
his direction. [For me this is always
a good time for (prophetic) inspiration.] Still others relax in country driving or listening to worship music.
[Further,
flowing thoughts are not coming out of a vacuum but the previous study (with
the analytical mind under God) of the Word of God. However, after the study
there is a surrender of mind control to the free flowing sovereignty of the
Holy Spirit.]
It may take
a while before we learn to distinguish with greater assurance what then is from
God and what is just our human day-dreaming but I think that – after today’s message and teaching – we will be more open to recognize the
travail – the prayer burden from God – when
it comes.
The recent
convert from before also made the experience that his travailing was cut short
and he simply could not continue with his prayers. He writes:
“Soon after I was converted, the man
with whom I had been boarding for some time, who was a magistrate and one of
the principal men in the place, was deeply convicted of sin. He had been
elected a member of the legislature of the state. I was praying daily for him
and urging him to give his heart to God. His conviction became very deep; but
still, from day to day, he deferred submission and did not obtain a hope. My
concern for him increased.
One afternoon several of his political
friends had a lengthy interview with him. On the evening of the same day I
attempted again to carry his case to God, as the urgency in my mind for his
conversion had become very great. In my prayer I had drawn very near to God. I
do not remember ever having been in more intimate communion with the Lord Jesus
Christ than I was at that time. Indeed, his presence was so real that I was
bathed in tears of joy and gratitude and love, and in this state of mind I
attempted to pray for this friend.
But the moment I did so, my mouth was
shut. I found it impossible to pray a word for him. The Lord seemed to say to
me, ‘No, I will not hear.’ As anguish seized upon me, I thought at first it was
a temptation. But the door was shut in my face. It seemed as if the Lord said
to me, ‘Speak no more to me of that matter.’ It pained me beyond expression. I
did not know what to make of it.
The next morning I saw him, and as soon
as I brought up the question of submission to God he said to me, ‘Mr. Finney, I
shall have nothing more to do with it until I return from the legislature. I
stand committed to my political friends to carry out certain measures in the legislature
that are incompatible with my first becoming a Christian and I have promised
that I will not attend to the subject until after I have returned from
From the moment of that exercise the
evening before, I had no spirit of prayer for him at all. As soon as he told me
what he had done, I understood it. I could see that his convictions were all
gone and that the Spirit of God had left him. From that time he grew more
careless and hardened than ever … (Charles Finney: The Autobiography Of Charles
Finney, condensed & edited by Helen Wessel, Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship
1977, p42-43).
There is a
need to discern where God is leading us in our prayers. [Another
point: Praying and actively sharing the Good News belong together. The
testimony above is confirmed in the Bible where the greatest prayers were the
greatest missionaries and leaders. Even Anna in the temple shared the good news
with others. There is not so much a special category of intercessors that stay permanently
in the prayer closet.] Another teacher gives us further help. He
outlined four principles which we need to apply to position ourselves for
hearing God: 1) We need to
make sure that our hearts are clean which means that we give God time to
convict us of any unconfessed sin (Psalm 66:18). 2) We need to die to our own imagination and
desires so we can hear what God has to say. While our minds are still buzzing
with our own concerns it is not possible to hear accurately. 3) There is a need to bind (aggressively) any interference by the enemy (Satan) and resist any attempts on his part to
confuse our thinking (James 4:7). 4) Then, we need to wait, listen and believe that God would speak (John
This teacher
also said (and this is further
encouragement in not dismissing everything as day-dreaming): “Remember. The
first voice you usually hear is God’s. The second is your own voice questioning
the truth of what you’ve just heard (‘Is that really you God?’) and the third
is the voice of the enemy reinforcing your doubts (‘That’s just your own
imagination. That’s not the Lord.’) … ” (June Coxhead: Tears Of
Intercession, Chichester: Sovereign World 1990, p163).
In closing,
what is important again is that we do this in community (as the “body of Christ”). In the Bible what people heard from God was frequently tested by others
in the church (1 Corinthians
I summarize
some of the points that have been made:
1) Hear from God and then pray.
Frequently, there is a prophetic word that serves us a launching pad for
prayer. 2) Pray into existence
what you hear from God or petition him to “change his mind”. Prophetic
words are conditional. 3) There
are three prayer components: a) prayer burden, b) travail and c) warfare. 4)
God responds to our prayers and tears.
5) Be ready to pray for more than
your own personal burden. 6) When
God’s burden comes upon you through the Holy Spirit, you may weep and groan
until you have prayed the burden through and “given birth” to a positive prayer outcome. 7)
Not everyone travails. 8) Still you mind so that the Holy Spirit can
give you his “flowing thoughts” and
emotions. 9) We do this
together.
King
Hezekiah just carried a burden for himself (his own sickness) but God saw
his tears and healed him. This is what God is like. He is so good. He will not
ignore us when we pray. Our tears touch his heart. However, just imagine that
as a church we are getting ready to carry more than just our own burdens. God
loves our city and nation. We allow him to share his burden with us and we
allow him to make us shed his tears over a sinful people – lost for
eternity. He will not ignore us. He
loves our prayer watch. “Holy Spirit, fall on us with travail so that we
birth the healing of thousands.” Amen.