by Dutch Sheets
Several years ago my wife, Ceci, developed a troubling pain in her abdomen. It began as a minor discomfort and grew in intensity over the course of a year, at which time she went to have it checked. The doctor found an ovarian cyst about the size of a large egg. He informed us that surgery was necessary to remove it and possibly the ovary as well.
The doctor was a believer and understood spiritual principles, so I talked with him about giving us a little time to pray for healing. "Doc," I said, "if you can give us some time I think we can get rid of it by prayer."
Being fairly confident that the cyst was not malignant or life threatening, he replied, "I'll give you two months. If you don't get it your way, we'll get it mine."
"Fair enough," I agreed.
We prayed for Ceci with every biblical method we knew of. laying on of hands, elders anointing her with oil, the prayer of agreement, speaking the Scriptures, binding, loosing, casting out and, like good charismatics, we even knocked her on the floor and let her lay there awhile-sometimes you just have to try everything! The next time you speak with someone who insinuates they always know exactly what needs to happen in prayer and spiritual warfare, tell them Dutch Sheets doesn't believe it. (They will then ask you who Dutch Sheets is, but don't be intimidated by that.)
No change in her condition occurred, and I realized we were going to have to obtain this healing through perseverance and laying hold by faith (see 1 Tim. 6:12). That, by the way, is the way most answers to prayer come-not as instant miracles, but through fighting the fight of faith and patience.
I felt I needed to spend an hour a day praying for Ceci. I began my prayer times by stating my reason for approaching the Father. Then I referred to the Scriptures on which I was basing my petition. I would quote them, thanking the Father for His Word and Jesus for providing healing. This usually took no more than five or six minutes. I prayed in the Spirit for the remainder of the hour. This went on for a month.
Some would believe that to be an unreasonable amount of time to pray for something-an hour a day for a month. Others would say God doesn't need that long to heal someone. I'm only telling you what worked for me. And I've discovered that He does not have only one way of doing things, even the same things. His creative varieties never seem to end. The key for us is always obedience.
After a couple of weeks of this, one afternoon the Lord showed me a picture as I was praying in the Spirit. I saw myself holding this cyst in my hand squeezing the life out of it. I did not yet know that the literal meaning of "helps" in Romans 8 was "taking hold of together with against," but the Holy Spirit was teaching me a wonderful truth.
I knew, of course, that I couldn't really get my hands on the cyst, but He was showing me that as I allowed Him to pray through me, HE was "lighting on" and "taking hold with me against" the thing. Obviously, it was His power making the difference.
It sort of reminds me of the mouse and elephant who were best friends. They hung out together all the time, the mouse riding on the elephant's back. One day they crossed a wooden bridge, causing it to bow, creak and sway under their combined weight. After they were across, the mouse, impressed over their ability to make such an impact, said to the elephant, "We sure shook up that bridge, didn't we?"
Kind of reminds me of some of our advertisements and testimonials. You'd think He was the mouse and we were the elephant. (Maybe that's why we don't shake many bridges.)
After seeing the picture of myself squeezing the life out of the cyst, I asked Ceci if there was any change in her condition. "Yes, the pain is decreasing," she informed me.
The doctor's response was, "If the pain is decreasing, the cyst must be shrinking. Keep doing whatever it is you're doing."
I tried hard to make sure I wasn't conjuring up any mental images, but twice more the Holy Spirit showed me this same picture. Each time the cyst was smaller. The last of them, which was the third time overall, was about a month into the process. In the picture the cyst was about the size of a quarter and as I prayed it vanished in my hand. I knew the Lord was letting me know the work was finished. Even though Ceci said there was still a very small amount of discomfort, I could not bring myself to pray about it any further. I knew it was done.
Three days later she informed me that all the pain and discomfort was gone. The subsequent ultrasound confirmed what we already knew in our hearts-no more cyst!
You know what happened, don't you? PAGA!
• A "taking hold of together with against" happened.
• A "Bethel" happened.
• A "lighting on" happened.
• A "laying on" and "bearing away" happened.
• A "meeting" happened.
• An "enforcing" happened.
• A "representation" happened.
Intercession happened! And it can happen through you!
The butterfly anointing combined with the bear anointing and a serpent was defeated again. (Please don't give this book to any super-religious people or any of the ministries called to fix all of us "crazimatics." They'd put my bear into hibernation and transform my butterfly into a worm again.)
The most important point I want to communicate to you through this book is that God wants to use YOU. You don't have to be a pastor or prophet. You don't have to be Brother or Sister Well Known. You don't have to know Greek from Swahili. You simply have to be a believer in Jesus-one of His chosen representatives-one called and authorized to administer the blessings of the new covenant-a Christian.
God the Father wants to release the work of Jesus through your prayers. The Holy Spirit wants to help you. Bethels are waiting to be discovered. Histories are waiting to be written, destinies shaped.
Don't be intimidated by your ignorance, "not knowing what is necessary, right or proper." Don't allow your weaknesses to paralyze you into inactivity. Rise up! Better still, allow your Helper to rise up in you! Together, you can shake any bridge!
Just make sure you know who the mouse is.
Questions for Reflection
1. Can you explain the connection between Genesis 28:10-17 and Romans 8:26-27? Be sure to include comments on paga, the butterfly anointing and praying in the Spirit.
2. What does the Holy Spirit do to "help" us in our weaknesses?
3. Think of situations where you don't know how to pray as you should. Make a decision to allow the Holy Spirit to help you. Decide when you're going to give Him the opportunity to do so.
4. If you had it to do over again, would you still choose Jesus? (What a dumb question!)
C H A P T E R E I G H T
SUPERNATURAL CHILDBIRTH
(Warning: This chapter could drastically alter the population of the kingdom of darkness and increase the need for newconvert classes.)
The Coach
I coached my wife, Ceci, through 65 hours of labor during the births of our two daughters, Sarah and Hannah. Told her exactly what to do and when-for about the first 10 minutes. She then assumed the roles of coach, player, umpire, referee and any other position that presented itself. Being the intelligent man I am and loving life as I do, it didn't take me long to discern that the only way to survive this "bonding" effort was compliancequick and without questions.
It was an education. I had no idea she was such a capable instructor. We have it all on video, which can be ordered through Dutch Sheets Ministries, P.O. Box . . . Just kidding!
I learned all about how to do what I did in those first 10 minutes from several weeks of classes on "natural childbirth." After the first 10 minutes, I didn't need the training. Everything came quite naturally.
This chapter is about "supernatural childbirth." My success rate was poor in praying for the lost, as was everyone else's I knew. So I thought I'd see what the Bible had to say about it: not much! At least not directly. Nowhere does it say to ask God to save someone. This puzzled me. How could something so important have so little said about it? It seemed that general principles of prayer would have to be applied to intercession for the lost.
/> I did find one verse that said, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance" (Ps. 2:8, KJV). But I knew this was a prophetic Old Testament verse referring to the Father telling Jesus to ask. I figured Christ had already done this and the Father had probably said yes.
I found that we were to ask for laborers to be sent into the harvest (see Matt. 9:38). But that wasn't asking God to save anyone; it was asking for workers. I also discovered some things concerning spiritual warfare, which we will look at in a later chapter, and I found a few Scriptures concerning travail.
Travail, What Is It?
Travail, what was it, anyway? What did it do? I knew what I thought it was, but I wasn't satisfied. Is it a valid form of prayer? I wondered. Is there really a prayer that births?
Yes, I now believe, although it is not easy to define and explain. And it is controversial. How can a mere human have a part in birthing spiritual life? What do groaning, weeping and hard work have to do with it?
One segment of the Body of Christ probably believes they already have an adequate understanding of what it is. Another has likely heard enough to think they don't want to know any more about it. And there's probably a group who have heard nothing about it. I appeal to all three: Read on with an open mind.
This chapter becomes quite theological and perhaps requires deeper thinking than others. But please realize that the word "theology," contrary to popular belief, is not a swearword, nor does it mean "boring." It actually means "the science or study of God."' And I'm sure I've read somewhere in the Bible, "Study to show yourself approved unto God." So don't be hesitant to do some. "He who studieth this chapter, yea verily, shall be truly awesome" (Additions 1:1).
This prayer called travail always puzzled me. I was raised in a stream of the Body of Christ that believed in it, although it didn't occur often. The few times I did see what I was informed was travailing intercession, it involved a little old lady who was also one of the few prayer warriors in the church. It seemed to me that it was treated as a sort of mystical thing no one really understood (such as where babies came from), very few ever did (and those only rarely), but everyone revered.
It Happened to Me
It actually happened to me once, although I didn't make the kind of noise I'd heard others make. (Those I had heard sounded a lot like my wife when she was in labor.) I was probably 9 or 10 years old and it occurred while praying for an unsaved aunt.
One night as I lay in bed, I felt a strong burden to pray for her salvation. I remember getting out of my bed, onto my knees and weeping uncontrollably, asking God to save her. I was so young and it was so long ago that I can't remember how long it lastedprobably 30 minutes to an hour. Finally, the burden lifted and I went to sleep.
My aunt lived about an hour and a half away from us. For some "unknown" reason, however, she called us later that week and said she wanted to come to our church that Sunday morning. We did not know at the time that she was actually coming to the service planning to give her life to Christ, and did. I was amazed. I had travailed for her, and that very same week she drove the long distance to give her heart to the Lord.
Travail was wonderful but I didn't understand it. And I only did it once. I couldn't help wondering why something that helped people get saved happened so infrequently. But the truth was, this sort of intense and anguishing prayer just didn't seem to "come upon" anyone very often. Because that defined travail to us, we just had to wait and be patient-like the troubling of the pool of Bethesda in John S.
I didn't question the concept-I knew that would be irreverent. God forbid that anyone would have questions about something so spiritual! The things we couldn't explain, we treated as too holy to question. We were supposed to act as if the questions weren't there-admitting them might be too disrespectful. So we didn't let God or anyone else know we had them. (I still think I can fool God once in a while!)
The Thomas Anointing
Then one day I discovered that the disciples asked Jesus a lot of questions when they didn't understand things. Sometimes the questions even seemed a little irreverent, implying that His teaching skills weren't all that great. They would ask about His parables and question some of His difficult sayings. Oh, they couched their words in nice language, calling Him "Master" and such, but you know as well as I that they were really saying, "What in the world are you talking about?"
Once when He told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood, a group of them told Him it was "a hard saying." We know what they really meant: "This is weird stuff." That bunch finally left Him.
On another occasion Christ was waxing eloquent about the disciples not being troubled because there were lots of houses where His Father lived. He was going to go there, build a few more for them, then come back and take them there. And of course, they knew the way to this place ... (see John 14:1-4). About this time Thomas-thank God for Thomas-said what all of them were thinking: "Time out, Jesus. We don't have the foggiest idea what You're talking about. We don't even know where You're going, let alone how to get there." I'm sure Christ's answer really helped, "I'm the way, You go through Me." I don't think the disciples understood a lot of what Jesus said until later.
As the Twelve usually did, I still most often do the safe, reverent and spiritual thing: I act like I understand, even when I don't. It keeps me ignorant but I look good, which is what really matters! Once in a while, however, the Thomas anointing comes and I just go ahead and tell God He has done a poor job of explaining something . . . such as travail.
As I thought about this subject of travail, I decided to allow some of the nagging questions I had buried to go ahead and surface: If travailing intercession really helps get people saved, then why is it so hard to do and why does it happen so seldom and why do only a few do it and why does it have to be so loud and strange and why didn't You say more about what it is and how to do it?
That's lousy English, but it's a great question!
Spiritual Experiences Versus Physical Facades
I would like to suggest two things at this point. First, I believe biblical travail is an important, if not essential, part of intercession for the lost. Second, I don't believe it is defined by groaning, wailing, weeping and hard work. Natural travail certainly is, and spiritual travail can include these things. I do not believe, however, that it must include them, and I'm convinced it is not defined by them. In fact, I believe a person can travail while doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, driving a car-anything a person can do and still pray.
We in the Church have done with this subject what we do with many. By our very natures we have a need to see or feel something in order to believe in it. Thus, we tend even to judge what is happening in the spirit by what we see naturally.
For example, if we pray with someone for salvation or repentance, we tend to believe the person who weeps is probably receiving more than the one who doesn't. We even say things such as, "The Holy Spirit really touched him or her." This is because we see his or her reaction.
In actuality, however, I have observed some who did not cry or show any emotion while praying who were totally transformed. On the other hand, I have witnessed some who sobbed and wept in seeming repentance, much like Judas (see Matt. 27:3-5), but experienced no change whatsoever. Again, the point is, you cannot judge what is happening in the realm of the spirit by what takes place in the natural realm.
We in charismatic and Pentecostal circles have a phenomenon we call being "slain in the Spirit." Although this is not a biblical term and the practice is certainly abused, I believe people can and do fall under the power of God. We have, however, done a similar thing with this experience. During a meeting where this particular phenomenon is happening, we tend to believe those who fall down are receiving more from the Lord than those who do not. At times we even judge whether anything at all is happening by whether or not people fall down.
I have been in meetings where I have observed this happening to the degree that I am certain the emphasis and goal b
ecame getting people to fall down, rather than a faith that allowed the Holy Spirit to do whatever He wanted, however He wanted. In other words, we began to judge what was happening in the spirit realm by what we saw naturally. This is dangerous. It leads to extremes, imbalanced teaching, wrong expectations and striving after the flesh.
In any spiritual release of power and anointing, the possibility of a physical manifestation always exists-that is biblical. People may weep. People may at times fall down under the power of God. People may laugh, perhaps hilariously. They may even appear drunk. Sometimes when God moves there is a physical manifestation; oftentimes there is not. But we can never ever judge what is happening in the spirit by what we see in the natural.
Travail, a Spiritual Happening
This is also true with travail. When choosing the term, 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.
It's easy to find out if you have made this mistake. Ask yourself the question and answer it honestly: When you hear the word "travail" in the context of prayer, do you think first of what is taking place in the spirit (a birthing), or how it is happening outwardly (in the body)? Most of you probably answered with the latter-how. The rest of you-well, I'm suspicious. You most likely relied on the theology of the little boy in Sunday School who was asked what a lie was. "It is an abomination unto God," he replied, "and a very present help in time of trouble."
