by Dutch Sheets
Most of us have unconsciously defined a work of the Spirit by a work of the body. It would probably be wise to use different verbiage, perhaps "birthing through prayer," rather than the word "travail" to aid in changing this. This phrase would be acceptable biblically because, as we will see later, the Hebrew words for "travail" actually mean "give birth" or "bring forth." The translators, not necessarily the Holy Spirit, decided when to use the term "travail."
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. (Please remember, I have said travailing intercession can include strong physical manifestations, but it doesn't have to and isn't defined by them.)
The Birthing Prayer
For the sake of changing our mindset, from this point on in the chapter, I will use the words "birthing prayer" interchangeably with "travail" in referring to this type of intercession.
Having said all that, let me say plainly and emphatically: There is an aspect of prayer that births things in the Spirit. We are "birthers" for God. The Holy Spirit wants to "bring forth" through us. Jesus said in John 7:38, "From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water" (emphasis added). "Innermost being" is the word koilia, which means "womb."' We are the womb of God upon the earth. We are not the source of life, but we are carriers of the source of life. We do not generate life, but we release, through prayer, Him who does.
David and Polly Simchen, members of our church in Colorado Springs, recently received the answer to more than four years of prayer for the salvation of their son, Jonathan. Polly, and a few of her friends, demonstrated throughout this course of time one of the most tenacious and thorough examples of intercession I have ever witnessed, including this concept of birthing. The following are some excerpts from Polly's testimony. They are somewhat lengthy but filled with pertinent illustrations of things I intend to discuss in this and other chapters (emphasis added):
We gave Jonathan to God before he was ever born and raised him in church, but at 17 years of age, through a combination of several well-laid plans of the enemy, he began to wander away from God. It wasn't long before he was living a life of total rebellion, characterized by drugs and all the things that accompany such a lifestyle. Through these things, his diabetes became a greater problem, and at times he would end up in the hospital, only to get out and go back to running and doing drugs.
About that time Pastor Dutch began teaching the church about intercession. Though initially devastated and at times frozen with fear, we began to learn more and more. As my friends and I would intercede together, God gave instructions of how to pray, along with many uplifting promises and words of encouragement.
We would paga, asking the Holy Spirit to hoveraround his bed as he slept, in his car, wherever he wasand birth life into him. I did this daily.
Many times, for seasons almost daily, we anointed his room, his doors and windows, his bed, his car, his clothing and anything else he came in contact with. Many times I would go into his room and sing in the Spirit for an hour or more. I sang things like, "The name ofJesus is exalted in this place-over this bed, over these things, these clothes, everything!" I sang, "Jonathan has a destiny I know he will fulfill." My friends Shirley and Patty and I would sometimes pray four to six hours late at night.
On one occasion Pastor Dutch taught about prayer cloths. Immediately I thought, We can do that forJonathan! Pastor Dutch, David and I together laid hands on a prayer cloth, releasing God's power and anointing into it, agreeing that the anointing would break the yoke of drugs, sin, ungodly friends, perversion and anything else that needed breaking. We cut the cloth into about 12 pieces and put them under his sheets, inside his pillow, hidden in the flaps of his wallet, sewed into the cuff of his pants, under his pocket, inside holes in his walls and inside the tag on the tongue of his shoes. With each one we would declare, "The anointing breaks the yoke."
At times it seemed things would get worse; it was like Jonathan was on a mission to destroy his life. But we stood fast in loving him, speaking God's plan over his life, anointing and singing over his room and car, interceding daily and declaring Scripture after Scripture. We also declared and called forth every word and promise God had ever given to us about Jonathan. The more we declared the Scriptures, the more our faith grew. Every few months we would take a new prayer cloth to Pastor Dutch and repeat the process.
We also involved ourselves in spiritual warfare for Jonathan. We cursed the power of drugs and asked God to remove every ungodly influence in his life-although we always prayed for the salvation of his friends, three of whom have also come to Christ. God took our fears and converted them into fighting!
In January of this year, 1996, we received a word from a friend, saying God was about to "tip the bowl" of our prayers. Pastor Dutch had taught us about that, and we could hardly wait.
In February 1996, after more than four years, we could see God was dealing with Jonathan. He wanted his life to be straight. He started to read his Bible and became concerned about the salvation of his girlfriend. He began to hate the power drugs had over his friends. Then one night at one of our prayer meetings, he prayed a prayer of re-commitment to Christ. We watched in amazement as the things of the world began to fall away from Jonathan and the things of the kingdom of God became clear and appealing. Just last week (May 1996), his girlfriend also gave her life to Christ. Does God answer prayer? You bet He does!
Throughout four years of intercession, the Lord taught us much about prayer and gave us great encouragement along the way-a pastor who cared and taught us, friends who cared and prayed, prophetic words concerning Jonathan's call and God's hand on him. He even allowed my husband, David, to see the angel that would ride in Jonathan's car everywhere he went, even twice when he spent the night in jail. All fear left and we were able to fully trust God.
Thank you, Pastor Dutch, and Ceci too, for everything you have done. We are so thankful to God for the miracle that has taken place in our precious son. No one could ever convince us prayer doesn't work! God is faithful and we are forever grateful!
As stated earlier, I will examine more fully many of the ways in which Polly prayed, which I italicized, throughout the remainder of this book. At this point, however, let's examine this amazing facet of prayer-travail. May the Holy Spirit give us ears to hear.
Can we de-mystify this subject of travail? I believe we can. The following passages either directly mention travailing (birthing) prayer or the context and wording implies it:
1 Kings 18:41-45: "Now Elijah said to Ahab, `Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.' So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, `Go up now, look toward the sea.' So he went up and looked and said, `There is nothing.' And he said, `Go back' seven times. And it came about at the seventh time, that he said, `Behold, a cloud as small as a man's hand is coming up from the sea.' And he said, `Go up, say to Ahab, "Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you." So it came about in a little while, that the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel."' (The posture of Elijah in this passage is that of a woman in his day while giving birth. We are meant to see that Elijah was actually in travailing [birthing] prayer. James 5:16 also refers to this event and calls it "fervent" prayer.)
Psalm 126:5-6: "Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him."
Isaiah 66:7-8: "Before she t
ravailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons."
John 11:33,35,38,41-43: "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled.... Jesus wept.... Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.... And so they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, `Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me.' And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, `Lazarus, come forth."'
Matthew 26:36-39: "Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, `Sit here while I go over there and pray.' And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, `My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.' And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, `My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt."'
Romans 8:26-27: "And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." (The context of this passage is travail-see Romans 8:22-25. The Lord speaks of all creation and us groaning and travailing, then speaks of the Holy Spirit doing it in us.)
Galatians 4:19: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (KJV).
Although these passages do not fully explain what it is or how it is done, some things are clear:
• The Holy Spirit is involved.
• It is associated with spiritual reproduction.
• It aids in the maturing process of believers.
• It can be very intense, involving fervency, tears and even groaning.
• Assuming Christ was in travail at Lazarus's tomb and Elijah was in birthing prayer on the mountain, it is involved in producing physical miracles, not just the new birth.
The Holy Spirit, God's Birthing Agent
It will help to keep us from error and alleviate some of your concerns if I state clearly up front, we don't birth anything spiritually; the Holy Spirit does. He is the birthing agent of the Godhead (see Luke 1:34-35; John 3:3-8). He is the power source of the Godhead (see Acts 1:8; 10:38; Luke 4:14,18). He is the power behind Creation, which, as we will see, is likened to a birthing (see Gen. 1). He is the one who supplies power to God's will, giving it life and substance. He gives birth to the will of God. He is the one who breathes God's life into people, bringing physical and spiritual life (see Gen. 2:7; Ezek. 37:9- 10,14; Acts 2:1-4). Concerning salvation, we call this the new birth or the new creation.
Therefore, anything we might accomplish in intercession that results in a birthing would have to be something that causes or releases the Holy Spirit to do it.
For example, Elijah as a human being couldn't birth or produce rain. Yet, James tells us his prayers did. Paul couldn't create the new birth or maturity in the Galatians, yet Galatians 4:19 implies that his intercession did. We cannot produce spiritual sons and daughters through our human abilities, yet Isaiah 66:7-8 tells us that our travail can. If we cannot create or birth these and other things through our own power or ability, then it seems fairly obvious that our prayers must in some way cause or release the Holy Spirit to do so.
Understanding, then, that it is the Holy Spirit's power actually doing the work, I want to say unequivocally that there is a prayer that births.
If this is indeed so, we should be able to find some references that use the same words to describe what the Holy Spirit does in birthing or bringing forth life as are used to describe what our prayers accomplish. Can we? Yes! And the contexts make very clear what the Holy Spirit actually does to release this life-giving power.
Genesis 1:1-2 says, "In the beginning . . . the earth was without form, and void" (KM. The words "without form" are the Hebrew word tohuw, which means "a desolation; to lie waste; a desert; a worthless thing";3 "confusion 11;4 "empty (barren); a formless, lifeless mass."5 The basic concept is lifelessness or sterility; no order, no life. Verse two goes on to tell us "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." What does it mean when it says the Holy Spirit moved?
We use the term today in Christian circles when we speak of the Holy Spirit moving in a service. We say things such as, "The Lord really moved today," or "The Holy Spirit was moving mightily." But what do these and similar statements mean? We have an ethereal concept of what it means to us: We are implying that He was doing something; He was active. But what was He doing? Was He moving from one place to another? Was He moving upon the hearts of people? What does the word "move" mean in these contexts?
Actually, this usage of the word finds its roots here in Genesis. The Hebrew word used for "moving," rachaph, literally means "to brood over."6 The Amplified translation actually uses the words "was moving, hovering, brooding over." The margin of the New American Standard also uses the word "hovering." So, rachaph is a hovering or brooding over something.
Webster's Dictionary defines "brood" as "offspring; progeny; that which is bred or produced."' A hen's brood, for example, is her chicks that she has produced. It comes from the root word "breed," which we know means giving birth to something.
In using this term to describe Creation, the Holy Spirit is using the analogy of "birthing" something. He was "bringing forth" life. A Hebrew scholar informed me that rachaph is, indeed, a reproductive term in the Hebrew language that can be used to describe a husband hovering over his bride. Pretty graphic, but it confirms that rachaph is literally a reproductive term. One lexicon defined it as "brooding and fertilizing."'
We know from the New Testament that Jesus was calling forth life in this Genesis setting. We are told that all things were created by His Word (see John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16). But it was the Holy Spirit that brooded or hovered over the earth, releasing His creative energies or power at the words ofJesus, giving birth to what Christ spoke.
Psalm 90:2 confirms this, actually calling what the Holy Spirit did at Creation a birthing. The verse uses two important Hebrew words, yalad 9 and chuwl.'° It reads, "Before the mountains were born [yalad], or Thou didst give birth to [chuwl] the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God."
Although the words are not translated as such in this verse, they are the primary Hebrew words for travail. Each one is translated variously in the Old Testament: "bring forth," "born," "give birth to," "travail," and others (see Deut 32:18; Job 15:7; 39:1 for examples). Regardless of how they are translated, the concept is that of giving birth to something. It is not always referring to a literal, physical birth, but is often used in creating. We do the same thing in our vocabulary. We might say an idea, vision or nation was "born" or "conceived." We're obviously not speaking of a physical birth, but of something new coming into being. In much the same way, Psalm 90:2 likens the Genesis Creation to a birthing.
Hovering Over and Bringing Forth
Now, let's make the prayer connection. These are the very same words used in Isaiah 66:8: "As soon as Zion travailed [chuwl] she also brought forth [yalad] her sons." This is extremely important! What the Holy Spirit was doing in Genesis when He "brought forth" or gave birth to" the earth and the world is exactly what He wants to do through our prayers in bringing forth sons and daughters. He wants to go forth and hover around individuals, releasing His awesome power to convict, break bondages, bring revelation and draw them to Himself in order to cause the new birth or new creation in them. Yes, the Holy Spirit wa
nts to birth through us.
Marlena O'Hern, of Maple Valley, Washington, tells of doing this for her brother. We'll share more details about this in chapter 10, but Marlena had been praying for her brother, Kevin, for about 12 years. Not realizing how to pray scripturally and specifically, she often grew frustrated and made the mistake of trying to pressure him into doing what was right, which would only make things worse.
Early in 1995 she heard me teach about intercession for the lost. She, her husband, Patrick, and their children all began to pray for Kevin. One of the things they prayed was that the Holy Spirit would hover over him. In about two weeks, Kevin was born again and is serving the Lord today.
The second example of the Holy Spirit hovering and bringing forth life out of lifelessness is in Deuteronomy 32:10-18. All four of the previously mentioned Hebrew words are used in this passage: tohuw, rachaph, yalad and chuwl. In this passage Moses is recounting to the Israelites their history and speaks of Israel as an individual, obviously referring back to Abraham, the father of the nation. In verse 10, Moses says God found him in a tohuw situation-in other words, lifeless or barren.
Abraham was in the same barren condition the earth was in prior to the Creation. Neither he nor Sarah had the ability at this point to produce life. They were sterile, lifeless. We are then told in verse 11 that like an eagle hovers (rachaphs) over its young, the Lord hovered over them. The Holy Spirit brooded over Abraham and Sarah, releasing His life and power, giving them the ability to conceive!
We read in Hebrews 11:11 that by faith Sarah received dunamis (the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit)" to conceive. As He hovered, God was actually birthing a nation in them. The renewing the Holy Spirit did to their bodies as He hovered was so real that it was after this point that a king wanted Sarah as his own wife because she was so beautiful. Also, Abraham received a lasting change and had other children after this.
