The Glory of Intercession: Holy Spirit's Heart for Individuals

As a warning before you read this post, if you have an issue with praying in the Spirit, otherwise known as praying in tongues or a prayer language, please first read my article titled "The Holy Spirit and Tongues."


Looking forward, I saw worshipers connecting face-to-face with Yahweh. A beam of light broke out of heaven, invading the earth, bursting in the room to create a stairway to the throne of God.

To say it absent of figurative language, I did not have to strain or wonder to see the room-full of saints connecting with their God. Such a beautiful display of unity broke out on that night. We all together with the sound of one voice sang love songs to our God, the One True Living God. My eyes did not fully understand the scene before me until I saw my Chinese friend pouring her life out, not to anyone human being in the room, but to God alone.

Such a beautiful sight: nation with nation, people groups of all backgrounds, meeting in one college auditorium to gather before the throne of God and pour out our life-song.

Honestly, I became overwhelmed. How could I pray for all of these people? As an intercessor, what role did I play in seeing this community connect to God all throughout the week? And what of the families of these students who would, undoubtedly, return home to broken cisterns and empty wells? Do I abandon specifics to pray for nations of people? Oh Lord! Teach us to pray!

Then, Holy Spirit brought breakthrough. As the band played on, I felt prompted to pray in the Spirit. As I did, individuals came to my mind one at a time. I would focus in, with intentional focus, on his or her life. Although I do not know what the Spirit prayed through me, He did supply an understanding of the concepts. I was breaking off the chains binding these individuals from going higher in the things of God.

Paul attaches a statement to the armor of God passage in Ephesians 6:10-20 about prayer that says, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,..." (Eph. 6:18, emphasis added).

While the Scripture also teaches us to pray with our understanding (1 Corinth. 14:14-15), Paul clearly instructs the believers to pray in the Spirit at all times, and with praying in the Spirit in mind, watch out for the saints with perseverance and petition. Paul makes this statement in the context of war. Even using war-like language, Paul states, "be on the alert."

God has emphasized from the beginning of time that the Body of Christ functions best in unity. Even when the world only contained Adam, unity with God supplied Adam with life. The wise Solomon understood this (Ecc. 4:9-12), the apostle Paul taught on it (1 Corinth. 12:12-26; Eph. 4:1-6), and the lover of God, John, prophesied about complete unity of the saints at the end of the age (Rev. 7:9-10).

Paul writes to the Corinthians, "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it" (1 Corinth. 12:26). At the highest effectiveness, the Church moves as a unit, an army if you will. When taking a step, the entire Body moves together.

And this unity of the saints happens best when we fight for each other in the place of prayer, with perseverance and petition for all the saints. If I have lost connection to community, it is first because I have lost connection to prayer. Without daily conversation with God, I will not have the heart of God; and without daily prayer, petition, supplication, and intercession for my brothers and sisters, I know not of their needs nor do I look for them--I do not love my siblings, bearing their burdens and rejoicing in their victories. Therefore, "with all prayer and petition," we must "pray at all times in the Spirit," making sure to "be on alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints" (Eph. 6:18).

Praying in the Spirit helps us to accomplish this because "we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Rom. 8:26). We pray and intercede for the saints in the Spirit, setting ourselves in alignment with what Jesus, the Great intercessors prays. In other words, praying in tongues allows us to pray the things on the heart of the Father and the Son.

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." -John 16:13, emphasis added

"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...Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." -Romans 8:27, 34, emphasis added

What conclusion do I make, then? "I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also" (1 Corinth. 14:15). Lord, teach me to pray both with my understanding and in the Spirit.

Specifically, may we believe the power of praying in the Spirit, and commit regularly to praying both in the Spirit and in understanding for the Church.

"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." -Galatians 6:1-2

The Call to Rest_SETX House of Prayer

Since the start of the high and holy season (Jewish calendar), I have felt a shift. When asking Holy Spirit about the nature of this inward feeling, He whispered to me, "Rest...Slow...Wait." The Spirit then led me to a wilderness. 

Abram, when called, also went into a wilderness. While there, God stretched Abram from an exalted father to the father of a multitude, from Abram to Abraham. Right in the middle of Abram's name, God placed the Hebrew letter "Hey," which implies the divine presence or creative power of God. I believe that God is in the process of stretching me and all of those in pursuit of region-wide unity in the Body of Christ with the very intent of placing His grace, His divine presence, and His creative power right in the middle of our names.

"Hey" sits in the fifth position of the Hebrew alphabet and, therefore, represents the number 5. This new year in the Jewish calendar marks the year 5775, a year where the divine presence and creative power of God surrounds both sides of the decade, century, and millennium.

I've heard it said that this year also marks a Sabbatical year. These verses help define a Sabbatical year:

"Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard." -Leviticus 25:3-4

"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts." -Deuteronomy 15:1

"But if you say, 'What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops?' then I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years. When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in." -Leviticus 25:20-22

Three main practices set a Sabbatical year apart:
1.) A Sabbath rest for the land
2.) The complete forgiveness of debts
3.) Refocusing ourselves to trust the Creator God, Jehovah Jireh, for our sustenance


With all of this said, I return to the story of my journey during the high and holy season. God has given the commission to build a House of Prayer within the Southeast Texas region, and He has faithfully opened doors, made connections, provided foundation, and shown us the right path to walk in during these beginning stages of obedience and building. However, if at any point I take the reigns for myself, may God push me out of the way, even if that means I fall face first into the ground.

The LORD will build this house; "'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6). He alone will set watchmen on the wall (Isaiah 62:6). God will draw hearts to rebuild the house of the LORD (Ezra 1:5).

But for a short season, (and praise God that I mean short when I say short), we had the open opportunity to grab the reigns and fight to build the House of Prayer apart from the Spirit of God. We know and affirm that "unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain" (Psalm 127:1).

I heard the Spirit say, "Rest," and then later He whispered, "Slow." Following behind these, the confirming Word came in the phrase, "Wait." And when these winds blew, I had the choice of obedience or sacrifice. Just like Saul, I sat there with the choice to obey and wait for the Word of the LORD, or speed up the process by sacrificing, begging God to bless the work of my hands instead of submitting to His (1 Samuel 13:8-14).

I write this in confident obedience. God has called the Southeast Texas House of Prayer to a Sabbath rest. We have chosen to voluntarily rest at the feet of Jesus and wait for the Word of the Lord. May this represent our lifestyles at all stages in life, but specifically in this season, may we obey God's guidance to rest, slow, and wait.

In this season we will refocus ourselves to trusting the Creator God, Jehovah Jireh, for our sustenance and the building of this house. We will seek forgiveness of all debts for all people, repenting of the sins of our fathers and the fathers of this region. And we will rest from intensive building of the House of Prayer in this land until the Holy Spirit again commissions us to move forward.

So what does this look like practically for the Southeast Texas House of Prayer?

On the grand scale, this does not change much. All we are doing is slowing down because we believe that Holy Spirit has slowed the pace of the building project. We will not yet construct an organized and committed leadership team. Also, we will no longer host a series of 24 Hour Prayer and Worship services, (or until Holy Spirit gives us release to move forward in this). On top of this, we will wait to organize a community wide Harp and Bowl/House of Prayer orientation conference.

What we will do is wait. Submitting ourselves to the mentors He has placed in our paths, we will rest at the feet of Jesus and soak in every Word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD, just as Mary did when she chose the "good part" that Jesus said would "not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42). We will continue to pray, intercede, and contend for this region and for a unified movement of prayer and worship to arise. We will continue to build, just at a much slower pace that often appears as though we have paused, as we learn and seek revelation.

And little by little, grace upon grace, precept upon precept, brick upon brick, the Southeast Texas House of Prayer will wait and watch on the wall, hold the line, seal up and stand in the gaps, serving the Lord day and night, night and day, until Jerusalem is a praise in the earth.

Continue to contend for this region, joining with us as we wait for the breakthrough that Holy Spirit has us waiting for. We refuse to be like Saul, sacrificing from our own labors because we could not wait for the LORD's timing. Just like David, we will hunger and thirst for His every Word; and, unlike Saul, we not be ashamed when the LORD ascends over the mountain.

Praise be to God!

"For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience." -Hebrews 4:8-11