The Prayer That Births
What is travailing prayer?
Travailing prayer isn't something that you can muster up on your own; only God births travail.
Travail - to birth or a birthing anointingg (without travail we will not birth anything); to bear, to have a conception and then deliver it; to be disgusted or to feel disgust; to feel faint, grieved, weary, distressed, or troubled. To toil and writhe in pain; to feel a weight upon you. To put to grief, intense pain, agony. It's a type of burden bearing. Lamentations 3:12 & 13 says: "He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow. He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver."
We can mistake travail for depression. You may not know what the travail is about until you yield to it. God is calling people to travail in prayer:
"The Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant" (Isaiah 42:13 & 14).
Elijah travailed for the birthing of rain: "And Elijah said to Ahab, '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 Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees [the birthing position]. '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 and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel." (I Kings 18:41-45)
Travail brings forth the very purpose of God: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, 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" (Romans 8:22-26).
Jesus travailed in the Garden of Gethsemane: "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44). This travail that Jesus experienced was prophesied in Isaiah 53:11, "After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities."
The author of Hebrews mentions the travailing prayers of Jesus: "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission" (Hebrews 5:7).
When you enter into travailing prayer, stay with it until the burden is lifted because there is something that God wants to birth.
"I tell
you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.
You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving
birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby
is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that the child is born
into the world" (John 16:20-21).
