Hearing His Voice #146

He is always wrestling in prayer for you.

Colossians 4:12, NIV

A friend was at a dinner party when she suddenly felt an urge to pray for her husband. He was away on a business trip in Germany, and though there was no fear in her impulse to pray, she sensed he needed the Holy Spirit’s support. So she excused herself from the table and interceded for him until she felt at peace.

When she talked to her husband later, she understood why the Spirit had prompted her to pray. At that moment, her husband and his traveling companions had been with a group of businessmen who were pressing them to visit the city’s infamous red-light district for an evening of entertainment. They were steadfastly resisting, but the businessmen were stubbornly insisting. Eventually, the visitors’ refusal trumped the hosts’ insistence, and the plans were abandoned. The Spirit provided strength in a time of need.

God often impresses us to intercede for people in danger or distress. Some people who are sensitive to the Holy Spirit wake up in the middle of the night with a sudden urge to pray for a missionary or relative halfway around the world, finding out only later what the urgent need was about. Regardless of why these prayers are necessary for God to accomplish His will, they are apparently effective. Many crises, temptations, and evil threats have been averted at the precise moment when someone prayed without knowing exactly why.

Don’t resist sudden urges to pray for someone. If these urges are motivated by fear or panic, they almost certainly aren’t the Holy Spirit’s prompting; but if motivated by an awareness of intense need, they almost certainly are. Those who are sensitive to these burdens will be called on to intercede at critical moments. And their strategic prayers will greatly influence the Kingdom, even halfway around the world.

Holy Spirit, I would love to be a reliable intercessor in moments of need. Sensitize me to the impressions and burdens You give. I don’t need to understand why; I need only to know when You want me to pray, and I will respond with zeal.