“As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in Your presence, Lord. We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.”
Isaiah 26:17-18 NIV
This is what our prayer marches and prayer sessions look like to God and to those of us whose hearts are breaking for the nation. We have fasted, interceded and poured out our souls in anguish before the Lord, but it seems like we’ve given birth to wind. Nothing has changed. The wicked and rebellious have grown worse, hearts are cold, without empathy or compassion for each other. Devastation and destruction are on the rise. There seems to be no end in sight. Isaiah laments that “we have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.”
Is that your assessment of things as you look around you? Do you feel like your labor has only given birth to emptiness? Wind, as it were. What’s your position on certain hot button topics that stand to erode the laws of God. If we’re not praying God’s Word, we will give birth to wind, and of a certainty, salvation will not come to the earth. We need to assess our prayer lives, does our petition align with the gospel of Christ or are we praying our emotions and personal wishes? The prayers and intercessions of the apostles were never selfish, they promoted the heart of Christ. They promoted heaven’s agenda. When they were beaten and threatened for preaching God’s Word they prayed for greater doors of opportunity to be opened to them. Salvation came to the earth through their labor pangs. They successfully brought heaven to bear out their requests. And heaven confirmed with signs.
“On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “ ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against His anointed One’ Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against Your Holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed. They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak Your Word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the Name of Your Holy Servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly.”
Acts 4:23-31 NIV
This is how we get results in prayer. This is the type of prayer that brings heaven on the scene. This is how salvation is brought to the earth. So what are we in the twenty first century doing wrong? We don’t fear God. We don’t believe His Word. We’re not truly convinced of who He really is. We have watered down the Word, quenched the Holy Spirit, so as not to offend. We have placed more confidence in the flesh than in Christ Jesus. We have adopted the world’s ways. We allow governments to silence us. Did you read what they did after the opposition (government)) had threatened them? They didn’t hire the best lawyers, they united in prayer. They prayed with authority and confidence to the Head of all governments. To the One Isaiah said the government would be upon His shoulders. Hallelujah! And He answered by shaking the place where they stood and prayed in faith, filling them with even greater anointing and power. We will never experience this through compromise and human effort.
Another thing we read is, they didn’t see it as being done to them, but rather against God and Jesus His anointed One. They called on Him to defend His Name by performing even more signs and wonders. They asked for greater influence and opportunities to proclaim Him, not an agenda. This is what heaven is waiting to hear from us today. God is poised and ready to act on our behalf. He wants to fill us with the Holy Ghost and power to give birth to nations. To bring freedom to captives, sight to the spiritually and physically blinded. He wants to display His strength to a world weakened by sin. But we are writhing in a pain not spiritual but fleshly. Wind is the result. False pregnancies and false labor. God is not pleased.
In watching the confirmation hearing of Judge Barrett the concern of the opposition was a woman’s right to choose and the homosexual agenda. The world is dying and going to a Godless hell and we’re pushing them over the edge. But what does the Bible say? What’s God’s agenda? What are you saying? Whose side are you on? Your answers reveal where you are in your walk with Jesus. What matters to Him should be our agenda. The apostles didn’t concern themselves with what the majority thought. They prayed to be filled with renewed strength and power by the Spirit of God to fulfill His mandates. Is that your passion? Isaiah went on to say:
“See, the Lord is coming out of His dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.”
Isaiah 26:21 NIV
The earth has been soaked with the blood of the innocents. What has been done behind closed doors, neatly tucked away is about to be revealed. Just as Abel’s blood cried out to God from the earth even now the blood of millions is crying out. God will not be silent forever. We as children of God had better make a decision whose side we’re on. This salvation we have been given is not for the faint of heart, but for those who will rise up and declare before a Holy God, behold their threatening! Grant your servants boldness to speak out. We’re not cowards. God longs to shake our places of prayer. He longs to bring us to places we’ve never been before. Are we ready to move out of our comfort zone? Embrace the ridicules and threatenings? Push against the societal norms for Jesus Christ? Then and only then, will we give birth to salvation and not wind.
Holy Father, in the mighty all powerful Name of Jesus, we cry out to You our help in time of need. We have writhed in labor pangs but have given birth to wind. We have not seen the results desired in prayer. Our nation is groaning and we Your people have not delivered salvation. Forgive us for our arrogance and pride. Forgive us for our lethargic and apathetic approach to prayer. We treat it more like a performance instead of a petition. We see the error of our ways and cry out in repentance please forgive us and bring healing to our land. In Jesus Name. Amen
For every new level, for every new challenge, the anointing awaits us. All we need to do is pray with believing faith. WT
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant
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