In Romans 8:26-28, the apostle Paul reveals a depth in prayer that many have never experienced before. He declares the following, “the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 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.”
This description of prayer reveals a glorious dimension where the Holy Spirit literally overwhelms our being in a way that our human intellect is overrun by an inwrought force that usurps our empirical attempts, as noble as they might be. The Spirit of God actually takes the command and uses our vessels in a way that His eternal purposes are brought into view through our yielded position to him.
This level of intercession is not based on human energy or even the volume of our prayers. This holy place of divine union with our creator is thoroughly connected to the heart of God himself. He is the source and propulsion of this place where we become a tool in the master’s hand.
We can view into this level of prayer through the life of the prophet Jeremiah when he exclaimed the following in Jeremiah 4:19a: “My soul, my soul! I am pained at my very heart. My heart makes a noise in me. I cannot hold my peace.”
The picture that we behold in Jeremiah’s vehement proclamation is that he is feeling and experiencing the same emotions as God himself. This is an accurate portrayal of prophetic intercession.
To learn more about the need for prophetic intercession, please listen to this week’s Maintain the Flame with Keith Collins podcast. {eoa}
Keith Collins is the founder and president of Generation Impact Ministries and Impact Global Fellowship (an international network of ministry leaders, churches, missionaries and business leaders). He is actively involved in itinerant ministry and writing, and speaks in various settings nationally and internationally on a regular basis. In recent years, Keith served as the president of the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry and as the director of FIRE School of Ministry, which were both born out of the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Florida. His recent book, Samuel’s Arising: Waking Up to God’s Prophetic Call, is now available on Amazon. You can contact Keith via his websites at keith-collins.org or impactgf.org.
