Acts 27:25
So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.


Praying, Petitioning, and Intercession:
Last week was filled with all three of these! You pray, petition, and intercede when you need a situation changed. It is not those times of status quo, when your life is going along without hindrance. It is when you are desperate for breakthrough! There will be times in your lives where intense prayer is warranted.

Praying is talking to God plain and simply. I do this on a daily basis; it is a privilege of the child of God to have this resource. For me it is an on going conversation, including him in my everyday activities. I want to know what he thinks of the many things that I am doing. It is what the Apostle Paul referred to as “praying without ceasing” This is completely relational. Talking to God.

Petitioning, Yes, I do this often! We petition for all kinds of things. There are always pressing issues, for instance provisions of all kinds, employment needs, healing, relational issues, etc. I am certain we could all come up with at least ten items to petition the Father about right now. This again is a great privilege of the child of God. I am reminded in Philippians to put away anxiety and to bring all our prayers and petitions with thanksgiving before God.

Intercession is quite different. It is a passionate cry to God on behalf of someone else.
There typically is a sense of urgency in this prayer. It is deep crying unto deep; a fervent cry for divine intervention.

Romans 8:26-27
In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

We can’t mess this one up. We are interceding and the very Spirit of God is interceding on our behalf in agreement with the will of God! What a perfect prayer!

There is what we older saints call having a burden. You feel a particular situation is pressing in on you. It’s not an oppressive feeling, but a strong call to pray. Soon after I was born again we began attending a very small Four Square church in Tucumcari New Mexico. The older ladies in the church could really pray. I went to a couple of these prayer meetings. I was so young and having been raised Catholic, I was very eager to learn how to pray.

They had a term praying through. They would pray until the release came, or the burden lifted. This didn’t mean the situation was resolved in the natural, but they were certain they had resolved it in the spiritual realm.
I have definitely experienced this in intercession. I know when I breakthrough in intercession because a release happens and you know something profound is going to happen in regards to what you just prayed.
God gives the assurance it is done!

So, what do you do now?
You rest knowing it is done. I call it “the knowing” It is a supernatural place of peace and complete trust. That is such an amazing feeling. The one thing I can compare it to is being in intense physical pain and then being given a drug that completely nullifies your pain. It is euphoric and intensely gratifying to know that you have gone to bat for someone and have pressed through.

Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus said, “ Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”


It is very simple:
We talk to God about our lives and the people in our lives.
We ask for specific things.
We at times become very burdened for someone, something, a people group, an injustice in the world etc.
We selflessly pray until we feel God’s presence and his peace.
We enter the rest of God, which is complete trust and faith that God says, “It is done!”