• God knows every person's need but He does not violate the freewill that he has given us. He works or intervenes when you ask, or on behalf of others.
A. Yield fully to the Holy Spirit
As you fully yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit in intercession, you can feel God's feelings and think God's thoughts.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is (Romans 12:1-2 NLT).
• You 'will know what God wants you to do' and be able to carry out His 'good and pleasing and perfect' will when you have surrendered your body (which signifies a transformed life) and soul (means a renewed mind) to the Lord.
• Powerful intercession flows out of an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:16-19). A life surrendered to God bears the nine character-fruits of the Holy Spirit, fit for the 'ruling' or the 'kingdom' of God to manifest (see Galatians 5:21b, 22-23).
Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is in people's hearts. And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way God wants (Romans 8:26-27 NCV).
• The Holy Spirit leads you to intercede in the will of God by firstly placing in your heart the 'deep feelings that words cannot explain' and secondly, 'speaking to God for his people in the way God wants'.
• In deep communion with the Holy Spirit, you can feel God's feelings and think God's thoughts.
B. Intercede according to God's feelings
The Holy Spirit knows best what is upon God's heart and how He feels.
• He places 'deep feelings that words cannot explain' or 'groanings which cannot be uttered' (NKJV) into your heart with great intensity like the labor pains that women experience when giving birth to a baby.
While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could deliver him out of death. And God heard his prayers because of his reverence for God (Hebrews 5:7 NLT).
• Christ prayed in such deep and strong feelings 'with loud cry and tears'. He is our High Priest and Intercessor in heaven. He identifies with us in sympathy and prays for our needs (see Hebrews 4:15, 7:25-26).
• In intercession, you will receive the 'intercessory sensation' which is Christ's compassion to identify with the person or the matter you are praying fervently for (see Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32, 18:27).
Five Greek words in the Bible describe five different kinds of stirrings in your heart for you to identify with the situation you are praying for.
• 'Sighing (Gk. stenazo) in the spirit' is an inward feeling of sorrow (but not despair) or a strong compassion in the heart that moves you to pray with an expectation for a breakthrough (see Mark 7:33-34; 8:11-12).
• 'Groaning (Gk. embrimaomi) in the spirit' is a deep feeling when your heart is painfully moved to take authority sternly against the prevailing problem for a breakthrough (see John 11:33, 38; Mark 1:43-44).
• 'Troubled (Gk. tarasso) in the spirit' is the godly fear rising in the heart when encountering strong presence of God, moving you to obey and do His will (see Luke 1:29-30; John 13:21).
• 'Provocation (Gk. paroxuneto) in the spirit' is a deep challenge in the heart, not anger or displeasure, moving you to take responsibility for rectifying a situation (see Acts 17:16-17).
• 'Constraint (Gk. sunecho) in the spirit' is a strong commitment arising from a selfless heart to lay down your life for a higher purpose (see Acts 18:5-6; 21:13b).
• All these 'stirrings' or 'travailings' in the spirit move you to pour your soul before God to carry the Lord's burden with a strong emotion (even in much tears). It reaches the depths of the spirit where your heart communicates with the Spirit of God. It is praying with 'supplication in the Spirit' (see Ephesians 6:18), the 'Formula 1' standard of 'praying in the spirit' (see 1 Corinthians 14:14a).
Travailing in the spirit is a spiritual birthing process.
• Breakthroughs, miracles, and revivals are birthed in spiritual travailing.
But oh, my dear children! I feel as if I am going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives (Galatians 4:19 NLT).
• Paul travailed in the spirit for their life to fully reflect Christ.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God (Colossians 4:12 NKJV).
• Epaphras prayed and labored in spiritual childbirth to bring up spiritual sons and daughters who could 'stand perfect and complete in all the will of God'.
Travailing in the spirit works all things for good!
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28 NLT).
• Interceding according to God's feelings will bring all things to a total fulfillment according to the plan of God for His people (see also verses 26-27).
• People you intercede for will 'stand perfect and complete in all the will of God' (see Colossians 4:12 NKJV).
C. Intercede according to God's thoughts
The Holy Spirit knows best what is in God's plan and what you should intercede for.
• The Holy Spirit 'speaks to God for his people in the way God wants' (see Romans 8:26-27). He will give you the revelation of God's will for the person or the matter you are praying for.
Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words (1 Corinthians 2:13 NASB).
• The 'spiritual thoughts and spiritual words' of the Holy Spirit released deep in your heart is also called the 'inner voice'.
• That inner voice which shows you the most effective way to handle a situation or to meet a current need is called 'a word of wisdom'. That which reveals the needs or situations that people encounter is called 'a word of knowledge' (see 1 Corinthians 12:8).
As they listen, their secret thoughts will be laid bare, and they will fall down on their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is really here among you” (1 Corinthians 14:25 NLT).
• As you minister and pray relevantly, no one but the person you are praying for knows about the details. He will feel very encouraged, knowing that God loves him enough to cause another person to pray accurately for his needs.
Interceding according to God's thoughts is praying in your understanding.
I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding (1 Corinthians 14:15b NKJV).
• Christ's intercession for His disciples recorded in John 17 was 'praying in the understanding' (see verses 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20-21).
• Sometimes intercession involves an apostolic decree, a prophetic proclamation, or a symbolic action. Do these strictly with the instruction of the Holy Spirit, not presumptuously.
• Paul strongly recommends us to intercede for civil authority (see 1 Timothy 2:1-4). The demon 'Legion' did not want Jesus to send him and his 6,000 lower demons out of the locality (see Mark 5:10). Demons or 'spirit princes' like to gang up to give bad influence to people in a certain place, country, or region to keep them eternally lost (see Daniel 10:12-13, 20; Acts 19:10, 26, 35). Some spirit princes are assigned to influence people in authority.
Intercession requires persistent tenacity.
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance (Romans 8:25 NKJV).
• People have the power of freewill and it will take time for intercession to move them to choose God's will.
• Another reason you need to prevail in your intercession is that there are wicked spirits in the spiritual realm wanting to prevent the answers to your prayers (see Daniel 10:12-13).
• You must persist in your faith to cast away those demonic 'mountains' that block the answers to your intercession (see Mark 11:22-24).