| "Hannah answered and said...'I am a woman of sorrowful
    spirit...I have poured out my soul before the Lord.'" 1 Samuel 1:15
 There was a prayer
    chapel on the first floor of the men’s dorm at the college I attended. It
    was a small, carpeted room with an altar up front. I would often go there
    at night to pray. The fellows who went in there to pray usually left the
    lights off and sat in the soft light that passed through the stained glass
    in the door. I would sit on the wooden pews or kneel, but often I would lie
    on the floor. It was there, during my freshman year of college, that I
    discovered a deeper level of intercessory prayer. I would begin to weep
    before the Lord, sometimes vehemently, as I cried to Him in behalf of
    various family members and other areas of concern. During these intense
    times of prayer, I was not able to speak much or say anything but could
    only cry before the Lord.
 I described this to one of my professors, and his explanation made a deep
    impact upon me. “During those times,” he said, “the Holy Spirit is working
    through you and leading you into a deeper level of intercession. Much is
    being accomplished through those prayers.” He then quoted the Apostle Paul
    who said, “…the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings
    which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8: 26).
 I learned that prayer is not just an exercise of the mind, but also an
    exercise of my spirit working together with the Holy Spirit, and sometimes
    it involves travail.
 
 Prayer should include praise and thanksgiving; and It is often a time of
    joy and sometimes quietness, but these verses show us there is also a place
    for passion and intensity. This does not speak of an emotional ritual, but
    rather an expression of the genuine burden we have for those people
    and situations for which we pray. The "agony and the ecstasy."
    These are two things often missing from the lukewarm church. But in the
    last few years God has raised up an army of prayer warriors who know
    Jesus Christ and walk with Him in the joy and peace that come with
    faith in Christ. They know the comfort that comes with His word and
    with His presence.  But they have seen the need to cry out
    to the Lord for themselves, their families, their friends, for the
    nation, and for the world. It is a time for serious intercession.
    Christians in this season must be pouring out their
    souls before the Lord.
 
 “Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and
    supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save
    Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.” Hebrews 5: 7
 
 “And being in agony He prayed more earnestly…” Luke 22: 44
 
 “Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always
    laboring fervently for you in prayers…” Colossians 4 12
 
 “Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:8
 
 “Arise, cry out in the night…pour out your heart like water before the face
    of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your young
    children.” Lamentations 2:19
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