With a daily TV program and more than a hundred books authored, Joyce Meyer’s most impressive outreach might be this wide-spanning ministry. Watch, and be inspired.

When Bo Stern’s husband was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, she could have just thrown up her hands and given up. She didn’t. This powerful testimony of their faith and love is sure to move you.

I believe prayerlessness is the greatest sin in the church—and unfortunately some leaders are propagating this sin and discouraging those with prayer burdens from cooperating with the Spirit of God to bring His will to the earth.

I’ve seen for years how prayer is lacking in many churches. Even churches that do have prayer meetings often relegate intercessors to the back of the church lest their effectual fervent prayer offend the lukewarm saints. But a recent message I received on my Facebook page really took the proverbial cake.

A precious and confused saint wrote: “Can you please give us clarity. I hear pastors say God did not call intercessors and you can’t find it in the bible. He said only Jesus can intercede. Thank you.”

Of course, hundreds of people sounded off to refute this claim. Some pointed to 1 Timothy 2:1-3 where Paul instructed his spiritual son to “make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for everyone.” Others pointed to Acts 12:5, when the church “prayed to God without ceasing” for Peter when he was in prison. Still others pointed to James 5:14 where Christ’s brother instructed the sick to “call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

What’s the Root of This?

Why on earth would a pastor—or anyone—try to convince their members to abandon the call to intercession? Technically, we’re all called to be intercessors, though I believe some people have a stronger ministry mantle and anointing to intercede.

Abraham was an intercessor (Gen. 18; 19). Moses was an intercessor (Ex. 32:1-14; Ps. 106:23). Samuel was an intercessor (1 Sam. 7:3; 1 Sam.12:24). Hezekiah, Paul, Stephen, Amos, Solomon, Anna the prophetess, Ezra, Elijah, Daniel and Nehemiah all entered into strong intercession. Although intercessors are called to do more than occupy a prayer closet, believers are certainly called to intercede.

So what is the root of all this? Why would pastors say such a thing? It could be a lack of knowledge (see Hos. 4:6). It could be flat-out deception. It could be a controlling spirit. It could be fear that the intercessors will gain prophetic insight into the sin in their lives. It could be wrong teaching on the topic. It could be bad experiences with immature intercessors who overstepped their boundaries. No matter what the root is, it’s dangerous.

Prayer Precedes Revival

Some people ask me why I bother praying and suggest that prayer rallies and solemn assemblies are a waste of time. I beg to differ. The only way we’ll see a true transforming revival in this land is to pave the way for the King of glory to enter through our humble repentance, pursuit of the Lord in holiness, and desperate prayer.

Could it be possible that the enemy is trying to shut that down with all this nonsense about intercession not being in the Bible? The enemy hates prayer with a passion because he knows it’s our lifeline to God. He knows that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person makes tremendous power available (see James 5:16). He knows that night and day prayer opens the door for justice (see Luke 18:1-8).

I would encourage you as the days grow darker to read the Bible for yourself. Most pastors are precious people, but no pastor is God. I’ve seen far too many people follow their beloved pastor into error in the name of loyalty. We all need a personal relationship with God and that doesn’t happen without prayer. We all need to obey Scripture and that often requires intercession followed by faith-inspired action generated through intimacy with Him.

Jennifer LeClaire is senior news editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale and author of several books, including Satan’s Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft, and The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

Jesus explicitly described what happens when His disciples fail to bear fruit. But in calling us to abide in Him—like branches to a vine—He also revealed the keys to yielding the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

It might surprise you to learn that receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit doesn’t automatically result in the fruit of the Spirit being formed in our lives. One who has yielded his life more fully to the Holy Spirit in receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit will obviously have the divine enabling to develop more fruit, much fruit and fruit that remains. But how much fruit we bear has to do with how closely we abide in Christ.

Because fruit-bearing is a direct result of abiding in Christ, this means there are deeply spiritual and fruitful Christians who have never displayed evidence of having received the Pentecostal experience of Holy Spirit baptism. On the other hand, it is sadly true that there are Spirit-baptized Christians who have not developed the fruit of the Spirit to any degree in their lives through consciously abiding in Christ. Both cases prove the reality that fruitfulness is not a result of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit but is a result of abiding in Christ.

It remains, then, that the key to the quantity and quality of fruitfulness in our lives is abiding in Christ, the Vine, in obedience to His commands. Let’s explore this abiding principle together.

We Bear Fruit by Abiding

Perry Brewster makes this observation regarding fruit-bearing Christians in his book Pentecostal Doctrine: “Our likeness to Christ is definitely not something applied from without, as a cosmetic transformation produced by a formula of some religious make-up department. It is a genuine likeness produced by an intimate relationship with Him. Christ’s own analogy of the vine and the branches upholds this (John 15:1). The branches are not merely vinelike; they are a part of the vine. Likewise the fruit does not merely resemble grapes, but possesses their inherent structure and taste.”

Fruitfulness is the principal purpose for the existence of a tree. Jesus taught His disciples that fruitfulness was His purpose for them as well. He told them, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:16). In this great teaching, Jesus called Himself “the true vine” and His Father “the vinedresser” (v. 1). He called the disciples “branches” (v. 5)and told them to abide in Him so they could bring forth fruit (v. 4). He warned them, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He [the Father] takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (v. 2).

Jesus cursed the fig tree because it did not bring forth fruit, and in the morning the disciples found the tree had died (Matt. 21:18-20). Does He not have the right to expect to find fruit on His tree of life in His garden? Thus, fruitfulness is a result of a relationship that is carefully cultivated. Jesus taught His disciples they could only be fruitful by learning to abide in Him.

The Role of the Holy Spirit

It is no accident that the Word calls the third Person of the Godhead the Holy Spirit. Holiness characterizes His divine nature. One of the supreme mandates of the Holy Spirit is to impart the holiness of God to us, to change us from glory to glory, giving us His divine nature and His character. As the Spirit works in each believer, He develops within us His character, which is identified by the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 describes this fruit as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Ephesians 5:9 says the “fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” And Romans 6:22 says, “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

I used to think the fruit of the Spirit was produced just like the gifts are: by the Holy Spirit. But then I realized it is not the Spirit Himself who bears the fruit but the Christ-life within us that produces the fruit of godly character in us. The Holy Spirit produces the Christ-life in us as we obey Him, causing the holiness and divine nature of our Lord Jesus to be manifest through us.

The fruit of the Spirit, then, is the true character of the Christian life that replaces the self-life, or old man, as the Scriptures label our sin nature. It is the fruit of the Tree of Life, Christ, who lives in the garden of our spirits.

Fruit Can Be Seen

The more one abides in Christ—and is therefore filled with the Holy Spirit—the greater the manifestation of the Spirit’s fruit in that person’s life and work. Only when a believer is full of the Holy Spirit, continually yielding to Him, can he exhibit the full fruition of Christian virtues. 

When Christ is formed in the believer through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, true Christlike character will be as natural a result as pears growing on a pear tree. The fruit of the Spirit is produced automatically when we are yielded to the Holy Spirit and walking in obedience to Him.

Spirit-filled men and women can be distinguished by their fruit in the same way that a carnal person can be identified by fleshly works. If we are abiding in Christ, the fruit of the Spirit will be manifest in our lives; it cannot be hidden. So also are the works of the flesh manifest in one who is not abiding in Christ. A carnal person is one who is not governed by the indwelling Spirit of God. This egocentric, self-centered life manifests the works of the flesh, while a Christ-centered life will manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

Works of the Flesh vs. Fruit of the Spirit

The principle of fruit-bearing is literally a life principle. Life develops from a life source; it cannot be manufactured. Fruit is not made; it grows as the requirements of the life principle are met. Therefore, fruit is born in our lives as we are connected to our life source, which is Christ.

In contrast, the works of the flesh as described in the Scriptures are a negative result of human effort without the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:19-23 describes the striking contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.

The early 20th-century Methodist minister Samuel Chadwick referred to this passage in his book The Way to Pentecost: “Work belongs to the workshop; fruit belongs to the garden. One comes from the ingenuity of the factory; the other is the silent growth of an abounding life. The factory operates with dead stuff; the garden cultivates a living force to their appointed end. Works are always in the realm of dead things. Every building is built out of dead material … Fruit does not come of man’s labor. It requires his diligence, but it is neither his invention nor his product. He does not make the flowers. No skill of his brings the golden harvest of the fields or the lush fruit of the trees. When man has done all he can do, then God begins and life proceeds. Fruit is God’s work. The phrase ‘fruit of the Spirit’ assigns the graces of the Christian character to their proper source. They are not of man’s producing.”

The Scriptures clearly teach the life principle involved in bearing fruit. The flesh can produce nothing but evil works, while the Holy Spirit produces Christ-life fruit. The former requires self-effort and results in death; the latter requires obedience to the Holy Spirit and produces life and peace.

Not Our Work

Suppose we were to ask a branch on a grapevine, “How do you grow luscious fruit?” If the branch could talk, it probably would say, “I don’t know. I don’t grow any of it; I just bear it. If you cut me away from this vine, I will just wither away and become useless.”

Just as without the vine the branch can produce nothing, so it is in our Christian lives. If we strain to work to produce the fruit of the Spirit ourselves, we will find ourselves fruitless and frustrated. But if we abide in Christ, maintaining a close, obedient, dependent relationship with Him, the Holy Spirit can work in us, creating and producing the fruit of the Spirit. 

This doesn’t mean we instantly become mature, bearing all the fruit of the Spirit fully and immediately. Even after fruit appears on the tree, it takes time—during which the elements of wind and rain and even storms bring the fruit to maturity. This desired maturity is impossible without our continually abiding in the Vine.

Producing Fruit

How, then, does the Holy Spirit work in our lives to produce the fruit of a Christ-life character? Allow me to highlight at least five ways.

1. Through God’s Word. The psalmist described the “blessed man” as a tree planted by the river of water that yields its fruit in its season (Ps. 1:3). He declares of this fruitful life that “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (v. 2). The place we give the Word of God in our lives will determine our degree of fruitfulness.

For example, I knew a woman who was a faithful reader of the Word, and her life evidenced it by the fruit she was bearing. But for some reason she neglected her study of the Word for three or four days, and she began to be irritable and impatient. Her little 4-year-old daughter observed her mother’s reactions for a day and then said to her, “Mother, why don’t you get into the Word?” That 4-year-old understood this principle of abiding in the Word better than most of us. As we learn to abide in the true Vine, His life flows into us, producing the fruit of the Spirit to the Father’s glory and to the blessing of others.

2. Through meditation. David doesn’t say this blessed man simply reads the Word. He meditates on it as well. The word selah,found throughout the Psalms, means “to meditate, to stop and think about what has been said.” A word picture of selah is the cow chewing her cud after eating to assimilate all she has swallowed.

As we read and meditate on the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit can convince us of sin that needs to be purged and can direct us to God’s standard of holiness and righteousness for our lives. Apart from applying the Word of God, there can be no lasting spiritual growth and no fruit-bearing in our lives.

3. Through spiritual disciplines. Jesus said that abiding in Him was a prerequisite for bearing fruit; therefore we need to give ourselves to spiritual disciplines in our lives that will help cultivate this abiding relationship. These disciplines include not only giving ourselves to searching the Word of God, but also hearing the Word via anointed preaching, as well as spending much time in prayer and worship in the Spirit. These help us feed our inner man on Christ’s life and help grace us in our relationship with Him. Fellowshipwith other believers is also an important spiritual discipline because it allows us to commune with Christ and to participate in His life indirectly through each other.

4. Through obedience. Obedience is almost an obsolete word in Christendom. We hear much about faith but so little about obedience. But Jesus said, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love” (John 15:10).

The secret to abiding in Christ is to believe in our spirits, obey in our souls and yield our flesh to the power of the Holy Spirit. This abiding obedience involves every aspect of our person. Obedience brings maturity and develops the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

5. Through pruning. If we do not abide in Christ, we cannot bear fruit and, according to Jesus’ teaching, such believers will be cast away (v. 6). If a branch does bear fruit, the requirement made of the fruitless branch is that it endure pruning. Listen again to Jesus’ words: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He [the Father] takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (v. 2).

Leaves and foliage can be very beautiful. In the spring I can look out in the yard and the trees are verdant, luscious and lively. However, it is only by pruning that such foliage continues to flourish. The primary purpose of pruning a branch is to remove the wood that produced fruit in the last season in order to force the vine to grow new wood that will produce new fruit in this new season. God does not perpetuate the old; He prunes to force new growth.

If we have experienced some pruning in our lives, it is not because God is mad at us or that there is necessarily sin in our lives. It is that the Father is pleased we are bearing fruit, and He knows that to increase the quality and quantity of that fruit, we need to be pruned.

Abiding in the Vine

If abiding is the primary condition God sets before us to bear the fruit of the Spirit, then why do we seek to be fruitful in other ways? Why is it that the simplicity of God’s way is always the way that seems so difficult for the flesh? It is, according to the Scriptures, because our spirits and our flesh are at war. Our flesh opposes the desire of the Holy Spirit to make us holy because it does not want to die.

Yet as we cultivate a fruitful relationship in Christ by spending time reading and meditating on God’s Word and in prayer, the Holy Spirit continually reveals truth to us. Then, as we walk in obedience to that truth instead of obeying our fleshly desires, the Holy Spirit transforms us and we begin to bring forth His fruit by the power of the Spirit.

Every believer must have an unbroken relationship with Christ sustained by obedience. In unwavering faith in what Christ has done, we must acknowledge Him as the Vine and His Father as the “Husbandman,” the divine Pruner.

God has preordained, foreordained and predestined us to bear fruit. As we consciously and continuously fellowship—abide—with our Lord, we will become fruit-bearing trees. Let us therefore be diligent to yield to the Holy Spirit, obey His commands and walk in His will so we may be fruitful.

Fuchsia Pickett, who passed away in 2004, was miraculously healed of a genetic, life-threatening disease in 1959, was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to minister the Word of God worldwide. Known for her remarkable insight into Scripture, she was a Methodist professor and pastor for more than 50 years. She also wrote the best-selling book The Next Move of God, as well as other classic works such as Receiving Divine Revelation and Stones of Remembrance.

Fuchsia Pickett explains how to tap into God’s divine purpose for your life at divinepurpose.charismamag.com

The host of Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural shares an incredible miracle that just transpired in Israel, something he believes will have an incredibly widespread impact on the kingdom.

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The second fruit of the Spirit is joy. There are varieties of joy we share with non-Christians. The celebrative moments in our life—weddings, births, engagements—are great sources of joy. Achievements—breaking the sales record in the office or graduating with honors—bring joy when we have worked hard and reached a goal. Relationships bring joy when we feel things are right between us and another person.

Life often brings joy even for the nonbeliever, but it is different from the fruit of the Spirit. Some non-Christians seem very happy, but we know from our own experience in coming to Christ, and from the Bible itself, that even the happiest non-Christian endures a void, an emptiness, an aching only Christ can fill.

Uniquely, Christian joy—the fruit of joy—begins with our salvation. In talking about salvation in Luke 15, Jesus told the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Why? Because these figures of speech spoke of salvation. Our heavenly Father rejoices over us when we are saved. It’s a time for joy.

One of the dimensions of joy in the New Testament is the joy of the gospel coming to others. When we see someone else saved and come to the Lord, we rejoice. This is a dimension of joy that we don’t focus upon enough. In John 4:36, Jesus talked about the ones who go out sowing and reaping and rejoice together. In Acts 15:3, when the early church heard of the conversion of the Gentiles, they rejoiced over what God had done.

There is joy associated with the infilling of the Spirit in Acts 2:13. The joy is so deep that the 120 were mistakenly assumed to be drunk. But the Spirit does bring joy. Thank God there are those great celebration moments in worship when our hearts truly sing and we are literally outside of ourselves.

Christian joy is even present in the midst of struggle and stress and suffering. “We also rejoice in our sufferings” (Rom. 5:3). Who rejoices in suffering? Christian joy finds us even in our down times and we rejoice because we know that even in our suffering, God is working out a process in our life. This process is initiated with suffering but goes on to develop endurance—another fruit of the Spirit—and character, that which we are when all the masks are removed.

We rejoice also in our future hope. Jesus said in Matthew 5:12, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.” We have not yet even begun to consider the glories of heaven. Many times we’re even reticent to speak about heaven and the afterlife because of the criticism that we are “pie-in-the-sky” people. But we should have joy, uniquely Christian joy, in our future hope. A great day is coming.

The Scriptures give us many ways to keep the joy flowing. We nurture joy as we love, sing and give thanks. Singing and nurturing an attitude of thanksgiving are necessary corollaries to joy.

During the days of Nazi Germany there arose a Confessing Church movement that rose against the German Church movement, which became the religious arm of the Fascist Nazi Socialist movement.

Of the 18,000 pastors in Germany during that time (from 1933 to 1945), less than 5,000 were aligned with the Confessing Church. Hence, only a remnant held fast to the biblical position, with about half of the churches conforming due to political and societal pressure. Unfortunately, this demonstrates that when push comes to shove, a large percentage of pastors, churches and so-called Christians will probably bow to pressure and allow the norms of culture to become their credo for Christianity.

We see the same thing today in churches in the USA and beyond. With the accelerated pace of the attack on religious liberty today, there could develop a great divide in the church between confessing churches and compromising churches similar to what happened in Nazi Germany. This will not be a divide based on denominational affiliation but based on the degree of loyalty to biblical fidelity. It is sad but true that more and more believers will be compromising core biblical values and standards rather than be stigmatized or persecuted and lose influence in society.

In John 12:42-43, we see that many contemporaries of Jesus believed in Him but would not confess Him because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

The following are contrasts between the “confessing church” and the “compromising church” throughout the ages:

1. In the confessing church Christ is over culture. The compromising church accommodates Christ to culture. The confessing church believes Jesus is Lord over all creation. Hence, they attempt to reflect Christ in every area of culture. The compromising church has a posture of accommodation. Hence, the Christ they believe in and preach is shaped by the culture they live in.

2. The confessing church holds fast to the Word of God in spite of opposition. The compromising church alters the Word of God because of opposition. In America it is quite possible that it will soon be illegal to preach from certain passages of the Bible dealing with human sexuality. Because of this, many will alter their theology to fit the culture while the confessing church will preach the Word of God in spite of governmental fines, penalties, lawsuits and even serving time in jail.

3. The confessing church puts the kingdom of God above their culture and ethnicity. The compromising church puts their ethnicity before the kingdom of God. The German Church during the Nazi era put nationalism and their Aryan heritage above the Word of God. Many pastors and believers today view the Scriptures more through the lens of their ethnicity and national heritage than through a proper exegesis of Scripture. When and if our nation officially makes biblical Christianity illegal, we will soon see who will be the confessors and who will be the compromisers. In many ways, practicing biblical Christianity is already illegal when it comes to believers attempting to walk out their faith in the marketplace because private, Christian-owned businesses do not have the same level of protection today as do local churches.

4. The confessing church alters their methods of preaching. The compromising church alters the message they preach. While it is wise and biblical for the body of Christ to be relevant to culture regarding the preaching of the gospel, it should never put being relevant above being faithful. The compromising church puts being relevant before biblical faithfulness. Hence, they not only change the method of preaching but also the message they preach.

5. The confessing church is a remnant in the minority of church and state. The compromising church wants to be in the mainstream of both church and state. The confessing church endures long seasons of feeling like aliens and strangers in their own communities. The compromising church wants to be in the mainstream of culture more than living in the divine flow of God’s favor and presence.

6. The confessing church is penalized by the state government. The compromising church is applauded by the state government. While the confessing church is hunted down and ostracized by the humanistic state, the compromising church is celebrated by the far-left radicals and used as a model of how church and state should function together.

7. The confessing church prophetically speaks truth to power. The compromising church conforms to those in power. The confessing church knows that at various seasons in their existence they will not gain a lot of converts or experience societal transformation. The best they can do is to maintain a prophetic witness to the cultural elites and surrounding communities. Since the compromising church enjoys the power and prestige the elites grant them, they always conform rather than confront.

8. The confessing church desires the praise of God. The compromising church desires the praise of men. Ultimately, at the end of the day it boils down to this: Are we living for the praise of men or the praise of God? If things don’t change in the coming days, we will be shocked at how many megachurches, mid-size churches and smaller churches compromise the Word of God so they could continue to keep their doors open.

At some point, we will all have to stand the ultimate test, which is whether we desire God more than we love our lives, or whether we love our pleasures, conveniences and material goods more than God. Truly, if we confess Christ before men He will confess us before His Father in heaven. But if we deny Him before men He will deny us before His Father in heaven (Matt. 10:32-33).

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church and Christ Covenant Coalition in Brooklyn, New York. Visit him at josephmattera.org.

I was sitting on the edge of a worn-out bed in a foreign city with my head in my hands trying to shake off a flood of disturbing emotions. I knew I couldn’t effectively minister until I got to the root of the issue.

“What is wrong with me, Lord? I have absolutely no reason to feel this way. What is going on?” I pled with the Lord to reveal the root. I felt like my world was coming to an end; like there was no hope for a better tomorrow; like quitting and giving up. I started praying in the Spirit and then entered another plea.

“What is happening, Lord?” This time, He replied.

“It’s despondency. This is how the people of this city feel. I want you to pray for them.”

Merriam-Webster defines despondency as feelings of extreme discouragement, dejection or depression. And that nailed it. That was exactly how I was feeling—only it wasn’t me. It was a prayer burden from the Lord.

Dividing Between Soul and Spirit

Of course, that was many years ago. I was reminded of that story after a recent message I posted on Facebook about intercession. It was short and sweet, but it hit a nerve with people who were looking for answers—or reminders—about this spiritual truth. I actually wrote the post after discerning an unusual prayer burden the night before. Here’s the post:

“Intercessors, as we move deeper and deeper into the things of God, it’s increasingly vital to learn to divide soul from spirit. When the burden of the Lord comes upon you, you may feel the weight of oppression, hear the enemy’s accusations, or experience various negative emotions seemingly out of the blue. That’s not you! Learn to quickly discern the call to pray against a thing rather than coming up under it.”

In other words, we need to discern between the emotions of our soul and the prayer burden of the Lord. I can sit in church and hear what the devil is saying to other members of the congregation. I used to think it was my own thoughts, but I learned that I was hearing into the spirit realm so I could engage in warfare over their souls. Many times I feel disturbed in my spirit without any reasonable cause—there’s no trouble, no sin, no warfare. I have learned that if my hands are clean and my heart is pure it’s time to press into intercession whether or not I ever know what I’m praying about—and I don’t always know. I just answer the Holy Spirit’s call.

Burden Bearing for the Lord

The principle of intercession includes burden bearing. Where I live, when they plant new palm trees they use three stakes of wood to hold them steady until they are rooted and grounded in the soil. Those stakes bear the burden of the tree. When we intercede for people or places—whether we know what we are praying for or not—we stake ourselves to them and work with the Holy Spirit to remove what doesn’t belong there. Dutch Sheets goes into this in detail in his book Intercessory Prayer.

Jesus is our model intercessor. 1 Peter 2:24 explains that He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. ‘By His wounds you were healed.'” Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us (see Heb. 7:25). At times, our intercession turns into all-out warfare. Again, we may not even know why. But we rely on the Holy Spirit to pray with and through us.

“Likewise, 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” (Rom. 8:26-27).

Sometimes we may know exactly what we’re praying for but we don’t know how to pray. The key to fruitful intercession—to effective burden bearing for the Lord—is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit feels the same burden and is sharing with you so you can work with Him to bring His will to pass over people, situations and even nations. Pray in the Spirit as much as you can and you’ll develop greater discernment to recognize the burden of the Lord. And again, remember this:

“Intercessors, as we move deeper and deeper into the things of God, it’s increasingly vital to learn to divide soul from spirit. When the burden of the Lord comes upon you, you may feel the weight of oppression, hear the enemy’s accusations, or experience various negative emotions seemingly out of the blue. That’s not you! Learn to quickly discern the call to pray against a thing rather than coming up under it.” Amen.

Jennifer LeClaire is senior news editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale and author of several books, including Satan’s Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft, and The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.