petertan.net PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT SERIES DEVELOPING STRENGTH FOR INTERCESSION THROUGH WAITING UPON THE LORD The bible talks about waiting on the Lord in Isa.40: 31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. It is interesting that the bible use the word wait. As we read our English translations of the word wait, it may not convey the fullness of what the bible meant by the word wait. When we talk about waiting on God in English, we think about just sitting down and waiting for God to do something. But in the Hebrew when we talk about waiting on God there is something that is taking place in our lives. It is not passive. It is very active. There is an involvement that is required. There is a change that is required in our lives. It's different from just passively waiting for a bus to show up. Or waiting for God to show up. The English word waiting on God sometimes conveys the wrong meaning that here we are waiting and it is God's turn to make the move. It's God's turn to take the initiative. However that is not what the bible wants us to understand. Qavah There are basically three Hebrew words for wait. The first Hebrew word for the word wait is in Isa.40:31 is the word qavah and that is the same word that we have read just now qavah. It speaks about waiting in great hope and in great expectation. Let's see the other scriptures that use the word qavah. Ps.25: 3 Indeed, let no one who wait on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. Again the word qavah is used. Also Ps.37:9 For evildoers shall be cut off. But those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. Apparently waiting on God is very powerful.
Ps.69:6 Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me. Let not those who seek you be confounded because me, O God of Israel. That's again the word qavah. Also in Lamentation 3: 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. Notice the word soul is mentioned. This will be the key to the interpretation of the differences. This waiting or qavah is a description of the soul seeking God, reaching out into the depths of God. When we talk about seeking something, it means that you have an objective. And you are looking high and low for something. Of course God is not lost. We were the ones were lost and God found us. But yet it talks about the attitude of putting God first and reaching out. It speaks about the soul stretching out into Him. Lamentation 3:25 bring a very close clarity to the meaning of the word qavah. Chakah The second Hebrew word for wait is the word chakah. And it has a totally different meaning. Isaiah 64:4. For since the beginning of the world, Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. The interesting thing here is the rendition of the same verse differently by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2: 9 Paul quotes the same verse but changed the word wait to the word love. And that gives us a clue to the meaning of chakah. 1 Cor.2: 9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." The word wait has been replaced by the word love. Let's look at Habakkuk 2: 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it will speak and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Without the help of 1 Cor.2 it looks similar to the earlier verses. One more verse Job 3: 21 Who long for death, but it does not come and searched for it more than hidden treasures. Where is the word wait? Where is the word chakah? That is the word long. Who wait for death, who long for death. The reason we give you all these because you can differentiate there some evidences of the word wait. Notice here that the word wait in chakah speaks more about the attitude of our hearts towards God. Isa. 64:4 ties up with 1 Cor. 2: 9. Chakah talks about the attitude to the heart. Paul changed the word wait to love. And here the word wait chakah has been translated long. It talks about our attitude in reaching out to God. It is our innermost being that reaches out to God. So it talks about the expectancy of the things that are coming. It is a drawing out of us. Whereas the other one qavah you notice it talks
about seeking something. There is a slight difference. Qavah the emphasis is on what you are looking for. Here on chaka the emphasis is on what is within you. When you are seeking for something, it is more your objective which is important. You have to have in mind what you are seeking for. So that is a different perspective. Dumiyyah Now let us look at one more word and then we will begin to explain it. The next word for the word wait is found in Psalm 62: 1 Truly my soul silently waits for God. From Him comes my salvation. Notice that the word waits is in Italics. The New King James puts my soul silently waits. The whole word silently waits is from one Hebrew word dumiyyah it means a silence of the soul. That is a different word for wait. One more scripture Ps.65:1 Praise is awaiting you O God in Zion. And to you the vows shall be performed. So it speaks about praise is waiting to rise up out of that kind of silence. That is the picture of dumiyyah. It is not a dead silence. But there is expectancy in that silence. It is like the calm before something happens. It is like that silence that takes place before the runners are ready to spring forward waiting for the signal of the gun. For a moment everybody is silently and expectantly watching. So it is an expectant silence not a dead silence. So this is a silence that is expecting something to happen. So there are three Hebrew words for the word wait. And each one of them deals in different area. The first word "Qavah" is also translated as bound in two other scriptures. One is in the book of Genesis 1: 9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. The word gathered together is the word qavah, which means to be bound. Jeremiah 3:17 "At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their hearts. It is also used in the normal sense of the word bound. So the word qavah" speaks about reaching forth into the depths of God. The emphasis in qavah is on God taking a hold of our being. It emphasizes on union with God. The word qavah gives us a picture of being intertwined together with God. They that qavah on God, they that qavah on the Lord shall renew their strength. They that bound themselves together with God, God binds Himself to them. Then God and us become one and then our weakness disappears and God's strength becomes our strength. That is why Isa. 40:31 speaks about waiting on God like the eagle renewing its strength. Qavah speaks about an impartation from God. God imparts a part of His being into us and our being becomes a part of God. There is a binding
together. There is a union between man and God and that takes place in a qavah. The other word chakah speaks about a building up within our soul in desire and in anticipation. It speaks about a quickening within our lives onto God. That's why Paul uses in 1 Cor.2:8 the word love to replace the word wait as in Isa.64:4. The word chakah also literally means to wait with great earnestness. The emphasis is not on the bounding but the emphasis is that everything within us. Every part of our emotions, every part of our soul, every part of our will, every part of our intellect, every part of our spirit, soul and body reaches out with longing towards God. That's why Paul says love. He replaced the word wait with the word love. It talks about something rising from within us. Qavah talks about binding together with God and God becoming a part of us. Chakah speaks about something arising up from within us. It is a red, hot, on fire desire for God. That is what the word wait talks about here in chakah. Dumiyyah is also normally translated as silent and speaks about a calm that takes place within our soul. For example if right now we were to take you and put into a sound proof room where no noise can reach into that room. The only noise possible is noise that comes from you. And we shut you up and you do not make any physical noise, yet you could still have the noises of the soul. Dumiyyah is cutting the noises of your soul. For example, right now when you try to pray, if you have not sort of done some preparation. And if you just rush from doing some work in the world or something. As you try to come into prayer. And as you try to get into the realm of the spirit, your mind is still on your work. Your mind is still on some physical activities. Your thoughts are running all over the place. Here you are. You know you want to concentrate on God. Your mind is running all over the place, all kinds of thoughts are there. Your mouth is not speaking, yet there are noises inside you. These are the noises of the soul. And dumiyyah has not taken place yet. When dumiyyah takes place there is an internal stillness and silence. Then truly you can say you have waited on God. All of your soul has calmed down. It is quite and silence inside. Of course that is a good position to hear the voice of God. The Timeless Realm of the Spirit as the Place of Intercession Having described that, let's apply that to intercession. For that we need to understand that in the realm of the spirit there is no time. As far as God is concerned the realm of the spirit exists today. We realize that when we pray about
things, we are praying about the future. All our prayers are actually reaching out into the future. Think about that for a moment. If you are sick right now and you are praying for healing, it's one thing to see your condition and pray away and it is another thing to see what you actually want and pray healing into being. And what people must realize is intercession is reaching into the future. Intercession is creative work. It is the creation of natural events and natural substances through the spirit realm by spiritual law. For example you want something to take place in your life. And you put intercession inside. What are you doing? You are asking for supernatural intervention and control of circumstances so that it changes to be what you wanted it to be. Of course bearing in mind it works only when it is in line with the will of God. It will not work if it is against God's word and it is for our own selfish reasons that are contradictory to God's word. Basically we need to make this statement strongly that all intercession is reaching into the future. What you want to be. What you want circumstances to become like. And the things that you want to come to pass are basically reaching into the future. We are not just dealing with our past. If you don't see that then your intercession is actually backtracking. It is not real intercession. It is merely backtracking and complaining. True intercession reaches into the future to bring it into manifestation. It's creative work together with God. Right now the future exist in the spirit world and in God. Things got to exist in the spirit world before it exists in the natural world. And what happens is that we are reaching into that spirit realm which exists today and bringing it into manifestation. In the spirit world where God dwells there is no time. When we move or let our spirit float into God's presence, you could actually see your own future as easily as you see your past and present. In the spirit realm there is no past, present or future. When our spirit moves into the realm that God moves in, our spirit could move into the future. Do you know our spirit can travel through time? When the prophets saw some of the visions that took place and prophesied what were they doing? Their spirits traveled through time. They saw everything and they went back to their generation and told about it. Our spirits can travel through time. Time travel. It can travel into the past and then make a record of those entire things. It can travel into the future. Some people understand that the spirit can come out of the body. But that is simple.
Of course our spirit must be free enough to ascend into God. Some people's spirits are not free enough. Their spirits are too tied up to their soul to ascend into the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Our spirits can detach itself from the body and ascend into the spirit realm if the soul and the flesh do not hinder it. My spirit has left my body several times. I know what it is like. You can't consciously do it. It has nothing to do with astral travel. That's demonic. But God can catch your spirit up into Him. Understand that there two peculiarities of spirit traveling. One is that our spirits can rise outside of the physical dimension. The other is when he has done that, he can then move through time. It can move into the past. It can move into the future. And it can move into your future and see something and come back and then give knowledge to your soul. Our spirits can move into the timeless frame of God. There are several ways that man try to mould their future in the spirit realm. It's either through the spirit, or through the soul or through the body. Man who are dead spiritually try to mould their future through their soul and through their planning. But sometimes after all that they planned and schemed, something unforeseen happens and the whole thing falls apart. So man through their soul and through their physical activities are trying to mould their future. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't work. We have an additional resource, the spirit realm. And in that spirit realm we could mould our future. Prayer is the crucible where you can mould your future and control your destiny. We are not fated. We have a free will and a free choice. And the crucible of prayer is where we can mould our future into the perfection that God wants it. Why must I mould it? For there is other forces that are trying to mould your future. All you have to do is to do nothing. And external forces will mould your future for you; circumstances, people and demands made upon you and all the external things will mould your future. If you don't make a decision and make life to be what you want it to be, all you have to do to fail is to do nothing. Do nothing and straight away you will fail. So you have to keep moving against the tide. Do something in order to succeed in God. So we have an instrument to mould our future from the spirit realm. Let's see the spirit realm again. God sits in the center of the universe. With him past, present and future are the same. There is no such thing as time. He is the
beginning and He is the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is in the wheel within the wheel. Then all around God are these creations of His. He spoke them into being and they continue in existence in what we call a time frame. But no time frame exists in God. So as we move outside of God's presence into the creation of God all around, time exist. So you could see the past, present and future on the outer spokes of the wheel. Just like a bicycle wheel, there is a circumference and then there is a place where all the center spokes are. Imagine God sitting in the center radiating in spokes of Him are His creative works. All along the circumference of the rim of the wheel within a wheel is the creation of God from the past to the future. And all these things that exist in the circumference of the rim of the wheel within a wheel is the time frame of God. We are in existence in this realm. Yet the bible wants us to move further than that. Although we are in this world, we are not of this world. The bible says set your affections on things that are above. Eph. 2 tells us we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. We are there and yet here. He is talking about the spirit realm. In the spirit realm and in our spirit we can move into the realm where God exists and move back here. We are to remain continually in that realm and guide our lives and affairs from that realm. Now in the outer rim where time exists, sometimes people cut off the spokes of God control through disobedience. You could see the spokes that come from God controlling the universe. God is still in control generally speaking. He could interfere if He wants to. But He has set laws into motion and through man's free will and choice. Man has at times chosen to cut the spokes of God's control. Yet men who have cut their relationship from God still continue reproducing and existing, because there is a cycle of life that God has already created. But what happens is that this cycle exists without the help of God now. And there is imperfection in the cycle. And as a result of that there will always be bad things happening out of that cycle because God is no more in that area. His control has been released. When God create the universe, He creates laws to sustain and run by themselves. So that when man chose to cut off from God the universe continue in its imperfect existence with the grace of God interfering here and there. So there is this universe and man had cut off spokes of God's control. From time to time there will be man on this planet earth that reaches into the realm of God and God's control have been brought upon this earth. That is through prayers. Now the spokes from God have been cut from the creation of man. When Adam and Eve sinned the spokes from God's control were cut off. The whole
universe was in darkness. But the world continues existing because God created the world to exist on its own laws. Its origin is in God but now it is no more in God since it is in rebellion against God. That's why God one day has to make a new heaven and new earth. And as we continue existing, God had to teach man laws from the time of Genesis, in order to put that spoke back. Since the spoke was broken from this side, it needs a response from this side. God could easily with his Almighty power forced Himself on the earth. But because his laws are abiding in the universe that He has created, He prefers to have freewill operating. And so on this planet earth that existed on the circumference of the rim of God's creation. There have been man and woman from time to time who have reached into God and they had linked up with God. And with their help the world has been adjusted a bit here and there back to God. Whenever there is not enough intercession the world goes out into off balance. And then when men and women pray it connect it back to God. Imagine this has been going on for nearly six thousand years of human history. Qavah, Chakah and Dumiyyah Links Us Firmly to That Timeless Realm of the Spirit Now this is where the three Hebrew words come in. In order to link back that spoke, you need number one qavah. You need to reach into that realm where God exists and bind yourself to Him. Abiding together between you and God. That binding needs to take place. That means you got to build one spoke out into God. So that God and you become bounded and interwoven together and then He carries you. He carries you into the next realm of your future. Can you see that if we could link our spokes to God, we will be carried into the will of God that He planned for us in the future? If it is not linked to God the next phrase may not be God's will. It is our free choice. So we need to link with God in order to walk into the radius that God wants us to walk in. Otherwise without that link there is no force to bring us into God's will. So qavah comes in prayer and it forms the spokes of divine light, will and guidance with God. Chakah speaks about the abundance. The word "chakah" has been translated as the word long, earnest, desire. One talks about the formation of those
spokes. The other speaks about the length of holding on. A tree cannot exist on just the taproot. The tree needs its secondary roots spreading themselves left, right, center all over the place. And the longer the roots are the stronger the plant. Recently I was reading one article about grass. They are trying to produce grass that doesn't need much watering. The only way they could do it was to produce grass, which has very long roots. And they are still on the experimental stages. The roots are so long they can reach into the soil table where there is water. So the roots are important. Can you imagine if it is just one root? So in the same way we do not just need one root in God. We need roots in God. And what happens in chakah is the formation of not just one root or one spoke but many. It is not only our spirit being linked with God but in chakah our emotions are linked with God, our minds are linked with God, and our desires are linked to God as well. Our whole being is linked to God. Can you imagine the amount of roots that takes place now? Bear in mind that with all these you could move into a different realm. For example when a prophet operate in the spirit and begins to know things, how does he know it? A part of their knowing has to take place through their soul. If God reveals to them in the spirit and they speak out in a spirit language, it would not edify any one. That is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14 He said if I speak in the spirit nobody understand me, no body is edified. But they are edified when God began to reveal something in the natural to the mind. When the interpretation comes. Now how does it come? My mind has to be in tune with God. My mind has to have a root in the spirit. If my mind doesn't have a root into the spirit realm, my mind will not get the communication from the spirit realm. It would be like a vast gap, spirit is spirit, and soul is soul. Qavah is a binding into God where your spirit forms the main taproot in God. Chakah is where not only your spirit has a root in God but many secondary roots are also formed to link your will, emotions, and mind to God. There is no way you can develop chakah without developing qavah. There is no way you can come to God unless you are born again, washed by His Blood and given a new spirit. Then you can develop and nurture your spirit man until your spirit man grows into God in depth and strength. Then with that formation you could put up other secondary roots. Your mind, your emotions, everything in you begins to also reach out into that realm called the timeless realm. Your mind began to reach into the things of the spirit, which reveals the future. Your emotions began to sense the things that are coming forth. Everything within you begins to form the secondary roots. Can you
imagine the strength that you would have now? When your entire being is linked to God, surely mercy and goodness will follow you. Every step you take is definitely in God. Of course the chakah has to take place with dumiyyah. See dumiyyah deals with roots you have in the wrong place, which have to be cut out. Our soul can never be silent as long as it is too worldly. We have to retain what I call a detachment from the world. Otherwise Jesus will not say you are in the world but not of the world. It means being unworldly and being different from the world. What that means is that we should not be taking roots in the world. 1 John says that if the love of the world is in you, then the love of the Father is not in you. They do not co-exist. It's not possible to be spiritual and worldly. The two doesn't go together. To be spiritual is to be unworldly. How do dumiyyah take place? You see every one of us when we were born into this planet earth was born with attachment to this world. We are born into the world where people see temporal as eternal. We are born into the world where we are trained on temporal things and temporal skills, so that the temporal looks as if it is real and eternal. Friends our roots were here in this world. I am not saying that you totally cut off from the world and you go and exist on a mountain somewhere. Jesus did say you are in the world different. He did not say you are not in the world and not of the world. We are born here but yet are different here. And so we were born with our roots in this world. We are born with all our emotions, intellect and will in this world. But when we are born again a change starts taking place in our spirit. And sad to say some changes do not take place in some Christians' soul like it should have. What God wants is for dumiyyah to take place. There has to be a cutting off. You can only put your roots either there or here. You can either let your emotions be affected from that realm or from this realm. You either let your thoughts be thoughts of the spirit realm and are in line with the word or are thoughts that are contradictory to God's word. You cannot have both. So it is a choice that we make. And we have to make that choice and began to cut worldly roots off. My word has made you clean Jesus said. That's why Jesus talks about those who bear fruit in John 15 where He says He still needs to prune them. Why because the fruits you bear is the spirit realm bearing into this world. Then after that you got to cut them and then you continue bearing more fruits. To live unworldly and to live spiritually is a continuous decision. It's not once for your lifetime. It's a daily decision. You
could leave a prayer meeting and spend the next three days in your office. And then you began to neglect word and prayer. You began to hit rock bottom. And you begin to find your mind, your emotions and your will and the choices you are making beginning to be affected from the worldly perspective. It's not something that you do once. It's something that you continually do before God. So chakah and dumiyyah need to be taking place all the time. And if you are strong in God through the years you have put up so many roots in God that you would literally be like Psalm chapter one the tree planted by the rivers of water. And you know what kind of tree it is. The leaves do not wither. It's unaffected by the spirit of death. They will bear its fruits in its seasons. That's what we are doing as we are reaching out to God in prayer. So some of the things that you are praying are in the future. What you are doing is that you are reaching into the timeless perspective of God and then you take a hold of it. And having taken a hold of it, you have reached into good ground. You have reached into waters. Having found it and being a good plant, you begin to put lateral roots into it also. Then you allow your emotions to move into that. Your will and your mind move into that, everything else move into that area until that which God shows you into that spirit realm to be translated into your present experience. It began to come and take place because you are drawing nutrition and nourishment. And that is what we are doing in prayer. And every time you pray you put up a new root into God. The health scientists have made a research and they tested patients who have heart condition and heart problems and blood circulation problem. And they discovered that when they have adequate physical exercise, they found new blood cells, new arteries and veins and a whole new channel begin to be formed inside. One. In the same way when we pray and we have sufficient spiritual exercise there are spiritual channels that form. Every time you pray over a certain matter, you have formed one more lateral root into that area. You are going to form it so strong that there is no way the devil is going to take it out from your life. It will definitely come to pass. That is why the book of Habakkuk says though the vision tarry chakah put more roots into that. Wait for it. It will surely come to pass. It s a matter of time as you keep putting more and more roots into it. The reality of it will one day burst forth.