Body-Soul-Spirit Praying

In my lifetime, I have had some rather remarkable answers to prayer.  Some were actually miraculous.  I do not think that I am anything other than an ordinary human being (though always extraordinary because of the grace of God!)  But still, this kind of prayer has almost always yielded amazing results.

For whatever reason, it has taken me a long time to realize how powerful this body-soul-spirit prayer is.  I am also sad to say that life and all of its distractions constantly get in the way, so I haven't spent enough time exploring it.  More and more I'm ready to, though.

The prayer I'm talking about is the kind described in Romans 8:26:  "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for (in place of) us with groanings too deep for words (which cannot be uttered KJV)."  It's the kind of prayer hardly anyone knows anything about, but it's the kind of prayer a concern-soaked mother--or sometimes a willing servant of God--can pray and, in my experience, get results.

I do not claim to be an expert on prayer.  BUT, I have had some relatively miraculous answers to prayer, and every single one of them was a result of THIS kind of prayer and the answer came quickly.  I have to say that I don't really understand it, and that I am becoming more and more ready to explore its possibilities, but I can say that, as far as I can tell, it really works.

I believe most people pray the "Now I lay me"-type of prayers, the kind people pray in church when they "lift up" people in prayer.  The prayer I'm talking about is different.  It involves the body, soul, and spirit of the pray-er on behalf of someone else's need. 

In my experience, sometimes this kind of prayer is God-induced, like it was when I fell into prayer for my son, my daughter-in-law, and their baby girl the morning before a horrible car accident.  I was in my car pulling onto the expressway.  I hadn't felt necessarily close to God recently, but was missing Him and wanting to return, so I kind of haphazardly prayed, "Who do you want me to pray for this morning, Lord?"  Instantly and heavily, I felt Him lay my daughter-in-law on my heart.  I began praying for her in tongues, but the prayer got intense, quickly (through no fault of my own!)  I was praying as if my heart would break, feeling it deep in my soul, crying out in complete anguish!  No one was more surprised than I, and I was grateful it was dark out, so that people in passing cars wouldn't gawk at this sobbing mess of humanity.  It seemed like I would pray intensely for miles, then come briefly back to my senses.  I would think, "Wow, this is so strange!"  In my head I thought perhaps I was praying for her salvation, but I really didn't know.  God spoke to me at least twice, but the only thing He said that I could discern was, "I love Asha"!  I drove all the way to work in this hyper-emotional state.  Then, when I pulled off the expressway, about 40 minutes after the beginning of my trek, the burdens all lifted almost instantly, and I felt a wonderful, ecstatic joy!  I was stopped at a light and remember feeling like I could have gotten out of my car and literally danced around it, I was so happy!   I thought, "Wow, that was amazing!"  But then, at work, "life took over" and I forgot all about the prayer until my husband and I got a call about 10 p.m. that evening from my son, saying they had been in a horrible car wreck.  An extremely drunk driver had come screaming toward them down an ordinary city highway, hitting first one car (throwing two young boy occupants out onto the pavement), then another vehicle, sending the latter airborne.  This SUV landed on top of the van in which my son and his family were driving (my daughter-in-law at the wheel, my son in the front passenger seat, and his baby in the middle back seat.)  It deeply crushed the front rooftop of their van, rolling off and landing upside down on the pavement next to their vehicle.

On the way to the accident, I remembered the intense prayer I had had earlier that morning and mentioned it to my husband.  He said, "You know, I'll bet everyone will 'walk away' from that accident because of that prayer."  But when we arrived and saw the mangled cars, it was hard to believe anyone could.  They were using the jaws of life to get my daughter-in-law out of the van.  My son was okay (ended up having a few cracked ribs).  The baby, though she was strapped into her car seat in the middle seat of the van and had glass everywhere around her, had not one sliver of glass in her car seat, nor even a scratch on her body.  The man who was in the crushed upside-down SUV next to the van (smashed to the bottom of the windows) had some relatively minor injuries but indeed "walked away" (still cannot understand how).  The boys who were thrown out of their car (the first vehicle hit) were recovered from their injuries by the time I spoke with one of their mothers by phone, a few days after the accident.  (My husband had spoken with a police officer at the scene who said he watched a broken and mangled arm of one of the young boys sort of "heal itself"--go back into normal position--while he was sprawled on the ground.)  My daughter-in-law ended up with a small cut on her head.  In an accident where it looked like no one should have lived, they all did indeed "walk away".  Was this an answer to my prayer, which God nearly imposed upon me, earlier that day?  I think it was.

Another time, I went to wedding reception (2nd marriage for widow) and sat next to her daughter, who, like me at the time, was barren.  Her name was Jeanie. We shared our deep desires to get pregnant, and the heartache of living through years of disappointment.  On the way home from that wedding, I began to have an intense desire to pray for this girl.  By the time I got home, I told my husband I needed some time to be alone, because I felt like God wanted me to pray for Jeanie to have a baby.  I shut myself into a bedroom and began to pray and weep from the bottom of my soul!  After a length of time, once again the heavy burden lifted and I felt overwhelmingly joyful!  I thought God said, "Jeanie will have a son." 

I wanted to call her immediately and tell her, but then I wasn't sure if what I had heard was from God or if I was just imagining it.  So I didn't call her right away.  A few weeks later, though, I thought, "Well, I'll just call her and tell her I had some good prayer for her and I that I thought God said she would have a son."  I called her and she shrieked, "You'll never guess what!  I missed my period!  I'm pregnant!!!"  She had a son.

 Another God-inspired prayer happened when I was relaxing in an armchair in our living room.  All of a sudden, "out of the blue", I had the strongest unction to pray for my cousin, who had just had a baby a few weeks before.  Again, I shut myself in a bedroom, fell to my knees, and prayed with immediate urgency and intensity, knowing I was praying for my cousin, but not really knowing for what.  It was the Romans 8:26 kind of prayer again, with groanings too deep for words (prayed mostly in tongues).  When the release came, I had confidence this time to call my cousin right away.  Come to find out, she had been suffering from severe post-partum depression, and was seriously considering suicide at the exact moment I prayed.  Afterwards, she experienced release from the depression and was never again subject to it.  Amazing God!

Though these and other incidences were more or less God-inspired prayers, I also have prayed for others and my own children when I myself have felt deeply burdened. One example that comes to mind was when my uncle was dying. Though he had seemed in good health, he collapsed in his yard and was rushed to the hospital where he remained in a coma, near death.  My cousins were really hurting, wishing they simply had the chance to say one last goodbye to him.   I prayed (with great emotion, hurting for my cousins) and my uncle rather miraculously "awakened" long enough for his children to express their love to him, and he to them.  I think God responded to that prayer.

Often music will help me get started, such as these from YouTube:
At the Cross    Hillsong
Wonderful, Merciful Savior    Selah
Before the Throne of God Above     Selah
Lead Me to the Cross    Hillsong
Healer of My Soul
Break Every Chain     Jesus Culture
...or any of a ton of "personal" songs that have ministered to me and led me into worship.

Now here's the thing:  when I sing a song, I become an intercessor.  Can't remember where or when I was taught this or read it in a book, but a true intercessor doesn't just plead someone's case before God, he or she actually takes the place (sort of in the spirit) of this person before God.  I know that probably sounds a little strange, but most of the time it has been what has swept me right into the deepest prayer, and it usually doesn't take long.  For instance, when I sang At the Cross while interceding for one of my sons, the "me" in the song was actually my son in my mind, not myself, and I was singing it as if he, himself, were doing it.  (I know that must sound strange.)  But I would sing, "Oh, Lord, You've searched me (meaning meaning my son, because I'm standing in place of him), You know my way.  Even when I fail You, I know You love me!" (At the Cross, by Hillsong)  By this time, my mother-love for him already had me tearing up.  I sang, letting my son bathe in the presence of God as I warbled on.  Sometimes when I do this I sing several songs before it happens, but very often, eventually I just break down and sob.  For my children, I am sure it comes in part out of my deep deep love for them, but through the prayer, somehow I know that God is supernaturally touching the person for whom I'm praying.  I see it!  I feel it!

I just let myself go emotionally.  This is why I can't be someplace where people can hear.  I often cry, but they aren't my tears, they are somehow the tears of whomever I'm praying for, crying out to God, pleading with God, and my voice will say things like, "Help me, God!  I'm so lost!  I'm so lonely!  I need You!  I want You!  I don't know what to do!  Lead me to You!"

Sometimes I have sobbed so deeply that I can feel the pain of what the person I'm praying for is feeling with great intensity.  And here's where the "groanings" of Romans 8:26 come in, the kind I've heard come from people who just found out they lost a child to unexpected death.  There are really no words that can express this depth of emotion.  (It is here, too, that speaking in tongues has often come to my aid.)

Occasionally (as in the case of my prayers for my son the morning before his car wreck, or as in the case of my friend for a pregnancy) after intense prayer the burden suddenly lifts, and I am immediately flooded with practically overwhelming joy!  Then I know the prayer is finished, and I've learned from experience that a miracle is likely coming!  But other times, there was no such release.  I believe that is because I'm not done yet.

I've thought about it a lot, and I think this kind of prayer works because it involves body, soul, and spirit.  It's more than just words.  It's everything I am!  I think emotions are a huge, untapped resource, and though unfortunately they can get negatively perverted through rage and hate, etc., I think that GOD meant for them to be used to love other people.  And this kind of prayer is truly an investment of the heart.

I do pray that God uses me more and more to explore this kind of praying, ...and I pray that I don't let life get in the way.  I love seeing God answer prayer!!!