My Tears are Prayers

"Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest." Psalm 126:5-6 NLT

My tears are my prayers. My tears are my fast. My tears are my sacrifice. When I travail, it's a scene of blood, sweat and tears. When I am travailing, it's as if my heart is bleeding. All of my energy is poured out, just like my tears, which form a puddle on the floor. Paul stated, "But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all" (Philippians 2:17).  
 
At times my tears are for the harvest of souls. At other times my tears cleanse and wash away defilements of the enemy. Those who see me in a prayer gathering or church service might ask themselves, "Why is she always crying?!"  I've learned that people who've witnessed me crying prayed for me, thinking that I must be grieving the loss of a loved one, or perhaps something horrible happened, such as my house burnt down. But the majority of the time, I am weeping because God has given me the burden that is in His heart. Sometimes, God's heart is weeping for his daughters who are held captive in the sex trade. Other times, He has me weep tears of repentance, such as for pastors who have lost their way and who are leading the sheep astray. Sometimes God breaks my heart for His prodigal children and other times for the salvation of souls.

King David was a man that felt deep compassion for others. In Psalm 35:13-14 we read, "When they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.  I went about as though it were my friend or brother; I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother." The Bible also tells us in several places that Jesus wept, showing His deep compassion for the lost, the sick, the dying or dead. In the book of Hebrews it states, “He offered prayers with loud cries and tears" (Hebrews 5:7).
 
Travailing prayer births the purposes of God. The vessel of travail births something in the realm of the Spirit. God wants to birth His purposes through us--His hands and feet. Intercessor Lou Engle states in his book "Digging the Wells of Revival," “Whenever we see this travail, we can be assured that great spiritual events are just ahead. Something is being birthed in the realm of the Spirit.” God wants someone to share His heart. In the Bible we see that God frequently revealed His heart to the prophets. He did this because He chose to use them as His voice to warn others and also to urge them to pray so that change would come about. Jeremiah is one of these prophets and he is known as “the weeping prophet” because he shed so many tears over the sins of his people. In Jeremiah we read, “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them. Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids” (Jeremiah 9:17,18). 

The following list of Fathers of the Faith are just a few that came to learn of the power of travailing prayer and have taught on it...Rees Howells, Daniel Nash, Leonard Ravenhill, Frank Bartelman, Paul Cain, Lou Engle, and Mario Murillo.  In Leonard Ravenhill's book "Prevailing Prince of Prayer" he shares how Daniel Nash would become bedridden from extensive amounts of travail. Nash's prayers led to the great harvest of souls that were won through Charles Finney. Also found in Ravenhill's book is this quote, “It was the praying men who held the ropes, the tears they shed; the groans they uttered are written in the chronicles of the things of God.” 
  
Revivalist Mario Marillo stated, “When Elijah prayed for rain, he literally assumed the position the Jewish women assumed in order to give birth. 'So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his head between his knees'" (1 Kings 18:42). Lou Engle comments on that story in his book by saying, "Elijah had the prophetic word of the Lord that it was going to rain, yet he still needed to birth the rain in prayer."

In the book of Joel we read, “Let the priests who minister to the Lord weep between the porch and the altar" (Joel 2:15). Intercessors of today are similar to the priests in the Old Testament. An intercessor identifies with the people of his nation and offers prayer on their behalf. We learn in the Bible that even Jesus is an intercessor. In Hebrews it states, "He always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). In Romans we read, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans (cries). And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:26,27). 

I'd like to encourage my fellow intercessors to say yes to God if He chooses to give you the gift of travailing prayer-the gift of tears. Don't run away from this gift or try to pretend you aren't hearing Him correctly. Just say "Yes God!" "Thank you God for the gift of travail. Thank you for trusting me enough to carry this gift and to use it for Your glory and for Your Kingdom purposes!" 

“Intercessory prayer is God’s ordained way of allowing us the privilege of co-laboring with Him." Corey Russell, from his book "Gift of Tears."

---