In my last two blogs, I talked about prayer burdens and alerts — when the Holy Spirit warns us to pray for a person or situation — and explained the first two ways that can happen: through an inner knowing and an inner witness. The third way we can receive prayer alerts is through revelation gifts — the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. The Bible talks about these gifts and many books explore them in depth. Here I will only briefly explain them.
A word of knowledge gives us information about something in the past or present that we have no way of knowing in the natural. It is a supernatural revelation from the mind of God about a person, place or thing. A word of wisdom is similar except that it pertains to the future. It is a supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God concerning the plans in the mind of God. The Holy Spirit wants to help us pray so He gives us supernatural revelation from the mind of God.
For example, one morning years ago, I had a dream in which I saw a man I know. In the dream, the right side of his face was swollen. His wife put her hand on his face and his swelling went away. Then the left side swelled up. When she put her hand on that side, the swelling went down but it returned to the right side. This happened over and over. When I woke up, I instinctively knew something wasn’t right. I didn’t know what to pray but I felt a burden I couldn’t shake. I prayed in tongues and with tears and groanings (see Rom. 8:26-28).
I asked God, “What’s going on?” Sometimes He will tell us, which is where the revelation gifts come in. I found myself praying Psalm 91:16 (NIV): “With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Suddenly, I knew the devil was trying to kill him. This was a word of knowledge. I prayed against the enemy’s attempts against his life until midafternoon. All of a sudden, something broke and I felt joy. I started laughing, knowing the enemy’s plans had been thwarted and I had broken the attack off of this man’s life. About three months later, I had a phone conversation with this same man and he told me (without knowing my side of the story) that he had been bitten by fire ants and had a severe allergic reaction. He nearly died. This is why God had called me to pray. I never would have known to intercede without a prayer alert from the Holy Spirit.
How incredible that in this way, God alerts His intercessors to great needs in prayer and uses us to bring His kingdom on earth! We do not need to stumble around, trying to get it right on our own. He is with us, helping and empowering our intercession in partnership with His will. {eoa}
For more teachings and content from Margie Fleurant on prayer and intercession, follow her on Facebook and Instagram @MargieFleurantMinistries and follow Margie on YouTube for video content, including prayer calls, teaching and events. Check out Margie’s books and other audio content at margiefleurant.org.
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