John 16:19-22 says, “Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”

Spiritually speaking, the church is to give birth to a revival. Foremost, it begins with an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as His espoused bride, spending much time in prayer and studying God’s Word. If we neglect this, we can never see a revival. If we are too busy in our schedule with our daily lives or too distracted to focus on Him, we can truly miss God! When we spend time in His presence only because of a need rather than worship and devotion, then it is not love. True love for God will birth a revival!

Before there is a birthing, there will always be travail. This is the place where the church oftentimes complains and murmurs because we rarely understand that our pain produces miracles. They look at their troubles, their broken home, their rocky marriage, their lost children, their horrid doctor’s report, and they simply refuse faith to move in the situation. Instead, they complain, and they abort the possibility of God showing Himself how great He is. We cannot allow our problems to be maximized and minimize the God we serve because He is much bigger than our storms. It is in these situations that we must pray and intercede. It takes hard work, but if we refuse to pay the price in travailing intercession, we will never see revival. I am not talking about just a couple days of meetings. I am talking about a true, God-sent revival where numerous souls are being saved, delivered and filled with the Holy Spirit of God. It comes through tearing down those hinderances and walls through travail.

The birthing of revival is not painless, but once the travail is over, you will forget the sorrow you had to go through for joy to erupt. The sorrow and pain that you felt will be worth it at the end. The persecution and attacks of the enemy that you endured will produce a joy unspeakable and full of glory. Once that joy, which is your strength, comes and revival is born, you will forget the sorrow and anguish you had to go through to get where you will be. People spend too much time making memorials out of their sorrow, bearing the “Woe is me” attitude, always wanting someone to pet on them. Why would Paul ever say, “Endure hardness as a good soldier” if you were to never go through things? Victory never comes without a battle, and joy never comes without sorrow. It makes you appreciate God that much more.

Everything that you experience is to glorify God. From prayer to pain, His name is to be glorified! Jesus said, “And ye now therefore have sorrow:  but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. (v. 22)” When we get to heaven, bow at the feet of Jesus and forever be in His presence, our joy will never be taken from us again. But why can we not have a little bit of heaven on earth before we get there? Our sorrow can be turned into joy today. We can experience His presence so significantly that all pain and heartache just evaporates. It can only come through prayer and intercession:  travail!