David Wilkerson Today
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2011
THE SPIRIT OF SUPPLICATIONS
by David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]
The word supplication (see Zechariah 12:10) is never used in the Bible except
to denote a cry or prayer that is vocalized. In other words, it is not private
or meditative. Supplication has to do with the voice!
The Hebrew word for supplication signifies “an olive branch wrapped with
wool, or some kind of cloth, waved by a supplicant seeking peace or
surrender.” These were called “branches of supplication.” Simply put,
they were flags that signified a cry of total, unconditional surrender.
Picture a battle-weary soldier, ragged and worn, tired and overwhelmed, stuck
in a foxhole of self-will. He is all alone, weary and haggard, and has come to
the end of himself. He breaks a branch off a tree and ties his white undershirt
to it, lifts it, and crawls out of his foxhole, crying, “I surrender—I give
up!”
That is supplication! It says, “I surrender! I can’t fight this battle
anymore. I’m lost and despairing.”
Supplication is not just calling on God to do what you want. It is not begging
and pleading with Him to assist you in your plans. On the contrary, it is a
total giving up of your will and your way!
For centuries Christians have called on God while full of self-will, begging
and crying, “O God, send me here, send me there, give me this, give me
that.” But in the last days the Holy Spirit is going to fall with great power
to produce a sense of spiritual bankruptcy. We will wake up to the fact that
even with all our money, brains, programs, ministries, and plans, we have not
even touched this world. The truth is, the church has lost ground and become
weak and pitiful.
There must be surrender! Our cries must be accompanied by a willingness to give
up everything in our life that is unlike Jesus Christ.
Daniel’s prayer demonstrates what supplication is all about: “Now
therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and
for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is
desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our
desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present
our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of
Your great mercies” (Daniel 9:17-18).
