Called to Weep and Laugh in Intercession

By Hazel Holland

Several years ago as I was praying for people God had placed on my heart, I was suddenly overcome with great joy. The weeping I had experienced as I sought God’s heart on their behalves was replaced by a tidal wave of exuberant laughter that felt strangely warm and wonderful. It was like nothing I had ever known before.

Immediately the Lord directed me to turn to Psalm 126. As I read the following verses I sensed that God was giving me a foretaste of the anointing of joy that will come upon the bride of Christ as the final harvest comes in.

“When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, O Lord like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:1-6).

Many months later I realized that God had also given me these verses of Scripture as a prophetic word for the book I was writing (The Naked Truth: Exposing the Deception of Adventism ). He was giving me a foretaste of His joy in order to encourage me to stand at my post as a “watchman on the walls” of the church, particularly the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church. He had called me to pray and intercede for the “release of the captives” that He had shown me in a vivid prophetic dream in the spring of 1996. Although weeping would last for a night, I knew abundant joy was coming in the morning.

At times over the past twelve years when I was tempted to lose hope of getting the book finished, I would remember this Scripture and I would be driven to spend more time on my face seeking God’s heart. In some of my most difficult moments of discouragement, it seemed like the oil of joy would be poured over me again, and I would be filled with that same exuberant laughter as I remembered that “the joy of the Lord is my strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). The Lord is going to bring back the captives to Zion. Many hurting, broken and discouraged people who have been in bondage to old covenant teachings will be delivered and set free. By the power of His Spirit God will fill their mouths with exuberant laughter, and loose their tongues with songs of great joy.

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