“Genesis 35:15-18, says, “And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el. And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.” When you are in a season of intercession God must speak to you to move forward from ‘Beth’el’. Beth-el means ‘house of God’, but you’re moving from where He spoke to you into the fruitful fulfilment of its promise. And in that journey there must be hard labour of what was seeded in you to be pressed out through intercession, to the point where you are changed by it, for the scripture says, she was in hard labor to the point that her soul was departing. The soul is the mind, will, and emotions. Intercession must be transformative. In intercession there must be a departing of one’s own will, so that the birthing of the BETH-EL can come forward. Before Rachel died, she named her son Ben-oni which means ‘son of my sorrow’, but Jacob named him Benjamin which means ‘son of the right hand’. It is here then that we understand that which comes out of our intercession is the travailing of Christ being formed in us, but not only in us but in others. Ben-oni and Benjamin are the same person, but he is a type of Christ who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Christ took our sorrows to the cross and died for them but was resurrected on the third day and ascended to be the ‘Son of the right hand’. Until we understand that intercession is birthing Christ in us and in others, we could be in danger of dying prematurely without giving birth to prophetic promises, for Rachel’s midwife said, ‘Fear not; thou shalt have this son also’. Rachel feared of dying without bringing forth the promise of her son. Galatians 4:19, says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” Rachel then is a picture of the church. Rachel’s name means ‘Ewe lamb’ that is a female lamb.”
-Anthony Booker
The GATHERING Place 