G.W. North emphasizes the necessity of being in the Spirit for true intercession, highlighting that only through a holy union with the Holy Spirit can one truly understand and respond to the groans of creation. He contrasts the humanistic aspirations of creating a perfect society with the spiritual reality that creation longs for the manifestation of the sons of God. North urges that intercession is not merely about words but requires a deep spiritual connection and awareness of both the Spirit's and creation's cries. He stresses that true intercessors must align their spirits with God's feelings towards creation's suffering, as intercession is a joint ministry between the Spirit and Christ's followers. Ultimately, the groans of creation are a call for the sons of God to rise and respond to the spiritual needs of the world.

Intercession is beyond the power of any man who is not in the Spirit; he must be (a) holy spirit in (the) Holy Spirit, and in that holy spiritual union in the Spirit true intercession is made. This spiritual life brings an awareness of things of spirit, a sense of things not in themselves material or physical, yet associated with these things as though they are the spirit of them, so that we speak of the spirit of the world or the spirit of the age. Such expressions as 'the team spirit' are well known among us and mean that, in some cases, the individual spirits of eleven men seem to blend into one for a common purpose. Yet it is not possible for eleven personal spirits to become one personal spirit; there is no such individual person as the spirit of that team. Undoubtedly though, it is possible to sense the spirit of a team, and become aware, not only of its presence but also of its features and manifestations. Whatever they may be, we become impressed by them because they appeal to our thoughts and feelings and imaginations. We are in, as being part of, this creation, and even though we are in it as new spirit-creatures, aware of a new spiritual creation and part of it, we cannot but be aware of the spirit of this creation; it is inescapable. The importance of this to the son of God cannot be exaggerated; it is crucial to the would-be intercessor, but what is of greater importance is the impression which this spirit makes upon us, and how we interpret it to ourselves. What do we hear, and if we hear, how do we feel about what we hear? Do we hear creation's pain as God hears it? Do we know that it is in travail, and that it is paining to be delivered to this day? It seems we can never be intercessors until we do, for how shall any man intercede for that of which he knows nothing? Stripped of its glamour, the world of men is striving to produce super-men, a race of godlike men who shall live in peace and luxury on an earth from which war and famine and disease and poverty are banished, one world in which all men are equal. This seems admirable enough, and man's many efforts towards that end — the setbacks they endure, the problems they overcome, the pains they feel, the travails of scientists, politicians, whole countries, the cries of the oppressed and the exploited — to many seem to be hopeful signs of the birth of the new society, so badly needed, shortly to be created by an educated race of new and enlightened men. This, if it came into existence, would be an entirely humanist society, peopled by fools who say that there is no God, sons of men but not sons of God, for He would have been banished from the planet. Men who are given over to this idea hear the groanings of the world, and strive for the golden era, and look for the manifestation of these godlike sons of men; it is the product of the evolution theory they hold so dear. But the creation, being a creation, cannot groan and travail for an evolutionary myth; it is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God, not the sons of men. Would that the sons of God heard the cry and interpreted it aright. The cry of the Spirit within, and the cry of the creation without, should be matched by the groans of the new creature in the new creation within himself, so that from the grounds of knowledge and feeling, though not at first with understanding, intercession may spring forth. The new intercessor must learn his art. He must know that intercession is not a matter primarily of words; words may be used, but only as accompanying and expressing spirit. A saying of Jesus will greatly help to enlighten us at this point — 'The words that I speak (unto you), they are spirit, and they are life'. The parenthesis is not in the scripture, but is here inserted to emphasize the truth we need to know. Words, when used in prayer of any description, but especially with intercession, must be with the power of the spirit arid the feelings of the soul of the person using them. It must never be forgotten that, in man, intercession is made by the Spirit of God, with the spirit of man. The Spirit is aware of the groans of the creation, and is in tune with its aims, but before intercession can be made about these in a man, that man's spirit must also be aware of, and in tune with, these groans and aims. Intercession is a joint ministry — firstly between the Spirit and Christ, secondly between the Spirit and Christ's men, that is, men who have the spirit of Christ. As the Spirit of God is the Spirit of intercession, so must the spirit of men be a spirit of intercession, or they shall never be properly joined in one. When the feelings of God and the feelings of man about the cries of the creation are the same, even though understanding may be at different levels, the main qualification has been gained. So essentially is this a ministry of spirit, that the groanings of this travail are never heard, for they cannot be uttered. There are pains of all kinds in the earth, and groans because of them, but the groans for sons are only audible in heaven. They are beyond the grasp of the mind, being more instinctive than intellectual, and known only by the mind of a man's spirit and not understood by the mind of his intellect, that is, the soul-mind, which is educatable by man.