A brief report from the Mountain Top Equipping Camp held at the Community of the Cross, Black Mountain, NC, May 8-12, 2023.
We see different types of prayer in the Book of Acts. In Acts 1, the disciples gather and pray in unity for the Holy Spirit. In Acts 4, we see them again praying for the outpouring of the Spirit, but we also see them praying to the Lord about the situations which threatened the Gospel from advancing.
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
Acts 4:27–30
The advancement of God’s Kingdom requires both prayers for God to pour out his Holy Spirit and prayers to deal with the blockages and hindrances to the Gospel. This latter prayer moves us into strategic level spiritual warfare.
The Vanguard of Strategic Intercession
This strategic intercession is part of the vanguard of advancing God’s Kingdom and was the focus of the recent Mountain Top Equipping Camp held at the Community of the Cross in Black Mountain, NC. This Mountain Top Equipping Camp is part of a year-long Advanced Course in Strategic Intercession and Spiritual Warfare, which began in March. But this was the first time that participants had gathered face to face.
A diverse group of people with representatives from the United States, Canada, Haiti, Taiwan, and Singapore gathered at the Community of the Cross for the four-day event. Presbyterians, Reformed, Episcopalian, Charismatic, Pentecostal, as well as Messianic Jewish and Non-denominational backgrounds, were present. All united together to learn and be equipped for strategic-level spiritual warfare.
Equipped for Strategic Intercession
After reviewing some of the foundational principles of how God works through His sovereignty and how intercessors are called to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and partner with the Lord in advancing the Kingdom, the teaching and equipping then focused on the strategies and tactics the Holy Spirit may call us to use within Battle Space 1. (This battle space deals with the high-level principalities and powers waging war against the Kingdom of God.)
Small group discussions and prayer accompanied plenary teaching times as participants met with their mentors. There were times of praise and worship, with opportunities for the Holy Spirit to move as he wanted to.
We watched as the Lord moved us into extended periods of praise, singing together in the Spirit as the Holy Spirit washed over the group in waves. He drew participants deeper in their surrender to him and blessed us with times of healing as we waited on him. One participant commented that they had learned a lot and felt more equipped for their role in intercession.
Engaging in Strategic Intercession
On Friday morning the Spirit led the group into a prayer engagement with a high-level demon over Israel that was revealed to be named Apollyon – the destroyer.
Strategic-level intercession and spiritual warfare always take place in the context of a larger spiritual and geopolitical context. During the Community of the Cross gathering, multiple crises were brewing in the world, any of which, if not constrained, could lead to a global disaster with profound implications for advancing the Gospel of the Kingdom. There is the war in Ukraine, Chinese Communist belligerence toward Taiwan, chaos at the American Southern Border, and more!
However, the Lord called us to focus, at this specific time, on one with the most urgent end times significance for the Kingdom of God. This was the Islamic Jihad and Palestinian militants in Gaza sending hundreds of rockets into Israel.
A Focus on Israel
Grant Berry, the Director of Reconnecting Ministries, bringing born-again Jews and Gentiles together, is part of the global prayer movement taking place for the salvation of Israel. He described the context as follows.
First, on Thursday, May 11, Grant asked that we pray for him and his upcoming trip to Israel. He shared the vision, and people gave prophetic words. One of the words on Thursday was that the purpose of the military conflict in Israel was to set the stage for chaos which would create an unsafe environment and fear that would disrupt or shut down the May 28 event. Another word was that the conflict aimed to stop Arab believers from participating in the prayer event.
Then on Friday, May 12, Grant confirmed those words and again shared his vision and the strategic significance of the gathering in Jerusalem on the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount. Because of pools used for cleansing, some believe this could have been the location of the First Pentecost, and there is no other location where 3000 people could have been baptized.
Southern Steps Event
The event on the Southern Steps is to gather the Prayer and Missions movement to partner with Israeli leadership (Jewish and Arab believers) to release a ten-year end-time focus for the Gospel to Israel and the nations for Jesus’s 2000 birthday. The Restoration is a main part of this that will lead us towards the fulfillment of both.
It is of critical significance that this gathering of born-again Jews and born-again Arab citizens of Israel who are representatives of the One New Man is taking place at the end of this time of prayer and fasting mentioned earlier in this article. Most significant is that they represent the healing of the family feud between the Sons of Abraham – Isaac and Ishmael – who are the “Fathers” of the Jewish/Christian stream and the Islamic stream, both healed through faith in Yeshua the Messiah. This planned gathering on the Southern steps is a truly eschatological event – the beginning of the “restoration of all things” and a harbinger of the End Times.
Engaging in Prayer
After further describing the threats facing the Kingdom’s work, we entered a time of prayer led by the Holy Spirit. This prayer had many dimensions, one of which was the clear guidance from the Lord that He was calling us, in the name of Jesus, to bind the high-level demon of Apollyon, the destroyer.
During this engagement period, we deployed many strategies and tactics of strategic intercession and spiritual warfare that we were learning in the course. We have written this engagement in an “After Action Review” to learn and discern what the Lord was doing.
In this one prayer event at the Community of the Cross in North Carolina, we were joining a global concert of prayer, which contributed to what may well have been God’s miraculous intervention, not just bringing a cease-fire but clearing the way for the gathering of Jewish and Arab believers in Jesus to meet at Pentecost.
The Impact of Prayer
For a video showing how strategic-level intercession constrains evil and advances God’s Kingdom plans, please see the report from Asher Intrater in Tikkun Global. (PRMI has a partnership with this Messianic Jewish ministry.)
Update from Israel – May 15, 2023
It looks like the current war in Israel is over. Did your prayers make a difference? Let’s review what happened in the last six days and discern together if there were was something supernatural going on that caused a breakthrough. Listen as Asher shares his thoughts and let us know what you think. And, thank you for standing with us!
Asher Intrader
Asher confirms that our prayers and many others had a decisive impact. This confirms that the Lord is calling us to continue to engage in strategic-level intercession by praying:
“And now, Lord, pay attention to their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your message with great courage, while you extend your hand to heal, and to bring about miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
Act 4:29-30
Continuing to grow in Strategic Intercession
The small groups will continue to meet online via Zoom to work through video lessons on the foundational equipping for strategic intercession. They will gather again at the Community of the Cross in October for a second in-person Mountain Top Equipping Camp, where we will continue to look at the Strategies and Tactics for Strategic Intercession.
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