On March 18-19, a group gathered at the Community of the Cross for our first Prayer Advance. That group was expanded by others who gathered with us and actively participated in the work of prayer over video conferencing.
This is one more step toward the fulfillment of the guidance that Jesus Christ gave us–that the Community of the Cross was to be a “hub” for intercessory prayer to take place. We connected together in “real time” individual intercessors and other centers of intercession scattered around the world.
We are taking part in the Holy Spirit’s plans to raise up an army of intercessors and spiritual warriors deployed in the work of intercession. This army of intercessors and prayer warriors is a vital component in the Father’s master strategy of fulfilling the Great Commission through the Church of Jesus Christ.
On Saturday morning, March 19th, the Holy Spirit led us to pray for the situation in Belgium where the police were seeking those involved in the Paris terrorist attacks.
I did some teaching on the nature of demonic cloaking that covers Satan’s plans and protects his agents both human and demonic from exposure.
As we prayed, the Holy Spirit gave Martin Boardman, located in Alberta, Canada, a “vision” of a tear in the cloaking. The moment he said this, several of us in Black Mountain immediately witnessed to it as having come from the Holy Spirit. At the very same time, Pauline Eyles, on holiday in Southern France, joined the conversation confirming that she witnessed to this. She then led us in a time of prayer for the investigation that was taking place right then in France and Belgium that was on their news but had not yet reached us here in North America. This led into a time of binding the evil spirits associated with Radical Islam and ISIS. Another online intercessor in the United States received guidance about breaking the sequences of events that could be leading to new terrorist attacks in Belgian or France.
The internet facilitated this global prayer work at the Community of the Cross. But more importantly, PRMI has developed prayer teams of trained intercessors who worked together. There were a number on site who joined from different congregations, and a number who joined us on line. It took a lot of coordination and team work for us to be able to form this type of prayer community. Amazingly He worked through us!
I am so excited about this and praise God for what is happening!
But it is just the beginning of what God is calling us to do to be His army of Intercessors!
On the morning of Tuesday, 22 March 2016, three coordinated nail bombings occurred in Belgium: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station in Brussels. In these attacks, 31 victims and three suicide bombers were killed, and 300 people were injured.Another bomb was found during a search of the airport.Two suspects are on the run. The organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The bombings were the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium’s history. The Belgian government declared three days of national mourning.1
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Brussels_bombings
Now why did this happen? Especially after the wonderful time of prayer that we had and the very obvious outpouring of the Holy Spirit that had taken place. I was filled with questions about the whole sequence of events that took place. The following is guidance that I believe the Lord has given which has major implications for our continued effort to raise up this army of intercessors and spiritual warriors to defeat Satan’s plans in Radical Islam.
Exposing and disrupting the plans of Satan – may have forced the terrorists to act quickly before their cover was broken.
From the news reports that I have read there is the observation that the police were closing in on the rest of the terrorist cell. I suspect that the vision of the rip in the fabric of the demonic cloaking was truly led by the Holy Spirit and the command He gave us to pray into it was participating in this work on the ground.
This may have led to the launching of the plans even before they had reached full maturity and thus may well have prevented the loss of even more lives. The implemented plans may have been big enough to give a real wake up call to Belgium but not so big that they destabilized the country or destroyed the will to fight back.
I learned a lesson from Rees Howells’ team in in 1934. They had to grow into their ability to endure the long hours of prayerful engagement.
We are not called to form a community like Rees Howells. We are not called to turn the Community of the Cross into a 24-hour prayer center like IHOP. Rather, we can use the interconnectedness provided by the internet to gather intercessors for prayerful engagement. We can build our endurance for the longer prayer battles by meeting together in these prayer advances to which we invite you.
Then I had an insight that I suspect is from the Holy Spirit: It took them several years of equipping and prayer battle experience for Rees Howells and the Bible College of Wales students to be formed into an army of intercessors that could sustain these engagements.
I felt the Lord saying to me that we are in a similar process of equipping and preparation.
As terrible as the attacks in Brussels or the beheadings of Christians in Iraq may be, they may only be a prelude of what is ahead. I believe the Lord is calling us to see these present attacks as clarion calls to, with greater vigor and urgency, be about the work of mobilizing and equipping the army of intercessors who will be needed when even greater battles break upon us.
I am convinced that the Holy Spirit is calling us as His prayer army to be able to reach the level of readiness and maturity that allows us to sustain the extended prayer battle for as long as it takes to pray through to the victory in each engagement we are called to, recognizing that these engagements may last for hours, days, weeks or even months.
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