28 June - 1 July 2012: Spiritual Warfare and Local Prayer Walks.
What an amazing weekend! Karen Mathews from North Carolina had previously visited Sure Hope Church back in the spring. Her visit was in obedience to the Lord's word to pray in and around Wales, stirring up revival. This return visit was going to be a significant time.
On the Thursday afternoon, after a great lunch in the Bean Bar we set out on our first prayer walk of the weekend in the local area of Old Colwyn.
On this trip Karen was joined with two good friends from the USA, Angie and Joey. With golf umbrellas in hand, we ventured out side. The weather had been particularly atrocious earlier in the day, with torrential rainstorms which caused severe flooding in some parts of the UK.
Passing pedestrians were invited to attend the Saturday evening "Wild Fire Revival Meeting". These meeting have been held once a month since March, and had been special times of knowing God's presence, as we had prayed for revival in the land once more. With recent reports of some remarkable salvation testimonies, healing, and deliverance we confidently advertised that people should "come and experience the presence and power of God for themselves." This would indeed prove to be a significant time of spiritual warfare.
But what about the other Churches in Old Colwyn? When true revival hits, then the whole community, town, city, county, country.... and all the Churches are effected. When the river breaks the bank at the time of flood, the land gets watered whether it needs it or not! In the middle of the village there is a board showing all the different Christian Churches and something of their history. We stopped and prayed over each Church, asking God to stir in the hearts of each member of the congregations - "revive us again, O Lord!"
It was indeed a special time as we all gathered round the information board and prayed for the Lord of the harvest to send forth reapers! The fields are indeed white... but why do we think that we can just sit in the Church and wait for the harvest to just turn up on the doorstep? We all gathered in one of the village parks, and prayed together particularly for a number of people who are sick and needing a miracle at this time. Our God is an awesome God, He reigns!
Our prayer walk then continued through some of the residential streets of Old Colwyn, where 400 copies of the "New Life" newspapers are hand-delivered by the Evangelism Team every month. We believe that there will soon be a remarkable harvest from these white fields.
As we made our way back to the Church, we walked alongside the normally gentle flowing brook, to only find that it had become a fast flowing torrent following the morning rainstorms. This was a reminder to us all of the river of revival that will soon flow through the streets, fields and valleys of Wales. What happened over 100 years ago cannot surely be the last time that Wales will experience a move of God..... we must pray, pray, and pray again... revive us again, bend me, melt me, mould me, fill me.... let revival start in me! Do it again O Lord!
On Friday 29 June, the prayer walk planned took on a different emphasis. Through different individuals, the Lord had revealed to us as a Leadership that there are strategic places within the local area that needed to be prayed into. These locations have a historic significance, which means that spiritual forces of wickedness are now operating in the North Wales area, and that such demonic activity must be broken in Jesus' Name. Our mission was to visit such places and pray, anoint with oil, and declare the Word of God - Psalm 24 was read at each of these locations.
It doesn't take much for the beautiful coastline to become a raging torrent - a gentle Northerly wind can whip up the sea into a ferocious foaming flood water. Somehow, this reminds me of the current state of the nation - it won't take much to unsettle what seems picturesque!
On Saturday 30th June we travelled to Anglesey. There were two places of interest that we wanted to visit. Firstly, the Welsh Chapel in Llangefni where Christmas Evans preached. Christmas Evans (1766-1838) was a Welsh Baptist preacher who was referred to as the "Bunyan of Wales."
It was a wet and cold day to visit the island, but the opportunity to visit this old chapel is always a treat not to be missed. This old chapel was once filled to the rafters with eager listeners, while the great preacher would wax lyrical on Jesus being the only way to Heaven and the way of Salvation. This fiery, one-eyed preacher was a remarkable man who experienced the move of God in remarkable ways some 200 years ago.
With Mr John Griffith reading Psalm 24 in Welsh, our American visitors were quite moved by the beautiful language with it's lilting lines, and rhythmic rime.
This was a very powerful time together in such a wonderful place of Welsh history. Our own Welsh Historian, David Fordham was able to recall all the finer details of what had happened in this beautiful wooden pew'd chapel. The clock ticked loudly as we listened intently to the fascinating detail - but then realised the hour - the 11th hour! It's surely time for action.
Our final visit of this prayer tour was Holyhead, just a short drive to the Western tip of Anglesey. There we had arranged to meet with the new Pastor of the Elim Church in Thomas Street, David Meggers. We were greeted with a welcome cup of coffee and refreshments. It was in their newly fashioned Church that we heard the story of how this prayer tour had been planned and purposed by God.
This was not just a time for fellowship, but to enter into Spiritual Warfare. This is the time for battle! A very powerful time of intercession was a very significant part of this trip as we prayed for the population of this very sick and tired community.
We prayed for "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, in Holyhead as it is in Heaven......"
Ps David is certainly believing for God to move mightily in the coming days with a forthcoming visit of YWAM support workers due to stay in Holyhead and work alongside the Church over the summer holidays.
As Joey read Psalm 24, we joined agreed together:
"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not life up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Saviour. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob." Selah
"Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates, lift them up you ancient doors; that the King of Glory may come in. Who is he, this King of Glory? The Lord Almighty - he is the King of Glory."
Our weekend continued in the evening with a powerful service in Sure Hope Church where Pastor David Latham from Liverpool City Church preached on being set free to serve God, and members of his worship team helped lead the service. The large congregation joined together in a memorable time of worship, prayer and dedication.
We all rejoiced again on Sunday morning where Karen and her friends helped lead us into a time of personal ministry, where nearly the whole Church came forward to receive prayer and personal prophetic words. This will be a weekend that won't be forgotten quickly.
God is on the move - we must make sure we move with Him, not ahead of Him, and not lag behind because these are indeed the days when we are called to war.
In Christmas Evan's Chapel we sang together a new version of the Welsh National Anthem, which was written by our good friend Pastor Sarah Trinder, from Tab Life in Pontllanfraith.
North Wales is certainly a beautiful place to live, but the reality is that the significant social, economic and spiritual needs are just as real here as they are in any major city of the UK.
On Saturday 30th June we travelled to Anglesey. There were two places of interest that we wanted to visit. Firstly, the Welsh Chapel in Llangefni where Christmas Evans preached. Christmas Evans (1766-1838) was a Welsh Baptist preacher who was referred to as the "Bunyan of Wales."
It was a wet and cold day to visit the island, but the opportunity to visit this old chapel is always a treat not to be missed. This old chapel was once filled to the rafters with eager listeners, while the great preacher would wax lyrical on Jesus being the only way to Heaven and the way of Salvation. This fiery, one-eyed preacher was a remarkable man who experienced the move of God in remarkable ways some 200 years ago.
With Mr John Griffith reading Psalm 24 in Welsh, our American visitors were quite moved by the beautiful language with it's lilting lines, and rhythmic rime.
This was a very powerful time together in such a wonderful place of Welsh history. Our own Welsh Historian, David Fordham was able to recall all the finer details of what had happened in this beautiful wooden pew'd chapel. The clock ticked loudly as we listened intently to the fascinating detail - but then realised the hour - the 11th hour! It's surely time for action.
Our final visit of this prayer tour was Holyhead, just a short drive to the Western tip of Anglesey. There we had arranged to meet with the new Pastor of the Elim Church in Thomas Street, David Meggers. We were greeted with a welcome cup of coffee and refreshments. It was in their newly fashioned Church that we heard the story of how this prayer tour had been planned and purposed by God.
We prayed for "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, in Holyhead as it is in Heaven......"
Ps David is certainly believing for God to move mightily in the coming days with a forthcoming visit of YWAM support workers due to stay in Holyhead and work alongside the Church over the summer holidays.
"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not life up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Saviour. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob." Selah
"Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates, lift them up you ancient doors; that the King of Glory may come in. Who is he, this King of Glory? The Lord Almighty - he is the King of Glory."
Our weekend continued in the evening with a powerful service in Sure Hope Church where Pastor David Latham from Liverpool City Church preached on being set free to serve God, and members of his worship team helped lead the service. The large congregation joined together in a memorable time of worship, prayer and dedication.
We all rejoiced again on Sunday morning where Karen and her friends helped lead us into a time of personal ministry, where nearly the whole Church came forward to receive prayer and personal prophetic words. This will be a weekend that won't be forgotten quickly.
God is on the move - we must make sure we move with Him, not ahead of Him, and not lag behind because these are indeed the days when we are called to war.
In Christmas Evan's Chapel we sang together a new version of the Welsh National Anthem, which was written by our good friend Pastor Sarah Trinder, from Tab Life in Pontllanfraith.
"This land of our fathers, this land that you gave,
This land our inheritance, this land shall be saved.
The good news of Jesus, shall flow from these shores,
Revival is coming, once more.
Wales, Wales, we prophecy that you shall be saved,
With one heart and voice, we join hands and rejoice,
That Jesus, is Lord over Wales."
