In February, on-site prayer initiatives were carried out in Iraq and for Lebanon/Syria with local ministry leaders. Our small team of four facilitators-Sam, Elizabeth, Lucrece and I- felt the prayer support of many, and so the Lord blessed in wonderful ways.
Iraq
50-60 Christian leaders and intercessors gathered in the city of Erbil in the northern part of the country known as Kurdistan. It was a time of teaching sessions as well as authoritative and united prayer for breakthrough. Participants were so hungry to learn and to pray that they did not seem to care about taking coffee breaks or meals. We did teaching sessions on transformational praying for nations, repentance for corporate sin and reconciliation, strategic intercession, spiritual mapping and deliverance (this included praying for the deliverance of oppressed participants and others who came for counseling). Many there have been through terrible experiences of seeing others killed before their eyes, torture, kidnapping, etc.
The final Saturday was an especially strong day of authoritative praying, and I felt there was a measure of breakthrough for the development of a united prayer movement as well as for the binding of spiritual forces of darkness and the overthrow of the terrorists. Later in the day, while we worshipped and prayed at the Citadel in central Erbil, high above the city, we got news that a top commander of the Al Qaeda- related Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had been killed. This was followed by the reports of four other mid-level commanders and then a report of 21 more who were killed as they tried to build a bomb to destroy others. We had felt led to hand over mass murderers into the righteous judgment of God. Though we never rejoice in the death of people, God knows best how to deal with those who have made themselves the devil's agents of death and terror.
Since returning home, we have heard from leaders in Erbil and Baghdad about the continuing impact of the initiative and their attempts to bring others together to continue the prayer of deliverance for the nation. A leading pastor from Baghdad writes: "I have just returned from a combined meeting for many churches gathered together to pray for the nation, the presence of The Lord was awesome and powerful."
The leaders in Erbil who arranged the initiative ask us to pray for the following:
1) To start a small prayer group (the nucleus) in Erbil, and connect with leaders in other cities such as in Baghdad and one couple from Duhok who attended the prayer training.
2) A strategy for local and outside prayer networking.
3) For two bishops who are hindering the Lord's work in their churches. Pray for open doors and favor.
4) Above all, let's pray for a strong and well-connected prayer movement to arise in Iraq so that full deliverance and transformation can come.
5) Let's also continue to pray for the overthrow of terrorists and their attempts to destabilize the nation and that His shalom/ salaam will be upon this battle-scarred, bloodied country.
Lebanon
Our small team drove the breadth and length of this small, but captivatingly lovely nation, celebrating communion along with our intercession a number of times for the healing of the land and spiritual breakthrough. We went out to visit the Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley and prayed at the border with Syria. We also met with local intercessors in various places and had strong times of agreement in prayer at massacre sites and places of ancient idolatry. We believe such places still empower the principalities and powers to bring war, violence and division to nations today since they give the devil a legal right to be present.
As we were praying in Tripoli, a northern city that has been increasingly infected by the war in Syria through the same factions who also live there, a grenade went off not far from where we were praying. We continued to pray with His authority against the violence and the attempts by terrorists to cause confusion and harm in the country. The next day it was reported that four terrorists were captured with over 200 lbs. of explosives before they could detonate it, praise the Lord!
As we drove across the rest of the land, we sang His praises, claimed His promises and interceded with all our hearts joined by the local people. We felt like spiritual commandos on a mission and had the shared sense that the Lord was listening and answering throughout. One of the things we all prayed for was rain since the country was in a dry spell for more than a month. The last day of the initiative, clouds gathered and cool breezes began to blow in from the Mediterranean. Raindrops appeared on the windshield followed by a gully-washer of a downpour a couple hours later. What a cause for joy!
We also prayed with our Lebanese friends about the lack of a working government and the political intrigue that has paralyzed the nation for more than a year. On Saturday, the day we departed, our wonderful hostess, Nuna, sent this message: "This is no less than a miracle after 10 months of no being able to form a government, this Saturday after a very hard and long night the prime minister finally announced the new government. Now we're praying that the parliament will approve it. God is on the move!"
Let us continue to pray for the prayer movement to be strengthened and connected. Recently, eight churches in Beirut met to pray together, but this needs to continue and to expand to include the traditional churches as well as the evangelical and charismatic ones and go right across the country.
Pray for an honest, good, effective government to be agreed to by parliament and established.
Let's pray also for heart unity among the churches and their leaders.
For Syria, pray that a cease-fire will be agreed on that enables those in many besieged cities to evacuate and for relief shipments to get to desperate people needing help all across the nation. May the government and the opposition also come together to negotiate what form a transitional government will take.
Thanks so much for praying for these troubled nations and their people that the Lord loves so much.
Yours in Christ,
John Robb