NIGHTWATCH FOR EUROPE: week beginning Sunday 1st April 2007
‘Could you not watch with me for one hour?’ (Mtt26: 40)
WELCOME TO THE NIGHT WATCH FOR EUROPE
This week we will continue to declare the Lord’s promises for these times of transition resist the devil, pray for the ongoing prophetic walk to Jerusalem, the success of the grassroots Catholics’ call for a new direction for the EU and finally begin to pray into Lee Ann Thompson’s vision for the UK.
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If you are receiving this material unexpectedly it is because someone has suggested that you may be interested to join in. If you do not want to keep receiving it please inform us immediately and we will stop sending it to you. We want to let those of you who are newcomers know that we are very pleased to have your partnership in this watch. We are simply asking for a commitment of an hour a week some time between 9pm and 6am whatever time zone you are in.
We will send you a brief outline for prayer each week according to the prophetic direction coming from the contemporary prophetic movement in Europe. You will not always agree with everything in the watch material. Go with what you can and trust the Lord to help you with the rest. This Nightwatch began in November 2003 and We are looking to carry on for another year and seven months, while realising that some can’t commit right now for as long as that. We are pleased for you to enlist for as long as you can. If you have to miss an occasional watch it’s OK as the rest of us will carry it. A six-month commitment is probably a good start.
THE CONTENT OF THE WATCH FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SUNDAY 1st April 2007
1. Take 15 minutes to continue declaring the Lord’s intentions for these transition times in our continent and resist the devil away from them
You may find it helpful to draw on the following verses:
"In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy." (Dan 2:44-45)
“He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:20-23)
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
2. Take 15 minutes to pray for Steve Lowton and the team of intercessors who are continuing to walk back down the route the gospel came to Europe resisting the Empire spirit all the way back to Jerusalem
The following are excerpts from their latest report:
Walking out of the coastal lands surrounding Istanbul up onto the Anatolian Plateau provided three wonderful days of walking and prayer, marked out by blue skies, incredible scenery and as strong a sense of purpose. We gave ourselves to prayer for this gateway nation of Turkey and the capital city of Ankara.
Evidence of the Freemasonic undergirds so much of this twentieth century nation, and the adoration of the 1920's founder of Turkey, Ataturk, akin to worship. To be fair, if you are neither Armenian or Kurdish then the gratitude to the army is very real for a nation who's national identity has passed between the western and Greek Byzantine Empire, and the Ottoman Empire of the east. If you then add in the plundering of the Crusades and the post World War 1 attempt by the west to carve up the nation, then the level of fear and searching for identity becomes totally understandable.
On leaving Ankara we turned our faces south towards the centre of Islam in Turkey; the city of Konya. The next team, led by Paul Wood, will walk into this city, However, what I am growing to understand as I cast my mind back to the nations we have walked through is that each nation has its fault lines. Here in Turkey it seems that the Lord has positioned the walk along the fault line these two cities of Ankara and Konya represent. Never have I walked upon a road as marked out by occultic tape as this one. As Istanbul is a global fault line, so the north/south road from Ankara to Konya is a simmering fault line of Turkey itself. Somehow these two cities encapsulate the tensions between the aspiring modern state looking west to the EU and the residue of fundamental Islam that Konya is a motif for.
3. Take 15 minutes to pray over the call for a new direction for the European Union coming from grassroots Catholics
Grass roots Catholic movements have signed a common document urging a new direction for the European Union based not on an obsession with recognising its religious history, but on a new vision of justice. The document urges that the EU should adopt a different role in the future, particularly in respect to the relationships between the North and the South of the world. It also urges that its independence from the USA be affirmed, and that it pursues an active policy of peace and mediation in the world. As part of these aims, a reduction in military expenditure is urged along with an end to exports of commercial arms from the EU, and more support for non violent actions for prevention, mediation and control of conflicts. The text suggests that the EU should pursue, with greater determination, basic social rights, and a more welcoming policy for immigrants.
4. Take 15 minutes to pray for into the following encouraging vision Lee Ann Thompson saw for the UK:
'I saw the Lord lift up what appeared to be a 'disc' from the geographic location of the UK. The disc was a 'mirror-like reflector' that received light from heaven and then as it was tilted, was able to simultaneously throw light across Europe and beyond. As the light travelled across the continent and beyond, other discs then became illuminated and began to create light in their regions. The light coming from heaven was a blinding brilliance.'
She felt emphasis on the following points:
a) The 'disc' was rising from a geographic area that had no distinction of national boundaries. It was just one location.
b) The light was coming from heaven, and not from the earth. The strength of the light being sent out was dependent upon the purity of the reflective surface, and also it's position with heaven. The reflected light was released in a variety of different angles.
c) Heaven and earth come together in this vision. The vision suggests that the fulfilment is made during the process of releasing everything that is received.
I felt challenges with this vision and saw the need to see the nation/s press in; as it means that we do not possess what is coming, we cannot call it up from the past, and it is not related to our abilities to administrate the earth realms. Our main usefulness is to be pure, and flexible enough to be able to be tilted at whatever angle both towards heaven and earth that is necessary in order to perform the connection.
(There is more to this that we will pray into further next week)
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR SHARE IN THE CHALLENGE OF THIS WATCH
