NIGHTWATCH FOR EUROPE week beginning Sunday 2nd September 2007
‘Could you not watch with me for one hour?’ (Mtt26: 40)
WELCOME TO THE NIGHT WATCH FOR EUROPE
Thank you for the positive response to the prayer mnemonic that we used last week. In coming weeks we will include some of those responses together with an outline for a possible French version. May the Lord aid our prayers!
This week we will join forces with a vital initiative taking place in Trier that is continuing the work of displacing the empire spirit from Europe.
Keep praying for Portugal. We continue to wait for Portuguese involvement in the Nightwatch! If you know possible contacts, please take the initiative.
If you know of anyone who would also like to receive this night watch prayer bulletin each week, they can subscribe by going to www.passion.org.uk/announcemail and submitting their details on the web form. Alternatively they can email us at admin@passion.org.uk
IF YOU ARE A REGULAR YOU CAN SKIP THE NEXT 2 PARAGRAPHS
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 three 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 2nd SEPTEMBER 2007
The main content of the Nightwatch this week will focus on the prayer and worship initiative in Trier that takes place from September 5th- 13th.
This initiative has been put together by Rusty and Janet Richards, good friends of Anne Nadal, a Nightwatcher from France, who are from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA, to which Quaker, Amish and Mennonite fugitives of European empire fled in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Rusty’s details are available from david@leighweb.com
We will pray together with this initiative in three sections of twenty minutes each. First we will pray into excerpts from Rusty’s overview of the Trier initiative and for the worship event that he and Janet are organising, secondly we will pray into the foundational mistakes that opened up the Church to an imperial form of Christianity, and finally we will pray for its displacement from church and continent today.
1. THE TRIER INITIATIVE (20 MINUTES)
a) Pray into the following overview of the Trier Initiative (15 minutes)
“Trier is the city in Germany where Constantine ruled from his first base of power. It is located near Luxembourg. It represents the beginning of the spirit of empire in the church. The spirit of empire is a “sin cluster” composed of the powers called Jezebel and Queen of Heaven. These two demonic entities can be traced back to Babylon and Persia. They have always been the empowering forces behind the enemies of the people of God.
About a year ago, I heard the city was planning a celebration of the life of Constantine during the summer and fall of 2007. It would focus on Constantine as the benefactor of Christianity in Europe, he being the one who legitimized the presence of the gospel in the Roman Empire. Something stirred in me and I began to research Constantine. He was converted before the battle of Milvian Bridge where he defeated Maxentius when he saw the sign of the cross in the sky and heard a voice proclaim, "In this sign you shall conquer". His conversion had enormous consequence not because of the nature of the revelation, but because he was Emperor. He is the one who said the empire would defend the faith, thus causing believers to rely on the power of the state…
He also convened the Council of Nicea where he got the leaders of the church to establish the guidelines for the church structure. Before this, the church was informed by a Hebraic mindset (5-fold gifts, apostolic/prophetic foundation, etc.); after this, a Platonic Greek influence took over. This resulted in Popes, archbishops and all that stuff. It was really an ordering of the church along the lines of Roman government and it brought the same spirit of empire into the church…
On the governmental side, men were converting in order to gain favour with the emperor. This reinforced the power of the state and the church. Even after the fall of Rome, the empire structures in the church-state held sway, leading to the growth of the feudal system. This was formalized under Charlemagne and grew into kingdoms and empires whose monarchs ruled by ‘divine right’ with the blessing of the pope du jour. The inevitable abuses of power led to the Reformation and the Peasant Rebellion. But Luther, Zwingli and Calvin could not forsake the lure of the power of the state to protect them, so the empire spirit continued to prosper under Protestantism. The legacy of Constantine was preserved.”
b) Pray for the worship event happening from September 5th - 13th (5 minutes)
“So when I read that Trier was planning this big celebration, I realized that it was in reality a season dedicated to worshipping the empire spirit. I asked the Lord to let me go there during this time to establish an altar of worship to the True God. It is not my intention to engage enemy spirits. I simply want to come to this place in the spirit of worship to Jesus. This in itself is probably very confrontational. There is an enormous shift happening in the world right now. It is a critical time in history. There are clashes of kingdoms and empires in the natural and in the spiritual. I want to take my place in advancing the Kingdom of God.”
Pray for every aspect of this worship event, for physical strength and stamina for all involved, for the presence of angels, for protection from the negative aspects of the celebration of empire flowing from the commemoration of Constantine, for great Holy Spirit and worship to connect heaven and earth and increase room for the kingdom of God in Europe.
2. PRAY INTO THE FOUNDATIONAL MISTAKES THAT OPENED UP THE CHURCH TO AN IMPERIAL FORM OF CHRISTIANITY (20 MINUTES)
a) The difference between the spirit of empire and the kingdom of God (10 minutes)
Christians are people who have discovered that it is the purpose of the God of heaven to fill the world with his love. We have discovered that at the heart of the Godhead, Father Son and Holy Spirit, is the love that gives itself for others to the point of death. This kind of love overcomes evil, sin and injustice and brings about the resurrection of all that is true and good. We call this the kingdom of God and it brings real peace. Empire on the other hand also aims to fill the world and bring about peace, but it does so by dominating others through economic and military violence. Empire justifies or legitimises this kind of power through suggesting that the God of heaven uses his power to dominate the universe in a similar way, or in more recent centuries, that even if there is no God, this is still the nature of reality (the survival of the fittest).
b) "In this sign you shall conquer" (10 minutes)
The famous story of Constantine’s conversion is very significant because it exposes the heart of the difference between the kingdom of God and empire. Constantine saw a cross in the sky and heard a voice telling him "In this sign you shall conquer". But he did not understand it in Christian terms. Jesus said "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). The way of life in the kingdom of God is to give yourself in love for others like Jesus did. What a difference it might have made to the history of the world if Constantine had received his vision in those terms! But instead he took it to mean that faith in the Christian God and the support of the Christian church would make him a successful emperor in military and economic terms. His subsequent success and his protection of the church were interpreted as the blessing of God. As a result imperial sovereignty was increasingly seen to be God’s way of rulership, and the appropriate shape for authority both within church and society. Pray for the difference between the way of life in the kingdom of God and the domination of people under empire to be seen in church and society our continent at this time.
3. RESIST THE DEVIL AND HIS POWERS OF EMPIRE!! (20 MINUTES)
Rusty Richards emphasises that their initiative is a worship event, not an attempt at spiritual warfare. “It is not my intention to engage enemy spirits. I simply want to come to this place in the spirit of worship to Jesus. This in itself is probably very confrontational.” As a result it will be easier for Christians with different perspectives and at different stages in life to participate in, which is great. However as Nightwatchers our calling is to humbly and seriously resist the devil and his powers. Prophets recognise this time as the season of crossing over from empire to kingdom for the church on behalf of Europe. This worship event provides a great opportunity for resisting the powers of empire. Making sure that we humble ourselves and are in right relationships as far as we can and that we are forgiving all who sin against us, let’s resist the spirit of empire with all our might! Use the following verses as the Lord leads you, but go with the Spirit where he takes you!
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who have displayed your splendour above the heavens! From the mouth of infants and nursing babes you have established strength because of your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease (Psalm8:1-2)
“And he said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. At that very time he rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I praise you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight.’” (Luke 10:18-21)
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armour of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” (Eph 6:12-13)
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phi 2:6-11)
ALL DOMINION SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE CHILDREN OF THE KING!!
