NIGHTWATCH FOR EUROPE: week beginning Sunday 25th March 2007
‘Could you not watch with me for one hour?’ (Mtt26: 40)
WELCOME TO THE NIGHT WATCH FOR EUROPE
This Nightwatch began in November 2003 out of the conviction that a transition of apocalyptic proportion was taking place in our continent. After the initial seventy weeks we took on this further three and a half year watch. The two time periods were in recognition of a cultural shift that would see the end of the bondage of the church to the ancient sovereignty of European government and release it into its destiny of bringing down the foundational structures of empire. The connection with the vision and experience of the book Daniel is deliberate without implying a specific interpretation of its content. God knows the details of when and how this transition will end, our task as watchmen and women is to cover it with prayer, keep the demons at bay as far as possible and follow the direction of the Lord as it emerges from prophetic and theological insight.
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 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 25th MARCH 2007
1. Take 12 minutes to declare 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:
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” (Rom 16:20)
“The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” (1John 3:8b)
“The Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mk 1:12-15)
"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)
2. Take 12 minutes to pray for the following response from France to last week’s word on Hezekiah
It is interesting that in Isaiah 20:1, Isaiah’s word to Hezekiah is: "Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live." I see that the Lord dealt with the second half of this word, but what about the first half?
Usually, ‘setting your house in order’ in this sort of situation means making all the preparations necessary to turn over your estate with the minimum of hassle and loss to the next generation, paving the way for them to have the estate and to know how to steward it. So, God says to Hezekiah, instead of a rush-job on this, I'll give you fifteen years more to do it right, and to be there to coach and cheer you on, etc. So, instead of handing the estate over and really facilitating the perfect hand-over, he showed the estate to other contemporary leaders who sympathized with his illness. He basically spent his time with his ‘king buddies’ (revelling in his position) instead of taking responsibility for the Kingdom. He was still concerned about building his own reputation (ministry) as opposed to preparing the next.
So, do we have extra time (as Martin Scott has alluded to in the last year or so) for a purpose? Probably a unique moment to make the ‘perfect hand-over’ to the next generation! I think we have an opportunity here to begin to sow the dynamic of ‘generation releasing’ so that it becomes the normative behaviour in the Body of Christ instead of the exception.
3. Take 12 minutes to pray for the coming informal events of the rising generation of friends who work together in the relationships of Connect Europe
Marc van de Woude writes:
“Several focused and regional events and trips are shaping up, which provide excellent opportunities to (re)connect, develop friendship and grow in teamwork.
APRIL
12-15: Pioneer trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, to pray into this nation, and connect with younger visionaries and pioneers. A combined Norwegian-Swedish-Finnish initiative. Contact:petra.karilainen@gmail.com
MAY
3-5: A training on organic church and the apostolic dimension in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Steve Hill from the Netherlands, who helps start organic churches and apostolic teams in several nations in Europe, will be teaching on a Bible school, and this meeting is also open for Connect Europe friends in the region. Contact: lucas@hollanddevlopment.eu
3-6: Learning weekend on communities, Frankfurt, Germany. Around 20 people in the Connect network indicated that they want to start and develop intentional communities (living together). This weekend we will bring practitioners and learners together for a time of envisioning and friendship. Because places are limited, it's crucial to sign-up timely. This meeting is invitation-only, but feel free to indicate you want to be invited. Contact: mvdwoude@xs4all.nl
26-2: Pioneer trip to Greece and Macedonia. To pray into these nations, and connect with younger visionaries and pioneers. This one-week trip will comprise the Global Day of Prayer at Pentecost with young people from Greece, and a road-trip via Thessaloniki to Skopje, where we visit our Macedonian friends Alek, Pálma and Alpin. Contact: ngaboca@yahoo.com
4. Take 12 minutes to pray for the islands of Britain and Ireland
The intercession event to pray into one of the most ancient and perhaps deepest wounds in the history of England went well. As expected we found the Holy Spirit travailing through us as we recognised the significance for God and these islands of our failure to trust him at an earlier time of massive shift as the Romans withdrew from Britain and the leadership of those left behind chose to trust in pagan Saxon mercenaries to defend them from the Picts and Scots in the North, instead of following their new found faith in Jesus and his kingdom. The result was betrayal by the Saxons, the division between the Welsh and the English and a rejection of their Scottish neighbours, wounds that were far from resolved in the various acts of union between them and lie behind the national struggles of today. Pray for the ongoing work of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish intercessors as they work on the implications and results of these old sins and their ongoing impact today.
5. Take 12 minutes to pray for the European Union
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the EU. For the past week intercessors from all over Europe have been meeting in Berlin as the European Union of Prayer in order to pray for the EU. Thank God for all the redemptive purposes that God is releasing and means to release through the EU. Pray that it will be used by the Lord to preserve the good characteristics and cultural history of the nations of the continent while undermining the proud and oppressive structures of national governments. At the same time resist the oppressive structures and laws that are developing and the domination system that is emerging. The theologian Walter Wink helpfully suggests that when John said 'love not the world' it is best translated as 'love not the domination system of this world.' This leaves us free to obey Jesus who told us that God so loved the world that he gave his only son!
