NIGHTWATCH FOR EUROPE: week beginning Sunday November 5th 2006
‘Could you not watch with me for one hour?’ (Mtt26: 40)
WELCOME TO THE NIGHT WATCH FOR EUROPE
Congratulations to all those watchers who began with the first 70 weeks of these Night watches three years ago this weekend. After a brief break at the end of those seventy weeks we began the current three-and-a-half year watch. We have two years left to go! A big ‘thank you’ to all of you that have come in as reinforcements along the way. Please prayerfully draw others in who will help us through to the end.
Please continue to be exercised about placing a stone on a war memorial near you on November 11th (next Saturday) as a prophetic sign of the stone ‘uncut by human hand’ that destroyed the image of empire in Daniel chapter two. As Steve Lowton and the team of prayer walkers prophetically model this same stone as they enter the ancient imperial seat of Constantinople (Istanbul), we will mark our desire to come in the opposite spirit to the spirit of empire so destructive of church and nation in our continent. Again this week in preparation for laying our stones and in solidarity with the walkers as they take their stand against the powers of empire we will pray through some key parts of the book of Daniel.
Although the night watch prayer and training event (for the weekend of Jan 19th - 21st 2007 at Ashburnham, Sussex, UK) is now booked up, there has been some ongoing interest in this and so we have extended the number of places to make room. If anyone else would like to come, please contact us immediately. Thank you for those who have let us know your interest in a follow up event, possibly in Brussels later in 2007. Let us know your thoughts please. The purpose of these events is to do a weekend-long watch and to provide training for each other so that we can take the watch deeper and further. For this reason we are keeping the events quite small at around thirty or forty people.
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. We are looking to carry on for another two years, 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 NOVEMBER 5TH 2006
1. TAKE 15 MINUTES TO PRAY OVER THE LATEST REPORT FROM STEVE AND ANDY
Steve reports that last Saturday the team arrived home after taking the walk out of Greece and into Turkey, crossing the political boundary that marks the end of Europe and the beginning of Asia. “The geographical boundary will not be crossed until we bridge the Bosphorus Straits, but already we are in transition for all that lies before us. On Tuesday 31st October the third and final team for this leg fly out to take the walk into the huge Gateway City of Istanbul.”
Here are excerpts from Andy’s report on the team’s walk from Thessaloniki to the Turkish border:
“The team dynamic was very different from the last and the next team, as we included a female majority [3/2 split], with people from across the UK including 2 Celts, [Welsh and Scottish], with the Lord's wisdom soon becoming apparent.
In the places of idolatry and Greek myth, so evident as you walk, we were able to proclaim the wonderful story of Jesus and His great exploits, the greatest story of all with the best hero.
It is a region where there is such a tangled web of 'bad history' between the Greeks and Turks with much bloodshed, war and occupation. Our host was not able to enter Turkey for fear of his family name, because of death threats on his father, as he studied in Istanbul in the 1950's. We can only thank God that He is able to unravel all of the mess and bring healing to the land.
As we advanced towards the border region looking towards Turkey and Istanbul, where the Celtic anointing was so needed, God gave us a sweet sign... whilst walking I was approached by a Greek man of 81 years who asked if we were walking from the UK. He had lived in Scotland and England, fought in the war alongside the French and Italians before living in Jerusalem for 4 years. His name: Constantine!
Six, rich days of wonderful prayer, fun and joy, came to an end, some 10km within Turkey, having 'just happened' to stop outside a large grain storehouse, with 'Celtic' written on the side! We broke bread celebrating the fathers love for this land and people, with our feet amongst the grain and seed, scattered all over the road!”
2. TAKE 15 MINUTES TO READ REFLECT AND PRAY OVER DANIEL CH4, ESPECIALLY v17
"This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers and the decision is a command of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom he wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men."
Note the following three things in this extraordinary verse:
i) The Most High is ruler over earthly kingdoms, but he still allows ruthless dictators to hold earthly power
ii) There is a difference between the leaders he allows to take charge of empires and the ‘lowliest of men’ he sets over them
iii) A partnership of ‘angelic watchers’ and ‘holy ones’ decree the Most High’s intention or ‘sentence’ at crucial times
Thank God that he is not a dictator who forces his will on to human beings, but allows them freedom and responsibility over the world. Stand in the gap and repent to the Lord that we humans have made such a terrible job of leadership among the people. Ask for grace to be found like Daniel among the lowliest people, and fit to work in partnership with the angelic watchers to decree God’s will at the right time. Ask for wisdom to discern the hearts and dreams of Europe today and to know how to respond.
3. TAKE 15 MINUTES TO READ, REFLECT AND PRAY OVER DANIEL CH5, ESPECIALLY vv 25-28
"Now this is the inscription that was written out: 'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.'
This is the interpretation of the message: 'MENE'--God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. 'TEKEL'--you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.
'PERES'--your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians."
What might God write over your nation and its government at this time? What might he write over Europe? What would its interpretation be? Pray carefully over this and ask for clear revelation. It would be good to get some feedback on this for corporate prayer in the future of our watch (email us at admin@passion.org.uk).
4. TAKE 15 MINUTES TO READ, REFLECT AND PRAY OVER DANIEL CH6, ESPECIALLY vv 9-10
“Therefore King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction. Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.”
Note that the other two commissioners and the satraps (vv1-4) were jealous of Daniel and knew that the key to his success and therefore the way to attack him must be through his prayer life. Note that this did not shift him, whatever the outcome might be. Declare before God that you know that the clue to our success is our prayer life, and that with his help, nothing will shift us from it. Pray for all of our fellow watchers that our prayer life will be guarded and strengthened whatever the enemy or his conscious or unconscious supporters do to stop it.
