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Intercession for the Church

I was called many years ago to intercede for the Church with various goals, but the most important goal was for the outpouring of the Spirit. The Church uses the term "revival," which is quite accurate, since it implies bringing something dead (or near dead) back to life. But for the most part, men's concept of revival does not go beyond what has been seen in past Pentecostal revivals.

When I began to get a grasp of the feast of Tabernacles in the 1980's, I began to see that the Church hardly needs one more Pentecostal revival that manifests like a "flash in the pan." Another revival would only mean another denomination or separatist group that is formed to try to keep that revival alive long after its demise. What we really need is something permanent, or as Roy Hession would call it, "Continuous Revival."

Such continuous revival does not occur with whole groups or movements. It is possible only on a personal level with the few who allow the Holy Spirit to actually make changes in their character. True revival is not a matter of how many people are healed, or how much prophecy goes out. True revival is more fundamental than that. It is to be measured by how many learn to hear God's voice for themselves, and then walk in the daily power of that revelation.

It is hard to teach these things. I did write a book called Hearing God's Voice, which is a Bible study designed to make people aware of the possibility and a warning about pitfalls because of the idols of the heart. Other than that, all I could do is tell my own story in hopes that it will encourage others to "see the possibilities."

I want to give you a little background in regard to intercession for the Church that God has led me to experience in the past. This background will help you understand the foundations of the outpouring of the Spirit that I believe is soon to come.

On June 11, 1989 I received a Word from the Lord saying, "You will go to the shores of the Gulf, point the staff at the dragon in the sea, and prophesy his destruction. . . This shall prevent the HURRICANE from striking the city, and it shall die. On the second time you enter Corpus Christi, the Bride shall be crowned with glory and raised up to sit in My throne with Me."

Corpus Christi means "Body of Christ." It has long been a type of the Church, and over the years I and others have been led to intercede for the Church and to watch Corpus Christi to discern what was happening in the spirit.

At the time of the above word on June 11, 1989, there was no sign of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. But I was finally able to leave on June 24 after doing some preliminary travel. As I drove toward Georgetown, Texas, I happened to turn on the radio to catch the news and discovered then that a hurricane had formed in the Gulf. It was named Allison. It was almost stationary, but it threatened Corpus Christi. Thus, it represented a "dragon" seeking to destroy the Church.

Many Christians had interceded for the Church, and I happened to be the one God picked to represent them in doing the actual physical work at Corpus Christi. God could have picked anyone, of course. Why me? Well, why not?

The Lord also gave me a Word about the purpose of this trip, saying, "The purpose of this trip is primarily to prevent the Manchild from being slaughtered once again, for this time I begin to move to prevent this."

In other words, the hurricane represented the Red Dragon of Rev. 12:3, which was attempting to devour the Manchild as soon as he was born. I was to speak the word not only to protect the Bride, but also to protect the Manchild until such time as he would manifest in us.

I arrived in Corpus Christi on June 27, did as I was instructed, and left the next day. The hurricane disintegrated within 24 hours and never came ashore. This signified that the spiritual attack upon the Church had been broken at that time. But the Word above had one detail that intrigued me: "On the second time you enter Corpus Christi. . ." What did that mean? And what was this about crowning the Bride?

This second trip occurred eight years later in August of 1997 after a whole new series of revelations. First, I received a telephone call from a friend near Tulsa who told me that the city of Victoria, Texas lies north of Corpus Christi like a "crown on the bride." He gave me the Word that told me that I would have to go to Victoria to do something.

Next, a local friend had a prophetic dream, which indicated that I was to take my wife to Corpus Christi, and that we would "become one in the ministry."

A whole series of revelation came through many sources. It became clear that I was to bring my wife, Darla, and that we were to be remarried at Victoria, Texas on August 22, 1997. We were led to have a New Covenant wedding, as opposed to an Old Covenant wedding. In short, this means that it was unconditional in nature. I made vows, and my wife simply said "Amen" to them in agreement. An Old Covenant wedding is conditional in nature, where both parties make vows (patterned by Exodus 19:4-6).

We have yet to see the full significance of this in the divine plan. But that is how the word from 1989 was fulfilled, "On the second time you enter Corpus Christi, the Bride shall be crowned with glory and raised up to sit in My throne." My wife was standing in for the Bride of Christ, and we acted out our parts as a revelation-prophecy of things to come under the New Covenant.

The other part of the second Corpus Christi trip was to pray to establish landmarks, or boundaries, and declare that no hurricane ("dragon") would be able to cross that line. It was to be effective for a full year. We placed the first boundary on Padre Island on August 21, 1997. The next day we drove to Victoria to do the wedding.

One year later, on August 22, 1998 tropical storm Charley hit Corpus Christi. It was not quite strong enough to be a hurricane, so it did not do any severe damage.

From Victoria, we drove along the coast all the way to Key West, Florida to set the next boundary marker. The idea was to prevent hurricanes from hitting anywhere along the Gulf for a full year. From there, we drove to Charlotte, North Carolina, where we were led to establish the third boundary on August 28, 1997.

A year later, Hurricane Bonnie hit just north of Charlotte, coming in over Cape Fear on August 26. We figured that it was not allowed to hit further south, at least until August 28 when the one-year ban was completed.

As we travelled that long route in 1997, I pondered the meaning of all this. Obviously, we were being led to speak the word of protection for the Bride as well as the Manchild. I recalled from previous experience that when a primary target is out of reach, the enemy will go for a secondary target within its reach. Since we were seeing boundaries placed upon the southern coast of America, I figured the secondary target would be a woman from Europe, a Bride-type representing the Church.

Since we were supposed to be home in Minnesota by Sept. 1, 1997, I figured that we would see something manifest about that time.

Sure enough, on August 31 we saw the news that Princess Diana had been killed in a car crash in Paris. The Red Dragon had swallowed a pearl. I will explain next time.