Monday, December 21, 2009

1. 1999 - Turkey & Celebration Ephesus

"Everything will live where the river goes."
(Ezekiel 47:9)

 "The Hidden Ones"

In the spring of 1999 Lyle Case, our intercessor leader, was led of the Lord to organize a team of intercessors from our church (Abundant Grace Community Church in Edinburg, Tx) to go to Turkey in connection with a prayer and worship assignment given by the Lord to Peter Wagner, the Founder and President of The World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs. This prayer and worship assignment was called "Celebration Ephesus".
In Peter Wagner's earlier travels to Turkey the Lord impressed upon him that the root of idolatry in the Church was seated in Ephesus. He referred us back to Acts 19:34 where the people worshiped and hailed the goddess Diana for two hours in the coliseum of Ephesus. From this Peter Wagner felt led of the Lord to coordinate a year long, world wide, prayer effort that would coordinate prayer throughout the world prior to a corporate gathering of the Church in the colleseum of Ephesus for a declaration and celebration that would be called "Celebration Ephesus".  This coordinated prayer effort focused on the repentance of idolatry, pulling down its stronghold, spiritual mapping, corporate intercession, and then as a corporate prophetic act in the coleseum intercessors and worshipers would over-ride the two hours of idol worship by worshiping the Lord Jesus with four hours of anointed God worship lifting up the name of Jesus.

Never having felt led to "go to nations" before this, I got a quickening in my spirit the Sunday morning that Lyle made the announcement inviting anyone that felt called of the Lord to join him in this journey, and knew I was to be a part of this team. So myself along with nine others joined Lyle, and we began preparing ourselves for this assignment through prayer, fasting and city prayer walks. We reached out to friends, family and our church for financial and prayer support, giving them the opportunity to seed into this work that God was doing. We worked together as a team having car washes and rummage sales as well to raise the monies. God was faithful, as He always is, to provide through His Body's hands and hearts to send us out for His assignment.
Our plans when we arrived in Turkey were to join a regular tour group beginning in Istanbul and travel with them for the next 7 days through many areas of Turkey as well as the seven churches found in the book of Revelation. The end of the tour would culminate in Ephesus where our team would join 5000 other worshipers and intercessors from all over the world to worship and pray and lift up the name of Jesus in the coliseum of Ephesus for the "Celebration Ephesus".

The journey begins.....

On our way to Turkey

(Lf-Rt, Cathy, Patty, Ester, Richard, Lyle, Carol, Connie
Kathrine (our Scribe), Diana, & Sharry

We were excited about being a team of God's intercessors that would be walking on the very land where the roots of the Church had been established. Every place that the sole of our feet would go God had promised He would give it to us. (Joshua 1:3) We were on a mission to walk the land, repent of the sins of the Church, release God's redemptive grace, and plant and declare His Word over the land.
We called ourselves "The Hidden Ones" because we were doing a hidden work and no one on the tour knew that we were intercessors or what we were doing other than taking a tour just like them. But we were on assignment, hidden by the Lord and walking in the power and authority He had given us. Every night after the tours the team would meet together in one of our motel rooms and share what the Lord revealed to each one of us. We would pray and worship together and then Lyle would give us each our assignment for the next day. We had rolled up pieces of paper with the Word of God typed on it that we actually planted in the ground of the land that we walked on that day, planting the seed of God's Word for it to spring forth and bear fruit. At each church site we would gather together inconspicuously and pray and have a small communion with crackers and grape juice.

We were excited to be a part of something very strategic that God was doing in the Church in that hour. We were partnering with Him to walk out something prophetic. Only heaven will know all that was really accomplished through this journey.

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