For decades, we’ve been going into cities to announce a visitation of Jesus Christ. We preach the Kingdom of God to those cities. We have been steadfast in our goals to reveal the Kingdom of heaven and to perform healing signs and wonders, according to our mandate from heaven and according to the scriptures; For it is written, “And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.” (Luke 9:1-2) In the same way, we have been “sent” to regions to continue this great apostolic legacy upon the earth. It is our sincere hope that by going in front of the Lord to these places, we will rendezvous with Him there and we will get to see revival, harvest and transformation take place. For it is written, “Now after this the Lord appointed seventy other, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.” ( Luke 10:1) As intercessors, soldiers of the light, we want to fine tune our skills in order to see powerful effects of the presence of the Kingdom in the regions that we are invading.
Here are some important principles about our intercessory approach to the towns, cities, regions and even nations that we will be invading both now and in the future.
Remember that the Lord Himself personified and spoke to cities. “Woe to you, Chorazin!” Bethsaida, Tyre, Sidon, Capernaum, and even Jerusalem, whom He loved, were spoken to like a person. His declarations came with overcoming power, with justice and loving mercy. We too, need to personify the towns, cities, regions and even nations that we have targeted as being sent by the Lord to be His representation and do the works of His Kingdom. Just as in biblical times, it has always been true that a city may need to be taken over by an invading force of the Kingdom of God.
A city has destiny. Biblical and prophetic warnings come because of destiny diversions and being deviated by evil forces that usually are empowered by lust and even prosperity to completely derail destiny. There are always spiritual reasons for these disruptions of destiny. There is no list that I know of that would tell us the point of entry that gives power to these diversions from a city’s destiny, so we must rely upon the Holy Spirit to make intercession, both with us and for us. As it is written, “the Spirit also joins in to help our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray as we ought…” (Romans 8:26 LITV)
Therefore, we ought to pray in the Spirit in order that His peace might pass our understanding and fill us with His promises for the city. It is then that we begin making positive, prophetic, affirmations. This we do to see the effects of destiny reactivations and getting back on track with what that city was created to be and not what it does. This is a gigantic operation of the eternals.
Research is a divine help to the intercessor. There are meanings of names and there is a fingerprint of God that will give the intercessor help in prophetically proclaiming those positive destiny principles for the city. Research can give you a heart of compassion where there is nothing to be seen but the terrible effects of evil.
Another revelatory principal is found in the intercession of Abraham interceding for Sodom & Gomorrah for the sake of his own kin. In research of the region of Sodom and Gomorrah, we find that it was an exceedingly lush and well watered land. One can assume that it’s richness and fertility brought unbridled lust to it’s inhabitants, yet originally, it was “like the garden of the Lord.” (Genesis 13:10) The nephew of Abram, now Abraham, chose to abide in that rich region of the Jordan. But, when evil took over, there became a threat to all and the Lord met with Abraham, in order to kind of parley with him, and to consult him on what the Kingdom of God was about to do to destroy the evil in that land.
Because Abraham knew, and was concerned about the lives of his family, that were included in the inherent blessings from God, he was given the right to stand before the Lord on behalf of whatever righteousness might be a testimony unto the courts of heaven. To study this portion of the scriptures with a personal view of an intercessor, realizing that you are the defense team with the Holy One, Who is the Spirit of the Lord, is to find new awareness and victories concerning cities and regions. Remember that the testimony of Abraham was the righteous who live there. To put this into current wording, the righteous are those people of faith who have not bowed their knees to the idols of the land. Be aware that there have only been a few occasions in global history, where there has been such destruction of a city as what took place with Sodom & Gomorrah. This land became a type of future events in many different societies throughout time and is still a present truth today.
Another important subject of intercession for cities that we will have Kingdom influence in, is the topic of angels. Angelic favor is a protocol of heaven. By that, I mean that since angels are on guard and many times in severe battle for the sake of righteousness, peace, joy and power of the Kingdom of heaven, their guards need to be approached with respect. (Please remember that we never command angels, as they are under the command of the Lord.) Our helmets of salvation must be in place along with our breast piece of righteousness and the rest of our armor showing us as friend and not foe.
Here is a place where we ought to ask the Holy One to give us favor with angels and all of the holy Kingdom of God’s presence in that city.
This we do with the strategic plans that we are given. This we do because the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, and we will follow His ways, for it is written, “the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord.” This we do because we have become harvesters of the Kingdom to do the will of Him who sent us.
Let me simplify all of this with an outline:
1) Decree that apostles & prophets have been sent by the Lord to that town, city, region or nation that they are schedule to preach in.
2) Decree unto the city, calling it by name, personifying it with the expectation that the city will hear your Kingdom authority and take notice.
3) Proclaim that the Kingdom of God will be preached in that city by the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Declare that the city will not hinder them in their representation of the Kingdom of God, nor will it hinder the works of the Kingdom that they will perform.
4) Having done some background research on the city, looking for the fingerprint of God that is there, begin to proclaim that city’s righteous attributes and its God-given destiny. Tell the city who it is meant to be and then what it is meant to do.
5) Pray in the Spirit as you focus on the city. (Perhaps have a photo of the city to look on.) Let the Holy Spirit show you and speak through you of the affirming principles of character, prosperity, righteous fame, etc.
6) Having researched the name of the city and some of the places in that region, find the will of God and proclaim it’s identity and perhaps sing a Kingdom song of love over that city, like a mother would sing of her child’s destiny while holding the child in her arms.
7) Are there righteous in that city or region? Go to the Lord, Who is the great Judge of all and make your plea on behalf of the righteous who were, who are, and who will be because of the servants of the Lord who will be visiting that place.
8) Present yourself unto the Lord, through the Blood of Jesus Christ, so that the helmet of your salvation is seen to be in place as your testimony. Through the Blood of Jesus Christ your righteousness is the maximum protection of your heart and the shining declaration of your righteousness that is not self proclaimed but established by the sacrifice of that innocent Blood of the Son of God. Do the same presentation for the servants of the Lord who have affect or will have affects within its gates.
9) Petition the Lord to give charge to the angels that guard the city and those angels who are station in that region for divine purposes, to give favor to these men who come in the name of Yehoshua ha Meshaich. This is in order that they be given favor and whatever help that is needed to accomplish their God given tasks. Ask the Lord to make it known to His angelic hosts who these men are and why they are coming.
10) Finally, let us be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might! And, then, we can become a blessing to the great city of the Lord, Jerusalem. We want to become, in this intercessory position for cities of visitation, a blessing to Jerusalem. Therefore, as it is written, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” (Psalm 122)
These are Holy Spirit truths and doctrines of war in the battles of the Holy One Who loves the peoples of each city. Working intently with the Holy Spirit on protocols using these truths and doctrines will change whole cities no matter how big they are.