Spiritual Mapping
I just finished reading a book titled Strongholds by Peter Wagner.
I'm really immersing myself in anything and everything I can read on strategic prayer. The focus of the book is something called spiritual mapping that I find to be a fascinating topic. Spiritual mapping is "an attempt to see our city as it really is, not as it appears to be." I think is the combination of research and revelation. This blog is a little of both.
It is spiritual espionage. When I pray I often feel like the twelve spies who did reconaissance in the Promise Land.
The Strong Man
Cindy Jacobs says that spiritual mapping is dicovering "inroads Satan has made which prevent the spread of the gospel and the evangelization of a city for Christ." In other words, what are the footholds or strongholds in a city?
There is a pretty straightfoward principle in waging spirtual warfare--you have to bind the strongman first. Luke 11:21 says, "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own homestead, his possessions are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied, and distributes his plunder.
In order to bind the strongman you have to identify the strongholds. I think spiritual mapping is like an x-ray or ultrasound of the city--it reveals problem areas (the reason for the pain and sickness). And it reveals opportunities. It reveals the schemes of the enemy. Paul said he didn't want Satan to "outsmart us." So he said, "We are very familiar with his evil schemes."
I think we underestimate the authority available to us as children of God. Matthew 18:18 says, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." To bind means "to prohibit, to forbid, or to fasten with chains."
The Personality of a City
I think part of spiritual mapping is discerning the "personality" of a city. What is the personality of DC? I don't feel like I've got a complete handle on this, but I have some insights based on living and pastoring in this city for the past decade.
I love Meg Greenfield's book Washington. It's a must read for every Washingtonian. She says there is a "nervousness" in this city--everybody is up for election. Your position is never secure--resulting in high levels of uncertainty and insecurity. And there are always people competing within congressional offices for positions, competing for government dollars, lobbyists competing for time and attention. She says there is a "pretense" about this city--everybody has this public persona.
DC is definitely politically correct. George Otis Jr. says, "Tolerance is the opposite of discrimination." But he says, "My fear is that when tolerance becomes exxagerated, it might take us two steps backward and the end could be worse than the beginning. When tolerance is supreme, the only thing not to be tolerated is intolerance. Christianity, by nature, is seen an intolerant because it claims that God is absolute, that His word is truth, that His morality is normative, and that only through Jesus Christ can lost human beings regain their personal relationship to Him. Christianity is anything but politically correct."
DC is a place of power. There is a saying that floats around DC quite a bit--"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." I think most of the people elected to political office have good intentions--they want to make a difference. They believe in a cause. In the words of Charles Dickens, DC is "the city of magnificent intentions." Despite good intentions, every elected official faces the danger of corruption by power.
I think another "god" is a false view of freedom. In America, we want the freedom to do whatever we want to do. And usually that translates into the freedom to do what is wrong. But Jesus gives us the freedom to do what's right.
I think one key to identifying strongholds or footholds is understanding what idols a culture or city worships. In DC, the idol is positions of power. There is a never ending jockeying for position.
Personal Strongholds
Gary Kinnaman says personal strongholds are "things that Satan builds to influence one's personal life: personal sin, thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and behavior patterns."
Joy Dawson calls them "holes in our armor." They are places where we're vulnerable. When we sin we open ourselves to enemy attack. In II Chronicles 18, King Ahab disguises himself and goes into battle despite a prophetic warning. Verse 33 says, "An Aramean soldier, however, randomly shot an arrow at the Israelite troops, and the arrow hit the king of Israel between the joints of his armor."
Curses
You can't read the OT without noticing how prevanlent curses are--some are the result of disobedience, some are the result of a prophetic curse. Some curses are generational and some are territorial. But Proverbs 26:2 says, "A curse without cause shall not alight." Jesus broke the curse of sin--and every other curse with it. All the promises of God are yes in Christ (II Corinthians 1) and all curses are broken.
Spiritual Perimeters
I believe in establishing "spiritual perimeters." Just as Israel walked, sang, and prayed around Jericho for seven days, we've done prayer walks around Capitol Hill, Union Station, and 201 F Street, NE. I'd like to pray where the original forty boundary stones were laid by Benjamin Banneker. I am a believer in "on location" prayer.
Kjell Sjoberg says, "Part of spiritual mapping is to ask the Lord for prophetic words and visions concerning churches, cities, and nations." I believe Isaiah 35 is a prophetic passage inscribed on Union Station. It's no accident that it adorns the gateway to the Nation's Capital and National Community Church. It says, "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose." It is a promise of spiritual renewal.
Collective Sin
Sjoberg makes a great distinction between individual sin and collective sin. Individual sin is the sin I've committed, need to take personal responsibility for, and confess. Collective sin is sin committed by a race or group or city, and while we may not have participated in it personally, we can repent of it. Ezra did it. Moses did it. Daniel did it. They stood in the gap and repented of collective sin.
In Old Testament times, one expression of revival was tearing down altars and idols. In our culture, that means tearing down false ideas and philosophies and arguments. It is intellectual idolatry. It is intellectual pride. It is more intellectual than physical.
Spiritual Mapping
In the coming months I want to get a better handle on the factors that make up the personality of the city. Among them are historical factors, physical factors, and spiritual factors. Bob Beckett says, "A way to communicate or talk with a city is to study and research the city's history and heritage." Beckett likens it to putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
Parish
More and more I feel like Washington is my parish. I watched my Father-in-Law plant a church, invest more than thirty years of ministry in one place, and bear unbelievable fruit because the roots went so deep! Starting with one person, Calvary Church in Naperville impacted thousands upon thousands of lives. I'll never foget his funeral--the longest line-up of cars I've ever seen. It stretched for miles. All because he was committed to one place.
I feel that same kind of commitment to Washington. Bob Beckett says that some pastors/churches never seen the kind of impact they could have because they lack territorial commitment. I think the Lord is birthing a more genuine love for this city in my heart.
I still remember praying in the observatory gallery at the National Cathedral in May of 2003. I remember praying in a 360 degree circle for the city and asking God to give us the land. I believe those prayers will be answered in the years to come. We've seen the "first fruit" but we haven't experienced the harvest yet. The harvest is yet to come!
I'm really immersing myself in anything and everything I can read on strategic prayer. The focus of the book is something called spiritual mapping that I find to be a fascinating topic. Spiritual mapping is "an attempt to see our city as it really is, not as it appears to be." I think is the combination of research and revelation. This blog is a little of both.
It is spiritual espionage. When I pray I often feel like the twelve spies who did reconaissance in the Promise Land.
The Strong Man
Cindy Jacobs says that spiritual mapping is dicovering "inroads Satan has made which prevent the spread of the gospel and the evangelization of a city for Christ." In other words, what are the footholds or strongholds in a city?
There is a pretty straightfoward principle in waging spirtual warfare--you have to bind the strongman first. Luke 11:21 says, "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own homestead, his possessions are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied, and distributes his plunder.
In order to bind the strongman you have to identify the strongholds. I think spiritual mapping is like an x-ray or ultrasound of the city--it reveals problem areas (the reason for the pain and sickness). And it reveals opportunities. It reveals the schemes of the enemy. Paul said he didn't want Satan to "outsmart us." So he said, "We are very familiar with his evil schemes."
I think we underestimate the authority available to us as children of God. Matthew 18:18 says, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." To bind means "to prohibit, to forbid, or to fasten with chains."
The Personality of a City
I think part of spiritual mapping is discerning the "personality" of a city. What is the personality of DC? I don't feel like I've got a complete handle on this, but I have some insights based on living and pastoring in this city for the past decade.
I love Meg Greenfield's book Washington. It's a must read for every Washingtonian. She says there is a "nervousness" in this city--everybody is up for election. Your position is never secure--resulting in high levels of uncertainty and insecurity. And there are always people competing within congressional offices for positions, competing for government dollars, lobbyists competing for time and attention. She says there is a "pretense" about this city--everybody has this public persona.
DC is definitely politically correct. George Otis Jr. says, "Tolerance is the opposite of discrimination." But he says, "My fear is that when tolerance becomes exxagerated, it might take us two steps backward and the end could be worse than the beginning. When tolerance is supreme, the only thing not to be tolerated is intolerance. Christianity, by nature, is seen an intolerant because it claims that God is absolute, that His word is truth, that His morality is normative, and that only through Jesus Christ can lost human beings regain their personal relationship to Him. Christianity is anything but politically correct."
DC is a place of power. There is a saying that floats around DC quite a bit--"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." I think most of the people elected to political office have good intentions--they want to make a difference. They believe in a cause. In the words of Charles Dickens, DC is "the city of magnificent intentions." Despite good intentions, every elected official faces the danger of corruption by power.
I think another "god" is a false view of freedom. In America, we want the freedom to do whatever we want to do. And usually that translates into the freedom to do what is wrong. But Jesus gives us the freedom to do what's right.
I think one key to identifying strongholds or footholds is understanding what idols a culture or city worships. In DC, the idol is positions of power. There is a never ending jockeying for position.
Personal Strongholds
Gary Kinnaman says personal strongholds are "things that Satan builds to influence one's personal life: personal sin, thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and behavior patterns."
Joy Dawson calls them "holes in our armor." They are places where we're vulnerable. When we sin we open ourselves to enemy attack. In II Chronicles 18, King Ahab disguises himself and goes into battle despite a prophetic warning. Verse 33 says, "An Aramean soldier, however, randomly shot an arrow at the Israelite troops, and the arrow hit the king of Israel between the joints of his armor."
Curses
You can't read the OT without noticing how prevanlent curses are--some are the result of disobedience, some are the result of a prophetic curse. Some curses are generational and some are territorial. But Proverbs 26:2 says, "A curse without cause shall not alight." Jesus broke the curse of sin--and every other curse with it. All the promises of God are yes in Christ (II Corinthians 1) and all curses are broken.
Spiritual Perimeters
I believe in establishing "spiritual perimeters." Just as Israel walked, sang, and prayed around Jericho for seven days, we've done prayer walks around Capitol Hill, Union Station, and 201 F Street, NE. I'd like to pray where the original forty boundary stones were laid by Benjamin Banneker. I am a believer in "on location" prayer.
Kjell Sjoberg says, "Part of spiritual mapping is to ask the Lord for prophetic words and visions concerning churches, cities, and nations." I believe Isaiah 35 is a prophetic passage inscribed on Union Station. It's no accident that it adorns the gateway to the Nation's Capital and National Community Church. It says, "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose." It is a promise of spiritual renewal.
Collective Sin
Sjoberg makes a great distinction between individual sin and collective sin. Individual sin is the sin I've committed, need to take personal responsibility for, and confess. Collective sin is sin committed by a race or group or city, and while we may not have participated in it personally, we can repent of it. Ezra did it. Moses did it. Daniel did it. They stood in the gap and repented of collective sin.
In Old Testament times, one expression of revival was tearing down altars and idols. In our culture, that means tearing down false ideas and philosophies and arguments. It is intellectual idolatry. It is intellectual pride. It is more intellectual than physical.
Spiritual Mapping
In the coming months I want to get a better handle on the factors that make up the personality of the city. Among them are historical factors, physical factors, and spiritual factors. Bob Beckett says, "A way to communicate or talk with a city is to study and research the city's history and heritage." Beckett likens it to putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
Parish
More and more I feel like Washington is my parish. I watched my Father-in-Law plant a church, invest more than thirty years of ministry in one place, and bear unbelievable fruit because the roots went so deep! Starting with one person, Calvary Church in Naperville impacted thousands upon thousands of lives. I'll never foget his funeral--the longest line-up of cars I've ever seen. It stretched for miles. All because he was committed to one place.
I feel that same kind of commitment to Washington. Bob Beckett says that some pastors/churches never seen the kind of impact they could have because they lack territorial commitment. I think the Lord is birthing a more genuine love for this city in my heart.
I still remember praying in the observatory gallery at the National Cathedral in May of 2003. I remember praying in a 360 degree circle for the city and asking God to give us the land. I believe those prayers will be answered in the years to come. We've seen the "first fruit" but we haven't experienced the harvest yet. The harvest is yet to come!
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