honey

we held our 48 straight hours of prayer 8am thursday until 8am yesterday. it was really fun, really exhausting and amazing in the continuity of what God said. we also had a bit of an adventure around 2am saturday when renee snapped her achillies tendon while dancing. God numbed the pain, but she still wound up with a cast.




this whole weekend has been crazy (in a good way) but today was the icing on the cake. we went down to o'bryant square, which is a place that is more commonly known as paranoia park. as you can immagine the name is fitting. there's great darkness in that area as a result of the drug running, witchcraft and gay prostitution that goes on there and in the surrounding neighborhood. renee had been invited to be there with dhoppers and so had my pastor, steve. steve wasn't planning on going, but around noon he decided to go and i said i'd go with him.

there were some really crazy divine connections with the guy that had called the prayer time and the intercessors that came with him. it was cool because there weren't any of the cooky christians you're always afraid you're going to meet in these sorts of things, but instead there were a few of them that God had been giving pieces of information that ended up really connecting with the pieces of information God's given us over the years as we've prayed for portland and done some spiritual mapping. it was intense.

they told us they had gone up to an area in east portland called mt tabor the day before because God had told them to pray there. it's a significant place because it is a 'high place' in the city, and the seat of witchcraft in portland. it is also where the healing evangelist john g. lake received his vision of the heavens opening up over the city and angels coming down. it's pretty crazy, and most of them weren't aware of any of that.

they told us that yesterday there was a lady there from argentina that two weeks ago, while she was here in town to speak for some talk show on tv, began to see a vision of the city and region, which she prayed out for over three hours. some of the vision had to do with the wells of mercy and love in this city, and that God had held back the volcanic activity in this region. she spoke of how God was releasing His redemptive power over portland, and the river of His spirit would come like a flood, and the deep and ancient fountains would be opened and cleanse the iniquity of the city.

it was so amazing because those were the same themes we saw emerge over our 48hop. after they finished telling us about yesterday's prayer adventures we started sharing the things with them that God had showed us about that area and some of the prophetic words He spoke to us, and then the guy brought out a jar of honey that had been a gift from a woman at the YWAM base he'd just been speaking at in korea. they had poured out some of the honey on mt tabor yesterday in a proclamation of the mercy of God over this city, since honey often represents mercy in the Bible.

while he was telling us about this i was reminded of how samson killed the lion and left it's carcass, and when he came back later there was a hive and honey in it, and how he at some of the honey and brought it back to his parents to eat as well. it seemed to be a picture of God destroying the work of death in this city, and from that death bringing mercy that brings strength. just as samson shared the honey with his family without their knowing where it came from, so will we take the mercy of God that will be abundant in portland and share it with others who will never have to know of the struggle and death that resulted in this mercy, they'll only know its sweetness.

i can't wait to see what comes of all this.