For years we have taken teams out into the land across Britain to prayer walk…
Prayer Walking
Prayer Walking is a key missional practice that connects God’s people back to the land and geographical territories we are called to take back from the enemy for the sake of God’s Kingdom.
Consider what God spoke to Abraham when He promised him the land of Canaan;
‘Walk the length and breadth of the land’ -Genesis 13:17
God instructs Abraham to survey the land of Canaan as a symbol of taking possession of it, even before his descendants would fully occupy it. This act of walking was a common ancient Near Eastern practice signifying taking ownership.
Later, through Moses, God promises;
‘Wherever you set foot, that land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.’ -Deuteronomy 11:24
And when Moses died, God spoke to his protege Joshua and said;
‘I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you—from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” -Joshua 1:3-9
Did you catch that promise? Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you – or as another version puts it – ‘I will give you every place where you set your foot.’
Do you have a sense of the place that God has promised you? The geographical location you are called to conquer?
If not, start with the places where you live, work or play. Begin prayer walking your neighbourhood, take authority over your workplace, pray as you go to your place of leisure.
Send out the Spies
In Numbers 13, Moses sends out spies in 2’s to spy the land they will take possession of. He sends them out with these instructions:
‘“Go north through the Negev into the hill country. See what the land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls, or are they unprotected like open camps? Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see.” (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.)’ -Numbers 13:17-20
Following these instructions – as you go out prayer walking, ‘See what the land is like!’
What are the people like who live in that area? Are they rich or poor? What class or social background? What ethnicity? What age range? What’s the population? What religion? What is the belief system? What strongholds are preventing people from turning to Jesus?
What is the place like? Affluent or impoverished? Gentrified? Lots of litter or clean and tidy?
What are the strongholds? How accessible are the people? Where are the connecting points in the area?
Where can you find the good soil? The Person or Household of Peace?
Where do you see fruitfulness in this community?
What can you take back from the land to show others?
Strategic Houses of Prayer
When we started putting into practice the processes described in this article over 20 years ago – we started with the main towns of Nottinghamshire in England. Each week, we went to various towns and prayer walked while spying the land. We noted some of the points as listed above, adapted from Moses’ instructions. As we jotted answers to those questions for each town – we took back what we had discovered to a House of Prayer in Nottingham.
The House of Prayer met at least once-a-month, where we would gather, usually in someone’s home, and the ‘spies’ (Pioneer Missionaries) would describe the towns they had been too – what the main strongholds over the towns were, what the main people groups were they felt called to reach in those towns, where the best gathering and preaching locations were and so on. Together we would then continue to pray and fast into those towns and ask God for specific direction that usually came through prophetic words, thoughts, pictures, insights, dreams and scripture. This would then inform our next steps in that town.
As a result of this strategy, we saw preaching accompanied by signs, wonders and miracles, people turning to Christ and new churches started (often in homes) as we found Persons of Peace.
The Power of Prayer Walking
Felicity Dale writes this:
‘We have friends in India who conducted a similar experiment. They picked two villages. One of the villages they prayed for and the other they did not. When they later went in to proclaim the good news of Jesus, the village they had not prayed for threw them out. In the other village, the one they had prayed for, 45 families became believers.’
Are you prayer walking your area?
If so, I would love to hear how you are getting on (please leave a comment)
