The White Flag

I go to a prayer group on Monday nights. It’s at the school across the street. A few weeks ago, they asked me to pray for our neighborhood. Scripture says Jesus’ government and peace will increase continually, so I declared God’s peace dominating my neighborhood. I prayed that people’s eyes here would be opened to see the light of God’s glory in Jesus’ face.

I felt the rivers of God’s love pouring through my soul. I’ve had a glimpse of God touching a region before, and I know so much more is possible! I’ve heard of what God has done at other times and in other places, but I want to see it now, in my life! Scripture says the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God’s glory. God was stirring up my zeal to see my city become like heaven.

Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV) Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known…

The next week, one of the ladies had a vision of a white flag. She said she didn’t know what it meant.

The message was as clear as possible to me! We often think of a white flag as a symbol of surrender. But this wasn’t! Flags are symbols of government. They are standards of dominion. This white flag declared the dominion of God’s peace. The Lord was telling us to raise the white flag and declare his dominion and his peace advancing in our city.

The Lord Is Our Banner

 I continued to think about this. One of God’s seven redemptive names is The Lord Our Banner. (Jehova-Nissi) I decided to teach on this the next time we had our prayer meeting. We find it in Exodus 17.

Exodus 17:8-15 (NIV) The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.” Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner…

 This is a story about proclamation. The staff in Moses’ hands symbolizes authority. Moses proclaimed God’s dominion by raising his hands. As long as he did, the Israelites won. When Moses lowered his hands (got tired and stopped proclaiming God’s dominion) the Amalekites won.

This showed me that we must persevere. We must not let discouragement or tiredness stop us from proclaiming God’s dominion. The context shows us that declaring “The Lord Is My Banner” is like saying “The Lord Is My Victory.” This story also points to the connection between raising our hands in prayer and declaring God’s victory/dominion.

1 Timothy 2:8 (NIV) Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

Lifting God’s Banner Over Brazil

I take proclamation seriously. I’ve learned that the spiritual realm works through proclamation. I’ve seen angels move and things happen as I declared God’s word. I wrote scriptures and prayers on the walls of my houses in my early twenties, and people began to encounter angels in them.  So after the vision, I began to consider getting a large white banner with the words “The God Of Peace” in Portuguese, and raising it over our neighborhood. By the way, “The Lord Our Peace” is another one of God’s “redemptive names.” The white banners proclaim two of God’s names— Jehovah-Shalom (The Lord Our Peace) and Jehovah-Nissi (The Lord Our Banner).

The state to the north of Rio de Janeiro is called “Espirito Santo” (Holy Spirit) and the capital is named “Victoria” (Victory). Recently, the Civil Police in Espirito Santo went on strike. They hadn’t received their salaries for several months because the corrupt governors stole and wasted the money. Since there were no police, criminals took advantage of the opportunity to riot, loot, and kill people. They shot people randomly and set buses on fire. It was chaos, and many citizens didn’t leave their homes or go to work.

The same thing then happened in Rio de Janeiro one day last week. My wife called saying she didn’t know if she would get home alive. Her employer sent everybody home early because of the situation. She got home fine, just nervous. The situation calmed down and didn’t escalate nearly as much as it did in Espirito Santo.

The government sent Federal Troops to restore the order in Espirito Santo. Then on Sunday, I saw footage on the news of people marching for peace in Vitoria. They were carrying white banners. It was such a confirmation of what we’ve been sensing God saying since December!

God’s kingdom and his peace will continue to advance, but we must not lower our hands or stop proclaiming his dominion! We must not let discouragement stop us.

Thank God that order is being restored in Victoria and Espirito Santo! Yet God’s peace isn’t only about stopping rioting and looting. It’s salvation! It’s heaven’s order being established in every area of society.

This Is My Territory!

Some years ago, gangs tried to move in to my dad’s neighborhood in Lancaster, PA. They spray-painted their graffiti on his back fence, with the word “revolution.”

My dad felt the Holy Spirit springing up in his heart, and he declared “There’s going to be no revolution here except for God’s kingdom coming!” The next time he went out back, there was no sign of the graffiti. Nobody know what happened. It doesn’t even look like it could have been scrubbed away. My dad used his God-given authority and stopped the demonic “revolution” of the gangs. He acted in the spirit-realm.

Don’t buy the lie that Satan’s purposes will prevail in your neighborhood. Raise the banner of peace and declare “This is my territory, and God’s kingdom and peace are advancing here!”