| THE
EAST GATE OF PRISONS UNLOCKED †
On April 28th, 2005, I received an instruction while in prayer.
The instruction was simple, yet profound. "Unlock the
east gate." Both personally and as a ministry, we sought
God in the months following for wisdom and direction on this
word. Everything locked requires a key, and Faith Seeds received
and used the key of prayer asking God to unlock the long-closed
gates. Such gates would be re-named Praise. The prayer support
for this mission was awesome, and I thank the churches and
ministries of various denominations who put any doctrinal
differences down in the name of Jesus Christ, the name of
salvation. As the invitation to pray was sent out, God had
already ordained the people of His choosing to respond. One
church had deacons praying every morning at 5:00AM. Another
church had visions of the destiny of some inmates. A prison
ministry had new doors of opportunity opened to them. There
were Lighthouses of Prayer that we know about, and those that
God had as "angels unaware" serving as faithful
intercessors. He knows their names. We at Faith Seeds, a non-denominational
Kingdom ministry composed of people from various churches,
express our deepest thanks to those of you who participated
in the Operation Starting Line campaign. I thank you for your
faithfulness to respond to a call to prayer. Together, we
praise God for His wonderful work and that a once-closed gate
here in the East has been, by Him and Him alone, unlocked.
Rejoice, beloved! Sue † JOURNAL ENTRIES: September,
2005 The missions trip that had us co-laboring for twelve
days with Operation Starting Line and various other national
and local ministries resulted in many victories in the states
of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. "God is
great and greatly to be praised." We kept a journal of
some of the moments, ministries, and milestones during the
evangelistic outreach into the prisons. Excerpts of that journal
are posted below. Sept. 21st - Prayer Retreat "Be encouraged
by the strength of your unity." This was the word for
the OSL staff and team as we convened for prayer and worship.
Burdens were laid down, the sheep were gathered to the Shepherd,
and the power of the Holy Spirit ministered to the team. The
message from the Word of God was from Isaiah 60:18 - "Violence
shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction
within thy borders; but thou shalt calls thy walls Salvation,
and thy gates Praise." Sept. 22nd - Prayer Room "My
heart beats for them." I saw a glimpse of Father's heart
for inmates, correctional staff, for Operation Starting Line
teams and all the volunteers co-laboring. The size of Father's
heart was immeasurable; yet more profound was the sound of
His beating heart. His heart beat with compassion, with tenderness,
with longing for His children. Ezekiel 11:19 reads: "Then
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within
them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give
them a heart of flesh,..." "There is neither anything
uncertain nor unknown with Me." This was received later
in prayer that day, as a comfort and reassurance from the
Lord. The Scripture from 2Co. 6:9 states: "As unknown
and yet well known; as dying and behold we live; as chastened,
and not killed." Sept. 23rd - Prayer Room Eph. 4:16 reads:
"From them the whole body is fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to
the effectual working in the measure in every part, maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
As the joints allow the flexibility and use of the parts of
the body, the Fruit of Spirit allows the gifts of the Spirit
to be used. In praying for a particular correctional facility,
the verse from Matthew 12:29 came to the forefront: "How
can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods
except first he bind the strong man and then he will spoil
his house?" This led to fervent prayer. During that period
of intercession, one prayer kept being repeated as directed
by the Spirit: "Father, pour Your disposition of interest
upon Your servants this day." As this was prayed continuously,
heaven opened and that disposition of interest was being poured
down! Sept. 24th - Correctional Facility Of all the wonders
that occurred on the 24th, perhaps the one that impacted me
the most was at the very start of the day. As we walked outside
to where the event was located, I looked up to see what appeared
to be smoke rising from a chimney. It was a clear day with
wispy clouds dotting the sky. As I walked back a little more
and looked up, sure enough a vertical cloud was present. It
reminded me of how God led Israel in the day with a cloud,
and also of the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. It
was a beautiful sign from the Lord of His presence that day.
As the program began, the cloud began to enlarge and covered
the exact location where we all were standing! Sept. 25th
- Church Service and Prayer Room We had a brief service for
OSL and shared a wonderful time of worship, the word, and
prayer. There was a burden to pray for "new names"
that day. Sept. 26th - Prayer Room "A child is born,
unto us a Son is given." This is according to Scripture
found in Isaiah 9:6. Today was the day for divine adoption
into the kingdom of God. Later in the day, prayer took place
upon hearing, "the caged bird flies." The caged
bird flies when it has been set free. Those of us in prison
(whatever our prisons in life may be) are set free by the
saving grace of Jesus Christ. The eyes no longer see the shackles
or prison bars, but like the bird, soars free. The spirit
of the one saved can allow him to travel anywhere. There are
no limitations for the one set free by Jesus. Sept. 27th -
Prayer Room As inspired by the Holy Spirit: Love Waits at
the Gate Love waits at the gate. She is there, patiently waiting.
She can be felt in the breeze blowing as she waits. Love waits
for an invitation to enter in. She has been waiting so long,
for years now, occupying her post at the gate. Inside are
so many hurting, so many broken. Love has longed to go in,
but knows she must wait. And so she does, patiently, for years.
This day love begins to stir. She rises up to see a company,
not one, but two, of angels being transported toward her.
She knew they would come! The breeze picks up as her excitement
and joy fully awaken. Theyíve come! At last theyíve
come! Today, the captives are set free! The angels have come.
Love sees their faces and smiles in recognition of the Hand
of the Sender behind them. The angels stir, and love, she
stirs. As the angels draw nearer, love readies herself. Sheís
waited so long for the company of angels to come. The angels
gather their instruments. Love opens her arms wide to greet
them as they meet at the gate. Inside, heads and hearts are
turning. Prisoners are trying to find out what is happening.
They struggle to catch a glimpse and ask, "who is that
coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?"
Love embraces each angel as they arrive. She weeps, and they
weep. At last! The day has finally come! They become as if
one, turn, and face the gate. Without a word, it opens. Forward
they march. Love turns to the angels and says, ìSet
me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for
love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its
flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot
quench love, neither can floods drown it.î Inside they
go, sealed. Loveís escort has arrived, and they walk
together under her banner. A sweet-smelling fragrance fills
the air. The people look, and they come. They are drawn by
love, saved by grace, and held by angels. The next day, three
OSL team members shared how they saw angels at the prison
event. One inmate came up to them during the program and excitedly
asked, "Did you see the angel?" God is good. Sept.
28th - Prayer Room In prayer, the Scripture from Ezekiel 47:8-9
was brought forth. "Then he said to me: 'This water flows
toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and
enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed.
And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever
the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude
of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed,
and everything will live wherever the river goes." This
verse became the prayer and proclamation of the morning: that
"everything will live wherever the river goes."
In the afternoon, prayer revealed hard, untilled ground in
places. That was followed by Scripture from Genesis 4:10-12:
"And He said, 'What have you done? The voice of your
brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you
are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive
your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground,
it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and
a vagabond you shall be on the earth." This verse was
followed by the vision of new blood - the new blood of Jesus,
flowing over everything and everyone; covering them and then
penetrating deep, deep, deep, into the ground. It seemed to
penetrate deep enough to reach the voice of Abel's blood.
It penetrated through generational soil; layers of sin and
curse. Prayer began to apply that blood of Jesus to reach
and to penetrate the deepest, hardest ground - to break up
the fallow ground. Some ground had received the very names
of death. The prayer was that such ground would be re-named
life. It was proclaimed there indeed there "was a new
blood" - that of our Lord Jesus, who died for every one
of us. Sept. 29th - Prayer Room As prayer time for the teams
began, I was led to the sight of little children and their
child-like faith. Prayer focused on the restoration of lost
childhoods to people. So many who have never had a childhood,
or had it stolen away; the prayer was for that precious childhood
to be returned. Children are curious, expressive, and FREE.
They are loving and seeking to be loved. The prayer was for
Abba, Father to become real in people's lives; that broken
hearts of lost childhoods would be mended by He who desires
that "none should perish." Matthew 18:1-4 reads:
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' Then Jesus called
a little child to Him, and set him in the midst of them, and
said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and
become as little children, you will by no means enter the
kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this
little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Sept. 30th - Prayer Room In the morning, prayer centered on
God opening up doors for entry; that any doors closed would
be opened on earth, as they are in heaven. Such open doors
would allow OSL to enter into new places, both naturally and
spiritually. Prayer in the afternoon seemed to focus on some
spiritual warfare. There was a vision of a snake slithering
through the grass. This was revealed as the "spirit of
the serpent," and the prayer was for God to take authority
over that spirit. This was the spirit of deception, cunning,
and shrewdness. We also prayed for the loosing of the Holy
Spirit to fill the void. October 1st - Prayer Room "This
is the day of the buttercup." This was a proclamation
throughout the day. The weapon of praise was used as well
during the course of the day to continue to drive back any
deception; the proclamations and praises were weapons of victory.
It was prayed to bind "foul speech" and loose "blessing
speech" in the name of Jesus. In the afternoon there
was a vision of a dove carrying an olive branch in its mouth.
The Holy Spirit was gently carrying the anointing of the spiritual
life as He moved about. It was a beautiful vision of great
hope and encouragement. October 2nd - Prayer Room "The
Lord has done great things for us." What a fitting Scripture
to close out the times of prayer as teams were sent out in
the morning. As prayer centered on continued protection and
for physical healings, it also include the high praises to
God for all that He had done, was doing, and would continue
to do. Indeed, He is the Lord of the Sabbath! |
