He came. As did hundreds of persons, but the testimony of PARAKLETOS 2010, the enduring pleasure we feel, the marvel and wonder and delight of it all, is that He came. God came, and His presence was tangible, was real, and changed lives. This time we wanted more than people falling under the power, we wanted more than they being blessed, we wanted a prayer army. We wanted God to get hold of our lives and mobilize us to pray as we had never prayed before, we wanted God to change our perspective, to turn prayer into a delightful and desirable thing, to shake our complacency to see that the future of this continent will be determined by those men and women who get on their knees and cry out to God. And He did.
The place resounded with the cry ‘Europe shall be saved’. And a group of people from different nations, the Netherlands, France, the UK, Germany, the Ukraine, Poland, together rose up in the awareness that it is up to us to pray, it is up to this generation to turn things around and that we can do it. God can do it through us if we will, and we will. The testimonies keep coming, leaders were encouraged, mobilized; we all received a fresh understanding of the cry in the heart of God for nations; we received impartation, were energized; we heard and heeded the clarion call.
We received teaching, how to pray, how to not weary in prayer, how to keep going until breakthrough comes. Jean Tanefofou ignited our passion for missions as he shared testimony after testimony of great works of God birthed in prayer in the nations; Suzette Hattingh took us from the porch to the altar in prayer and taught us in what dimension to receive miracles in prayer and release it in victory, taught us about intimacy which keeps us refreshed; Freddy de Coster took us through the different pillars of intercession.
I spoke on the call of the believer to be a house of prayer for the nations, on living in the fullness and praying in the fullness of God; Roselen Boerner Faccio taught on specific biblical ways of praying people into the kingdom and shared the awesome testimony of her church; Boris Grisenko shared his testimony of walking into ministry to messianic Jews out of obedience and the dramatic encounter He had with Jesus as well as the importance of prayer for the Jewish people.
We spent much time in prayer and praise. I rejoiced as I saw seasoned ministers celebrating, as I saw young people standing up to be counted, people from different ethnic backgrounds coming together in the recognition that this is our shared territory and its future is everyone’s concern. As with all Parakletos conferences, there was great liberty and freedom in the Spirit. God honoured us with His presence. And when all was done, we stood on Isaiah 6 and in the footsteps of Isaiah, we declared ‘here I am, send me’.
That prayer of commitment the Lord had shown me was vital at the close of the meeting. It helped seal the purpose of the conference. We had received much, it was time to stand up and say, Lord, and you can count on me. And it is that statement, more than anything else that attracts the assistance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is the reason why when the music fades, when the preaching stops, when the challenges come, you know He is there to help you because you have positioned yourself rightly. You have signed up for the army of the Lord. And as the curtains went down Sunday, freshly recharged men and women enlisted to join those prayer warriors who birth the purposes of God on our continent. Mission accomplished.