There are territorial spirits over neighborhoods, cities, states, and nations. These spirits include, but are not limited to, alcoholism, drug addiction, greed, anger, fear, poverty, racism, lust, homosexuality, pornography, prejudice, mammon, witchcraft, and the Jezebel spirit.
At this level of spiritual warfareincredibly great things can be accomplished. Even two intercessors, through high level territorial warfare can change the spiritual atmosphere over large areas, including cities.
But to do this with maximum authority and protection. we need to learn the correct spiritual procedures for entering into this type of warfare, including learning how to minister from the Throne of God--the Third Heaven.
Omar Cabrera in Argentina would go to city after city and lock himself up in prayer for one to two days repenting for his own sins the first day or so and then though identificational repentance (See teaching below on “Identificational repentance”) for the sins of the area in which he would be holding his meetings. On the second or third day he had the cooperating pastors join him for hours and hours of personal and identificational repentance.
By then he, and those with him, were in a high level of the Glory of God. They had ascended the “hill of the Lord (Psalms 24:3).” They corporately had come before the Throne of God (Hebrews 4:16). They were in the Third Heaven. They were protected from counter-attack by their deep level of repentance and ascension into the Third Heaven.
Now he was ready for the tent crusades at which he successfully attacked high level principalities. This brought revival everywhere he went, including hundreds of witch doctors getting transformed. Entire cities were transformed.
Through territorial warfare from the Third Heaven, God used Alan Vincent and his wife, Eileen, to change the entire city of Mumbai (Bombay), India. On pages 20-21 of “Heaven on Earth …Releasing the Power of the Kingdom through You,” he describes the place in the Third Heaven God has for each of us . . . a place in which we are seated with Christ! … “Within a few days of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, Rev. Vincent states, “ . . . I experienced a powerful revelation of God’s word in my heart … that literally changed my life … The Spirit showed me the great triumph and victory that Jesus had already accomplished through the cross, the power of His glorious resurrection, and the present authority of His throne.”
Rev. Vincent continued, “Just as importantly, I saw that I too was already raised and seated together with Him on His throne sharing in His risen power and authority . . .” God has that for you. He has it for me.
Alan Vincent also warns about the dangers of territorial warfare and how to protect oneself. He emphasizes that we only do it when and where the Lord directs us. We must live in humility and love. And we must be free of sin in our lives. On Pages 57-59 of his second book, “Heaven on Earth.,” Rev. Vincent shows how we have been trying to implement Ephesians 6:12 -- wrestling against spiritual wickedness in high places without fulfilling the conditions on relationships outlined in the preceding chapters of Ephesians.
Let’s take a journey through the rest of this teaching and see how we can do warfare safely against territorial spirits.
Chuck Pierce
“God is establishing a new authority in His church,” states Chuck Pierce, “to break through to the third heaven, gain the heart of God and carry that revelation back to Earth . . . He continues, “We will change the very atmosphere around us—God’s will being done on Earth as it is in heaven. This is what we pray for every time we pray the Lord’s prayer! . . . “He is releasing a gift of faith to break the generational iniquitous patterns that have stopped families from experiencing the blessings of God. . . . and to see His Glory spread throughout cities, regions and states (Chuck Pierce, P. 85, 132, “The Future War of the Church).”
Billye Brim
“It was not until 2006, said Billye Brim, “that I understood that this should not be a rare experience—ministering from the Third Heaven, but one should by faith come there every day and even learn to remain there. Heaven's resources are ours ... We are not to refuse His offer to work with him. We are to take our place as a kingdom of priests.”
Rev. Thurman Scrivner’s Third Heaven Intercession
In tears, Jane said, “Rev. Scrivner, my husband wants nothing to do with Jesus. He calls it my religion.” Rev. Thurman Scrivner replied, “Jane, stop crying. We will take him before the Throne of Grace now—The Third Heaven, and intercede for him.” Soon after that her husband’s life was transformed and they are now powerfully serving the Lord.
To a mother, whose son had not been heard from for three years, Thurman said, “We will go to the Third Heaven now … Moments later, Rev. Scrivner continued, “Your son will call you in a few days and will be home soon.” And that is exactly what happened!
Rev. Scrivner now intercedes from that position in the Third Heaven as a way of life, and continues to get one remarkable answer to prayer after another.
He testified, “The Lord gave me a burden for a tough sinner who had no desire for salvation. The Lord had me by faith to ascend—up, up, up until I was before the Throne of God interceding a few minutes every day for him. At the end of those two weeks that sinner was marvelously saved.”
And this is exactly what happens in response to the transforming power of Third Heaven intercession.
To bring revival to cities, regions, and nations, Spiritual warfare at the territorial level is necessary, but must be done correctly. Such warfare can be dangerous and has resulted in many unnecessary casualties. The great majority of Christians, who engage in spiritual warfare at this level do it improperly, often with terrible consequences. In most of my meetings, I find one or two who have been injured by such warfare.
Peter Wagner describes in his book, “Warfare Prayer” P. 182, the dangers of high level warfare. He and his wife, Doris, began going out to the front line in Argentina in 1990. “Within months,” he stated:
1) We had the worst family fight in 40 years of marriage.
2) We had a severe problem with one of our closest intercessors, and
3) Doris was incapacitated for almost 5 months with blown-out disks, back surgery, and knee surgery . . . a direct backlash from the spirits riled up by our invading their territory (in high level, territorial warfare).”
Dynamic 10,000 Member Church Established from High Level Warfare
One of the most powerful spiritual warriors in America in 1992 had been commanding the principalities from the North, the South, the East, and the West to let the people go (and come to his church). It worked. Within a few years of doing this he established a 10,000 member church in a town of less than 10,000 population.
In his meetings across America he continued to attack territorial spirits (principalities). He knew the power of such warfare but either did not understand and/or practice the principles and warnings put forth by Dr. Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs, John Dawson, and others in connection with high level warfare. Spiritual pride is one of the most usual cause of such disasters. Such pride can be quite hidden.
For a while his church prospered, and then he too experienced a major counter-attack of the enemy. He had a severe problem with one of his closest intercessors. The finances of his ministry dropped to a fearful level. His father died of cancer. And a number of other strange negative developments took place. He questioned whether he should continue his ministry.
Why do such disasters happen to Christians who engage in this type of warfare?
We must know important spiritual principals for entering into this type of warfare. When done correctly, awesome victories can be won for the Kingdom of God. However, if done incorrectly, Satan has a legal right to attack us! [And even when done correctly, we must seek much intercession for our protection, and the protection of our family].
Two important principles this leader was ignorant of, overlooked or minimized was that of deep personal repentance, humility, and identificational repentance. God is releasing into the body of Christ new dimensions of an understanding of identificational repentance through which the legal basis of the rights of the demonic powers of the air to remain will be removed. It has been one of the most overlooked parts of intercession but it is being restored to the church.
The correct practice for entering this type of warfare is revealed to us in the teaching in Peter Wagner’s book, “Warfare Prayer,” in Cindy Jacob’s book, “Possessing the Gates of the Enemy,” and also in John Dawson’s outstanding book, “Healing America’s Wounds.” In his excellent book, “Needless Casualties of War,” John Paul Jackson also discusses the proper way of engaging in high level spiritual warfare, and the danger of “doing it our way.”
At the highest level as stated previously, there are territorial spirits over neighborhoods, cities, states, and nations. These principalities include, but are not limited to anger, fear, poverty, racism, lust, homosexuality, pornography, addictions, prejudice, mammon, witchcraft, and the Jezebel principality. At a lower level there are also principalities over our families, our ministries, and our churches.
Disarming these spirits is essential to the revival God desires in our cities, states, and nations. It frees the people in these geographical areas to respond fully to the gospel. It can make the difference between night and day in spreading the gospel. So let’s not draw back from it because of the dangers. Let’s just learn to do it right.
Guidelines that Strategic Level Warfare Leaders Agree are Needed to Safely and Successfully Engage in High Level Spiritual Warfare
1) Few intercessors repent deeply enough to safely enter into such warfare. To safely engage in such warfare, we must live a life of extreme holiness in our actions, thoughts, and words. This repentance should focus particularly on the sins of pride, unforgiveness, a critical spirit, and sexual lust.
We should be generous givers and not robbing God in our tithes and offerings. We must be walking in forgiveness and love with our marriage partner, children, church members and past and present church leaders. As indicated earlier Alan Vincent, on Pages 57-59 of his second book, “Heaven on Earth.,” shows how we have been trying to implement Ephesians 6:12 -- wrestling against spiritual wickedness in high places without fulfilling the conditions on relationships outlined in the preceding chapters of Ephesians.
Denial or “minimizing,” rooted in pride, prevents most of us from seeing the need of such deep repentance. Each of us must “cry out to God” for Him to show us our needs in these areas! This is an essential part of humility and of being conformed to the image of Christ. We must not enter into this kind of intercession until this repentance is fully taken care of—vessels emptied out and ready for the master’s use. Our character must be equal to our anointing of intercession.
Intercessors, because of their gift of openness, usually carry deep emotional wounds from the past. A high measure of inner healing and often deliverance is needed before one is ready for battle.
2) It must be approached with humility. Large numbers enter into this warfare with pride and this has opened the door to vicious counter-attacks. The stronghold of pride that exists to some extent and usually to a large extent in all of our lives, blinds us to our lack of humility. This is one of many reasons why we so desperately need fathers and mothers in the body of Christ.
We need both continuous repentance for sinful prideful words, acts, and/or thoughts, as well as cooperating with the Holy Spirit that the stronghold of pride, the carnal structure of pride, may be put to death. Often deliverance from a spirit of pride is also needed. Many have entered into this warfare with pride and this has opened the door to counter-attacks. If one thinks pride is not a problem in his life, then he is in trouble. Here is a big issue for such a one. And many have this incorrect mindset. Pride is a lifetime challenge for all of us.
3) There should be a mandate, a commission from the Lord to undertake this level of warfare. Also the timing must be from the Lord. All over American and in the world, most intercessors engaging in high level warfare have not been called by God to do so but see the need and enter in with fleshly enthusiasm, thinking they are doing the will of God!
4) Research on the city or other territory should be done to identify what strongholds are to be confronted. Territorial mapping can be part of this. All of these strongholds have roots in the historical sins of the city, state, nation or other area.
5) Preferably, it should be done corporately with other spiritual leaders in the area, not by just one church or one group of intercessors. One must be careful about including key leaders, who are lukewarm, prideful, or into sexual sin, including pornography. They, their families and their churches can be harmed.
However, even two (and occasionally even one) individuals who are commissioned by the Lord and who pay the price of proper preparation, can change an area, even a city for the Lord. So let’s not draw back but learn to do such warfare correctly.
6) Only engage in territorial or other forms of confrontational warfare over churches, cities, states or nations for which one has a love. It is a calling from the Lord.
7) Intercessors must be willing to fast and pray in preparation for this type of warfare. Also there must be prayers of protection over them and their families. Each of us in ministry need to focus on obtaining a circle of intercessors who will be faithful in praying for our protection and other needs in our lives.
8) The next step is to remit through identificational repentance the corporate sins of the people in the areas for which we are interceding This is essential. It removes the legal right of these principalities to remain. Otherwise not only will we be open to strong counter-attack through lack of such repentance but these principalities can come back with seven-fold strength!
9) A small remnant of intercessors are now following a pattern that has been discovered over the years by trial and error, which includes three days of intercession. The first day is spent corporately in personal repentance, which deals not only with the sins of commission and omission in our lives, but with the root causes, the strongholds in our lives, the “blind spots.” This will include inner healing, deliverance, and self-travail that these strongholds may be destroyed at a deep level. This time will include intercession for a new dimension of freedom from the generational curses in our family lines.
The second day is spent confessing the sins of the Body of Christ, the Church, including denominations. This confessing of such sins is an important part of “identificational repentance (see below).
The third day consists of more identificational repentance, confessing the sins of the nations including ethic groups (See P. 161-162 of the Prophetic Intercessor by James Goll).
10) Then we must come before the courtroom of heaven and declare, proclaim, and call forth in heartfelt fervor that Satan is defeated through the Blood of Jesus, and the finished work on the cross. We stand on the Blood Covenant we each have individually and corporately with God. Next, ask God to release His angels to fight the battle. Then, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”
11) And, if we get permission from the Lord, we can, after all the above preparation, attack these principalities directly in the Name of Jesus.
12) Then, per above, we must be sure to adequately pray against demonic backlash against our families, finances, ministry, and our church.
In Nehemiah 1:6-7 by “identification,” Nehemiah confessed the sins of the people as “our sins.” … “Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. … We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments . . .”
Many times Moses, even though he was innocent, confessed the sins of the people as “our sins,” Exodus 34:9 … And he (Moses) said, “If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
Ezra was the priest who led a large number of the Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem and undertook the project of rebuilding the temple. Ezra’s intercession brought great humility and repentance upon the people, paving the way for the Lord to move deeply in their lives.
“ . . . O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens (Ezra 9:6).” … “Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day (Ezra 9:7).”
In Ezra 10:1, “Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.
Let’s learn the God-given principles outlined in this teaching that we might accomplish the agenda on the heart of God with maximum authority and protection. Through such high level spiritual warfareincredible things can be accomplished for God.
The spiritual atmosphere over churches, denominations, cities, states, and nations can be changed.