Little did I know that the closing prayer of the day would trigger such a powerful response. A group of us had organized an all-day prayer event at our state capitol. Alongside prayers on various topics, musicians were also on hand to play continuous worship music. Both the prayers and worship set the tone for a holy atmosphere.
Towards the end of the day, I was asked to give a closing prayer, and humbly accepted, even though I had prepared nothing in advance. As I walked up the capitol steps to the podium I prayed and asked the Lord what He wanted me to pray to close the day out. I immediately sensed in my spirit…pray My names. And so, I did.
I began to declare His names and His nature. One name after the other rolled from my tongue in prayers over our city, our state and over all we had spent the day praying into when suddenly, a few minutes into the closing prayer, an unexpected event unfolded. A barefoot woman appeared from street level and was headed straight for me. She straightened her arm out and pointed her finger straight at me, wagging it in disapproval. Her pace quickened until she reached the second set of steps that led to the podium, and she marched straight up to me. I knew I was about to have a spiritual confrontation.
When we met face to face, I noticed that she had two different colored eyes, one being yellow. She was shaking her head side to side when she suddenly put her hands over her ears and started to speak to me, only it wasn’t a woman speaking, it was something entirely different, another entity possessing this woman. It was trying to intimidate and scare me. She repeatedly said, “Stop it, stop it! This is my neighborhood, mine! Stop saying those names! This is my territory. Stop it. Stop saying those names!” As she was speaking this to me, I didn’t realize that I was praying at the same time. I felt a spiritual nudge, a reminder to take authority in the name of Jesus. I immediately began to take authority over that domain, the capitol steps. We were there legally through a permit to host this prayer event. We had authority of this place for a period of time, in the physical realm, but also had authority in the spiritual realm as followers of Christ. As soon as I began to take authority in the name of Jesus, she immediately stopped talking. She kept trying to talk but it was as if she was muzzled. I was astonished at how quickly that spirit responded to the authority of Christ’s name. Pastors who had been kneeling on the capitol steps in prayer were standing by this point. They gently approached the woman and lovingly led her off the platform to the worship tent where they were able to minister to her and pray with her before she departed back to the streets. I stood there quiet for a moment, and then I asked the Lord in my heart, “Well, what do you want me to do now?” When I heard in my spirit, “Finish!” I continued on with the closing prayer, declaring the Lord’s names with even more zeal than before.
Whatever I was confronted with that day, only God knows. What is a territorial spirit or just a woman on drugs? Not sure. But the real story is in the power of His name. There is power in the name of our God. There is power in the name of His Son Jesus. There is power released into atmospheres when we speak His name. What would happen if we began to declare His names every day, like it says in Psalm 113:3: From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised.
How about we give that a go? Let’s start praising His name from the rising of the sun to it’s going down and see what begins to shift in our atmospheres. To help you get started, I’m attaching a list of the names of God along with a personal prayer, praying His names, that I wrote for myself. Feel free to change it up in a way that suits you. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just pray His names and watch God work.
Be strong my friends and of courage. In the world we will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, He has overcome the world (John 16:33).
God Bless You,
Carole