House of Prayer For All Nations
The Ends of the Earth at the End of the Age
War Cry of the Coyote - it’s not called warfare because it’s fun
My eyes shot open. A haunting chorus of chilling sounds filled the blackness of the small cabin where I was staying alone in the middle of the vast Texas wilderness. Reaching over to find my phone by the feel of my fingertips, the screen illuminated and filled the darkness with light. Two minutes before 3:00 am, still no signal. It had been days since I had spoken with my family hundreds of miles away, and again the Lord was calling me to climb back into the tower upon the metaphysical wall of the night watchman's post. A tremendous burden hung heavy upon my heart for things half a world away. Again, under the cover of night, on the glorious stage of anonymity - it was time to pray.
Getting out of bed, I grumbled to myself, “Isn’t there someone on that side of the world who is already awake who can pray for this...” The conversation in my head continued, “There are those who can, there are those who are called and there are those who have been chosen.” The thought made me wonder which one of those three categories I fell under. Regardless, I didn’t want to disobey and prayer seemed to be my only release.
Time passed and two scriptures consumed my mind.
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Isaiah 48:6-7 - “You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known. They are created now, not long ago…”
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Song of Solomon 3:8 - “All of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night.”
As the war cries of the coyote packs claiming territory continued to roll through the hills and valleys, bouncing wildly off a low hanging cloud covered Texas night, the anonymous incense of intercession rose from the wilderness.
Invitation to the Moment - they are created now, not long ago
A few weeks earlier our family was on our way to stay with John Kim, a friend who works with a ministry called Acts in Colorado Springs. I was excited to visit the Acts prayer room and drive by our old house. A few years earlier, we sold our house in the Springs and everything in it to move to Singapore, and Singapore, half a world away, was the furthest thing from my mind.
After an intense Nerf gun war with the kids, and pounding a few Papa John’s pizzas, the dinner conversation with the Kim’s shifted to Asia and our mutual passion for its role in helping finish the Great Commission. I spoke to him about what I believed to be a critical kairos moment of invitation from the Lord for Singapore, and that time was running out for its response.
Earlier in the year, three weeks before a large international conference in Singapore, I was invited to a certain prominent pastor’s office to discuss a number of dreams and visions the Lord had given me for the nation. This pastor happened to be the one who hosted the conference and along with it, one of John’s mentors who was anchoring the event.
Just before we all hit the sack for the night, John told me he felt I should meet with his mentor and share some of the things we discussed at the dinner table. Climbing into bed loaded up on pizza, I quickly fell asleep. Two hours later, at the stroke of midnight, I found myself wide awake. The Lord took me through an all nighter, literally. Intense intercession for Singapore, made as quietly as possible from the Kim’s basement in a house full of kids and three other sleeping adults.
The next day, I met with Lou Engle to discuss things that had transpired in Singapore shortly after he left. The day following the meeting with Lou, John said the pastor from Singapore who hosted him gave him a call. It was the first time Lou had heard from him in almost nine months! A series of Holy Spirit events transpired shortly thereafter, rippling across nations.
The Kim and Clark kids at Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs
There are things written in Rock, set in scriptural stone so to speak, and then there is everything else. What is recorded in the Bible is eternal, inerrant, immovable and already done, even if the events are yet to happen in eternity future. It is everything else that is not written in the sacred Scriptures which is available to engage through the realm of prayer. A place where we can come out of us and then up into Him. It is from this place in Him he extends grace to see, to gain a glimpse of understanding of what God is doing in the moment and in moments to come. A place where we can hear what the Holy Spirit is speaking concerning the desires of Christ in the moment (Rev. 4:1, John 16:3, Isa. 48:6-7). This is how we partner with God in prayer, and where real Holy Spirit power is released to transform moments into Kingdom movement. In the words of Isaiah, God’s answers to these prayers move Heaven to change things, “they are created now, not long ago…”
There are things written in Rock, set in scriptural stone so to speak, and then there is everything else...It is everything else that is not written in the sacred Scriptures which is available to engage through the realm of prayer.
After a week in the Acts prayer room, the night before departing for Tulsa, Oklahoma, one of the Act’s leaders wives came up to Sarah and gave her some accurate and edificational words - including that our family had been called by the Lord to the Night Watch. Little did that missionary wife know how those words were coming to define our invitation into a moment with God.
The Night Watch - from Heaven to Herrnhut
I could not wait to take the entire Clark tribe of five to Herrnhut, Germany. The year prior, through a forwarded email accompanied by incescent prodding from the Holy Spirit, I flew from Indonesia to attend an unknown gathering in the quaint German village, hosted by Fred and Sue Rowe of Global Watch.
Herrnhut was established on Count Zinzendorf’s estate in 1722 by the Moravian refugees. Five years later, on August 13, 1727 an outpouring of the Holy Spirit fell in such power that on that day they reported, “hardly knowing whether we belonged to earth or had already gone to Heaven.” A prayer and corresponding world missions movement continued without ceasing for well over the next 100 years! A steady stream of Revelation 12:11 witnesses flowed from an unknown village in Germany to the frontiers of the Great Commission.
Herrnhut, literally translates to “The Lord’s Watch,” and it was from this watch where a few unexpected all night encounters with the Lord occured on God’s Acre, one with Chris Ngai, Joshua Ramirez and Mark Heidelberg that I will never forget. These “night watch” visitations and times of intercession were so intense I still have a hard time trying to put the experiences into words, or for that matter, even attempt to communicate. However, I will say the residents of Herrnhut reported on one occasion the next morning that it had been many, many years since they heard all night prayer billowing out from God’s Acre and reverberating through the picturesque streets below.
The morning of August 13th in 2017 on God's Acre - Herrnhut, Germany
Two of our children checking out the Moravian banner of the Lamb
It is important to note that I did not decide to “go and pray,” rather I was told by the Lord to “come and meet me” at a specific time in the middle of the night on God’s Acre. Intercession through the night followed but was not planned. It was a moment, where Holy Spirit inspired prayer opened the heavens and God stepped in to “announce new things, hidden things that we did not know” concerning what He was doing in the moment, and to reveal things He is going to do in moments to come.
When God reveals something in power it is easy to become fixated on that one thing. In the power of our experience, we often think we have the entire picture; however, it is important to remember we only see in part. Too many times in my life I have been walking around thinking I had an entire burrito but in reality I was only carrying one bean, maybe two at best. None of us see completely - it takes a team, many parts of a greater whole to bring balance. This is why we see Paul journeying to Jerusalem in Galatians to meet with James, Peter and John to make sure he had not spent the last 14 years of his life preaching a false gospel. After all, what he was given, was given to him by direct revelation from Christ. Nothing received from the Holy Spirit will ever contradict the Word of God recorded in the scriptures. Rather, He will point to, honor, and glorify Jesus Christ (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:12-15). If Paul checked what he saw and heard with those in positions of recognized authority within the church, we should follow his example and safeguard both ourselves and those we disciple.
This year at the gathering in Herrnhut, the family and I were sitting down to breakfast when Daniel Lim, the CEO of IHOP in Kansas City came over and sat with us. I decided to follow Paul’s example and get his opinion and insight on some of the things the Lord had been showing us. Before breakfast was finished he had released a few words over our family, and confirmed what the Lord had been speaking. Shortly thereafter, he handed us an invitation with our names written on it to the Global Leadership Summit hosted during the OneThing gathering at the end of this year.
The Fourth Watch - warfare in the wilderness
In October I turned 40. I love getting older, for me it just means another year closer to being with Jesus! This year, I am celebrating 21 years of service in the Kingdom. The journey has been one wild ride and it seems to be getting increasingly peculiar as the years progress. Add one amazing wife and three spectacular kids, and living by faith takes the journey to a level that honestly comes close to breaking me at times. Unless you have lived by faith as a hidden one with a family called to the nations, it will be hard to relate. On the week of my 40th the Lord began to speak to me about going into the wilderness to seek Him regarding multiple burdens I have been carrying. 40 days for 40 years. Over the the years I have learned through discipline from the Lord that it is much less messy when I obey quickly. So without delay, I made plans to head to a place where I would be absolutely alone with the Lord.
It had been many years since I had been to a region that is so quiet that the absence of sound produces ringing in my ears. In the high population density of Southeast Asia, places like this don’t exist. Even in the remote tropical jungles, there are sounds to audibly process. On the second night, alone in the wilderness, it began.
This time it was different. I was not wrestling against principalities and powers over nations, I was not pleading for unreached peoples on the final frontiers, I was not praying for an invasion of the Kingdom of God to shift regions or nations, I was not pleading with God to establish a beachhead on an unreached shoreline for the infantry to follow, or for healing, or salvation, or anything else of equivocal cause. I was praying the most difficult prayers I have lifted up to the Father in a long time. I was praying for myself. I was interceding for the perfect will of God to prevail for the future well-being of my family.
In the silence of the wilderness, the onslaught of the accuser broke out against me with the full fury of hell’s henchmen behind him. Vicious poison tipped arrows of slander, accusation, identity misalignment, berating, temptation and provisional insecurities came at me in wave after wave, raining down without mercy upon my shield and undergirding armour. I found myself pinned down from all sides; and the heat of this fiery furnace of testing was only getting hotter. Night after night, and day after day hell’s blitzkrieg showed no signs of retreat. The hoards were there to steal, kill, and destroy all future works of the Kingdom assigned to my life.
After many days alone, I strangely began to feel a little like Elijah on Mount Horeb in 1 Kings 19. The conversation took a similar trajectory, “What are you doing here, Drew?” I replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. Those called by your Name have rejected your words, disfigured your house, and put your prophets to death with the swords of their mouths. I am alone, am I the only one left? And now the enemy is here, in my camp, trying to kill me too!”
On the fourth watch of my last night, I made my way to the top of a hill and built a small fire before dawn cracked the wilderness sky. Sitting in silence before the Lord, waiting, listening, hoping. The warmth of the fire was a small comfort. It had been many days, and I was hungry. On this wilderness journey there had not been a great wind, or earthquake, or consuming fire. No divine visitations or holy encounters. However, as the first rays of the sun crested the hill dotted horizon, and the morning light gently tumbled down illuminating the fog blanketed valleys below, it happened. The presence of God came rushing in like a torrential flood. As it did, a deep spring of worship, praise and awe burst inside me, flowing up and out in an unintelligible raging river of words that sounded more like machine gun fire than language. Spirit and Truth rested upon the hilltop. It was an Isaiah 59:19 moment, “So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives.”
The morning of the fourth watch - Texas Wilderness
The presence of God came rushing in like a torrential flood. Spirit and Truth rested upon the hilltop. It was an Isaiah 59:19 moment.
In that moment I realized that this wilderness journey was not only personal, it was prophetic. It was for the land of my birth. A Joel 2, Zechariah 4 horizon event breakthrough crystallized with clarity. The parallels ran deep, a silence before the storm, deep darkness before the dawn, a draught before the downpour. A kindling made ready to burn. The white page between testaments. It was for Christ’s glorious bride to be made ready and clothed in dazzling white robes upon His return. For an awakening, a reset, and a release. For a final sending of disproportionate Kingdom return.
I am convinced God is not done with the United States. Christ’s roots run deep in this nation. We understand sacrifice and generosity, and will not hesitate to spend ourselves, or our blood, on a valiant cause. We do not hesitate to send our sons and daughters to spend theirs either - may the Lamb who was slain receive the rewards of His sufferings.
We are still the land of the free, which is critical in this hour, and home of the brave, which is essential to finishing the mission.
Brave young men like John Allen Chau, a graduate of my alma mater, just graced world headlines with the task of finishing the mission. It’s happening now, in world news, Revelation 7:9 is becoming reality. It is a love baptized army of Revelation 12:11 warriors cut from cloth made of fibers like these, that by the grace of God, will reach the last remaining frontiers of the Great Commission with a personal witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the west, I pray we shall once again be consumed with God’s holy fire, to fear the name of the Lord, and live with eternity emblazoned upon the eyes of our hearts. May the sending soon come. He alone is worthy.
Go Back the Way You Came - a hopeful return to southeast asia
The day before we left Bali on this journey, we were at a new believer’s home in our community to baptize more new believers. For the previous seven months our leadership team had given ourselves to prayer, worship and the fearless proclamation of the Gospel. After making a John 12:24 course adjustment in the church we had planted 10 years previously on the island, the one became three. It was a messy multiplication, but a Kingdom multiplication nonetheless.
In our gatherings following our John 12:24 offering of obedience, the presence of God became thick and the abiding fruit of his visitations followed - salvations, healings, Jesus encounters, baptisms and many new believers being filled with the Holy Spirit. At times, the Lord came in such power that nobody could speak, or maybe more accurately, nobody dared speak. We just sat in his presence for extended periods, in awe and trembling. It was during this season where the Lord called me to the night watch, to nights of Song of Solomon 3:8 warfare and sweat soaked intercession. During late hours of the night where my eyes were supposed to be shut with sleep, I would find them open, pacing back and forth through the prayer room, being graced with insight and vision.
Our team believed God was seeding one of His dreams, bringing us into a moment. Extending an invitation to our little multinational, multi-ethnic hodgepodge tribe of the Kingdom to be part of something he was doing in the earth. Through multiple dreams, visions and vast chunks of Scripture, we began to envision the island of Bali, as well as the nations of the earth, saturated in continual prayer, intercession, and worship for the glory of Jesus' name.
We caught a global glimpse of a holy fire giving birth to a holy family, unified in Christ, baptized in his love, forged in his flame, and bound with his Gospel. We saw this family of the King journeying to the final frontiers of the Great Commission to share the Good News with those who have yet to receive a personal or tangible witness of Jesus amongst their people. No gimmicks, just Jesus, as our treasure and source for all things on the journey.
During this season, the last days language of the Holy Spirit continued as Christ brought Acts 2:17 to life in dreams and visions.
I saw hurricane force winds of the Holy Spirit blowing across the earth, sending fire and fuel to finish the mission. I saw a Matthew 24:14 family migration across the nations, from multiple epicenters to the ends of the earth, a pre-placed kindling, a preparation for the fires to come. I could see a vast army of Revelation 12:11 missionaries from all nations filling stadiums across the globe, a supernatural prayer storm electrified by lightnings of the Holy Spirit, followed by thunderings of God’s voice. I could see the rising of an incense of the ages in great clouds of holy smoke over cities and nations and islands and deserts - a day and night 24/7 sending followed. They never stopped pouring out of stadiums and homes, day after day, night after night, into the streets and into the nations. I could see spectacular wonders of God, followed by the blood of the saints, fires of persecution and billows of smoke. The sendings did not stop, they loved not their lives, they did not shrink back. I saw Christ standing on his throne, the armies of heaven cheering, worship from the cloud of witnesses radiating across the heavens in a brilliance of tones and colors indescribable, all singing “Worthy is the Lamb!” The harvest of the ages, the full numbers required upon all lists, Gentile, Jew, and the martyrs of the fifth seal written in the great books before the foundation of the world - coming to completion. The plan of the ages, the wisdom and power of God displayed - all families of the earth - every tribe, nation and tongue brought into the family of Christ through the power of the Gospel. All peoples complete, in heaven above and earth below, crying out as one, “Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb.”
It was finished.
On my last day in the wilderness, I felt the gentle whisper of His voice speak to my heart, “What are you doing here, Drew? Go back the way you came and finish the work I have assigned.” I made my way down the hill, packed up camp and headed home. It was a glorious morning.
