The first three prayer stops were all related:

Elijah’s Cave - Our team spent it’s first night in Israel in the city of Haifa on the slopes of Mount Carmel, at the Carmelite Monastery called Stella Maris. We felt the next day we were to go to Elijah’s Cave which basically was just down the street. This required us to navigate a rather steep hill, so we had to cooperate with each other to get there, and we had a rather beautiful view of the Mediterranean as we climbed. However, when we got to the cave, we found a very commercial and non-holy place. This caused us to recognize that even though we were in the Holy Land, we needed to be aware that we would might see many “unholy” or deceptive things.

Baha’i Shrine - Not far away, and still on the slopes of Mount Carmel, we visited the beautiful garden refuge of the Baha’i faith. Baha’i originated in Iran in the mid 1800s as a universal integrative religion. Eventually it was transplanted to Israel, where it’s world headquarters in the town of Acre just north of Haifa, and this garden shrine was an inspired place of meditation for this religion. The area around Haifa is well known for many different religious offshoots and cults. Likely, these ultimately result from the idolatrous devotion to Baal and Asherah of the ancient Canaanites. It was at this garden that we spoke prayers to divorce ourselves and Israel from devotion to Baal and all such distractions from the one true God.

Muhraka - We then visited the Carmelite monastery where Elijah in 1 Kings 18 defeated the prophets of Baal and showed that the invisible God Yahweh was the true God and not Baal who required carved images to worship him. “Muhraka” means “the place of burning”, because God consumed the sacrifice and showed that he was real and that Baal and other graven images were counterfeit. It was in the garden of the monastery built at this location that I first heard that God had a further assignment for me. And it was at the location in the US named after Mount Carmel that James Nesbit received the commission to break the power of false prophecy and belief all around Israel. It’s amazing that from this mountain top, you can see a sizable portion of Israel including the plains of Armageddon where the final battle is to be fought at the time of the return of the Lord Jesus, as recorded in Zechariah 12:11.

In addition our Northern Israel and Galilee stops (coved in more detail below) were:

• Nazareth/Mt Precipice

• Rosh HaNikra - the northwest border with Lebanon

• Metula - on the border with Lebanon

• Caesarea-Philippi - where the disciples expressed faith in Jesus

• Mt Bental - on the border with Syria

• Ejn Gev - Sea of Galilee Kibbutz Hotel

• Kursi - Site of the Demoniac

• Eremos Cave - overlooking Sea of Galileee

• Old Gesher - on the border with Jordan

Rosh HaNikra is at the northwest boundary of Israel with Lebanon - We drove north to the boundary with Lebanon at Rosh HaNikra (“Head of the Grottos”) - Even though this was never planned to be the northern boundary of Israel and is nowhere specified so by god, Israel has never occupied by Israel. The boundary falls along a line of limestone cliffs, and at the time of the War of Independence there were tunnels and even a railroad, but these are all closed today. The grottos are spectacular caves along the sea. We did not see them because we had a different order of business. We declared the erasing of the border between Israel and Lebanon since God never specified such a boundary. There may be a future time where Lebanon will become part of Israel. Meanwhile, we blessed Lebanon and prayed for peace between Israel and Lebanon.

Nazareth/Mount Precipice - We felt it was important for us to visit the hometown of Jesus in Nazareth. We had not realized that Nazareth is 75% Muslim today even though it was so important to Jesus’ life. We felt we were to visit the area above Nazareth where, after Jesus claimed to be the anointed one in his sermon at the Nazareth Synagogue, the leaders threatened to through him off the cliff here. Marie and Andre our guides had a friend of theirs named Ronnie meet us here. Ronnie became a Christian when Jesus appeared to him in a dream, and he is very committed to seeing the Muslims of Narareth saved. We prayed very powerfully here for the Christians to take courage in Nazareth as Jesus did on this hill, believing that the church would be protected and make a comeback.

Metulah is the northern most Israeli town on the Lebanon border. There is an Israeli military outpost nearby. This area is called “Israel’s Little Switzerland” - the weather is more moderate and it seems a very pleasant place to live. We prayed here at the DaDo Outlook, and while we here, Israeli soldiers came and ate their lunch. Some of them were friendly to us. We prayed that the Lord would touch people on both sides of the border, defuse hostility, and actually change the boundary so that Lebanon would fall within Israel as it does in the Biblical description of the boundaries in Numbers 34.

Just to the east of Metulah is the ancient town of Dan, which in Roman times was renamed Caesarea Philippi. This town seemed dominated spiritually by the Temple of Pan, which still defiles the area. But it is also the town where Jesus asked the disciples who they believed he was (Matthew 16:15-20), and Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of the living God. And Jesus said this confession gave birth to his church, so that the church would have the keys of the kingdom and prevail over even the gates of hell.

At this location, as we prayed among the ruins of Caesarea Philippi, one of our group confessed that she had had an abortion when she was much younger, and now the Lord - the Messiah - was setting her free. This led to a time of praise and dancing. Truly we were the church and the Lord was allowing us to prevail over hell, even in our own lives.

This is part of the occupied territory that Israel will never give up because it provides security to Israel. Prior to 1967 this was part of Syria and was used as high ground to launch missiles into Israel. Since the 6-Days War in 1967, one strip of the Golan Heights is occupied by Israel and a second strip is a demilitarized zone occupied by the UN. From this location we prayed both for Israel and Syria. We are as close here to Damascus as Jerusalem.

During our time in Norther Israel and Galilee, we stayed in small apartments as part of the Ein Gev Kibbutz Holiday Resort, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The kibbutz operates several businesses, including the tourist resort, a banana plantation, and a restaurant. After our time at the restaurant the second night, we were able to borrow a guitar from the restaurant owner’s son and spend an hour in spontaneous worship.

We had told Andre, our guide, that we didn’t want to go to the tourist places but instead to places that had a strong spiritual significance. Eremos means “a lonely place”. Thus, this cave and the hill it is in are thought to be the places that Jesus went away to in order to commune with the Father. Eremos Cave is located about 70 feet up the hill. At the top of the hill is the Church of the Beatitudes, and this is thought to be the location where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. At the bottom of the hill in one direction is Tabgha, where Jesus fed the five thousand, and the other direction Capernaum, where he lived and performed many miracles. Tabgha is also located on the lake, where seven springs feed the lake. Many of the Gospel stories on the lake likely took place near hear.

We had to climb up to the cave from the road level. Again, the team worked very well to help one another on this fairly strenuous, though not long, climb. The cave is very impressive, in the shape of an eye, and large enough to hold most of our team, or Jesus and most of his disciples. There is a tree rooted inside the cave, which slants along the roof of the cave before straightening when it reaches the outside. From the cave, almost all of Lake Galilee is visible. It is easy to imagine Jesus looking out from here after the feeding of the five thousand, seeing the disciples rowing against the wind in the distance, before he walked across the water.

Upon entering the cave, we believed that this was indeed a place inhabited by our Lord, for many of us strongly felt the presence of God hear. This was a place the fostered great intimacy, both with the Lord and one another. As a result, much of our prayer here was silent or very quiet. It felt like a place where a Father ministered to His Son. It was a place of healing and acceptance by God and each other. Some of us felt broken open here – broken and transparent. It felt like God brought us there to sit where he protected his Son. He was giving us strength, rest and grace.

Kursi is just a short drive north of Kibbutz Ein Gev, and just back up the hill from the shoreline of Lake Galilee. While other sites have been proposed as being the location for Jesus’ encounter with the demoniac(s), this is the traditional site. At this site is the largest Byzantine church in Israel. However, next to the cave believed to be the hang-out location of the demoniac(s), is a very small church that dates back to the first century. The entire Eastern side of Lake Galilee, where Kursi is located, was under Roman rule in Jesus time. This was the region of the Decapolis – ten cities under Roman rule and not under Jewish law.

Andre, our tour guide, felt that the first location we needed to pray was a defiled place near the Byzantine church. He explained that scientists have verified that this location, marked by a stone in front of a bench, is one of the most magnetic locations on the earth. He told us that many different New Age cultists come to this location to meditate and attempt to channel false worship. He believed that this cultic site represented the same territorial spirit that ruled this area and took possession of the demoniacs.

We arrived at this defiled location and started worshipping with “We Exalt Thee”. We dismantled all false worship in this location. We spent much time worshipping the Lord and praising him for Israel.

As part of our group headed towards the cave of the demoniac, we noticed unusual insect life. There were long lines of ants in this area, and there were also giant millipedes all around. We could not help feeling that there was a relationship between the magnetic field, the cultic worship, and the presence of these insects.

We proceeded up the hill to the cave of the demoniac. The cave was somewhat disappointing in that it was hardly a cave at all, but this was because much of it had fallen centuries ago due to an earthquake, which also destroyed any churches remaining at this site. Next to the cave was a first century church no larger than a typical modern living room. We were aware that this church was founded as a result of Jesus’ encounter with the demoniac which resulted in his deliverance, and therefore that there was much faith and light here as a result. We prayed that the light of the Lord would penetrate all the surrounding region and bring deliverance. As we were leaving, Dwayne spoke a word of inspiration, “Maybe the first pastor of this church was the man who had been delivered from the demons.” That made sense to us.

The previous day, when we were driving from Caesarea-Philippi to Mt Bental, we had passed a flock of sheep and goats led by a donkey. We took it as a sign that, like the tribe of Issachar, which according to the blessing of Jacob in Gen 49 is represented by a donkey, we were to be aware of the significance of the times we were living in. Seeing this caused James to ask Andre to find us a location the next day within the territory of Issachar on the Jordan River. As it turned out, Andre our guide had already thought that Gesher, within Issachar, would be our prayer location along the Jordan River, across from the nation of Jordan.

Gesher has been a “crossing over” place for many centuries. There is a Roman bridge here almost 2000 years old, as well as a 1906 Turkish-built railroad bridge and a British bridge built in the 1920s. Just up from the crossing is the first hydroelectric power plant, the Naharayim, which was built at the confluence of the Yarmuk and Jordan rivers. It was also at this location, during the War of Independence in 1948, where 120 settlers holed up during an attack from the Arab Legion and later escaped by night.

We were allowed in to a small park overlooking the Jordan, where there is a commemorative plaque and recording dedicated to a woman who sacrifices her life for the settlers. This area is protected by a gate that is normally kept locked but was opened for us.

At this location, we made many declarations. We saw that there is a struggle between people groups not for power and control but for the presence of the Lord. People are so hungry for the presence they just don’t realize what they are hungry for. To symbolize this, we poured oil out on the rock.

At this point, Patricia had a vision of a baby going up and down the river. We sang, “Jesus Loves Me This I Know.”

We noticed the several bridges over the Jordan at this location and prayed for there to be bridges in the spirit between Israel and Jordan.

We made declarations th=at prayers for Obama and the US would not be falling through the cracks. We realized there is much anger and resentment towards Obama. Obama was His man for this hour. Our intercession must be passionate for him. We must continue to pray that he would seek the Lord’s heart. We will be vigilant in prayers for our leaders. We must guard our hearts that our prayers are aligned with what God would have us to pray. We believed that God was re-setting the time so that we can get in alignment with Him.

We were in Jerusalem for 2 days and prayed at the following locations:

• Western Wall inside the Old City of Jerusalem

• Temple Mount

• City of David House of Prayer twice

• Ramparts Walk on the Old City Wall

• Zedekiah’s Cave

• Three Arches YMCA Hotel

• Gethsemane Garden

• Ascension Mount (not covered here)

• Mount of Olives Overlook

• Separation Wall in East Jerusalem

• Lazarus’ Tomb