Note: The following started as a prayer, then quickly turned into a burden to be shared with the ones we know and love in Ukraine. I remember sending it, a bit fearful over how it would be received. Not everyone responded, but of those who did (whose input I cherish and respect greatly), I was both surprised and honored that they “got it” and shared the burden. So, now I pass it on publicly as a plea for you to join those of us who are battling against the spiritual forces threatening the precious people of Ukraine.
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I spent much of today reading posts, news articles and viewing videos of the events taking place in Kyiv. How I wish I could be there interceding in the land, standing with our friends, those beloved frontline warriors, who are crying out to the Captain of the Army of Hosts to lead them to victory and freedom.
My first thoughts waking up this morning were on Ukraine. Knowing how the crisis there is escalating, the urgency to pray is constantly before me. But all day long, I’ve been accompanied by a holy pressure to do something more than pray. It’s something I’ve never done in a forum like this before, and I’m trusting that the reason why I’m following through is because somewhere out there God has prepared ears to hear what’s on my heart.
I need to share something I’ve been carrying since 2007, when I was preparing for my first trip to Ukraine. It’s one of those things that strikes you and sticks with you, though you don’t know why. I’ve shared it casually with some folks over the years, but now I think I understand why it has held onto me for so long. It’s for a day such as this. How, exactly, it will play out and manifest in Ukraine’s desperate hour, I do not know. But I believe with all my heart that God is trying to convey something to Ukraine that’s important to His warfare strategy against the enemy’s threat to wipe away her identity forever.
The burden I have carried these seven years has to do with Ukraine’s national anthem. Although I understand the intended spirit behind the words, I cannot deny the foreboding sense that penetrates my spirit every time I see or hear the title, “Ukraine Is Not Yet Dead.” Lurking behind that one little word–yet–I hear the enemy sneering, “Not yet dead!” So long as that one word remains, he knows he has adequate real estate from which to legally launch his assault to fulfill the destiny it proclaims. I desperately desire to see that stronghold over this nation broken (more importantly, God is longing for it!).
Oh, the power of one word! I surely cannot be the only one who has been struck by the depth of despondency that one word carries, and my hope is that what God is prompting in me today, He’s doing with myriad others in Ukraine. I hope that it ignites a move all through Ukraine to recognize and renounce the curse that one little word creates over her. It’s a small word, to be sure, but its effects in the spiritual realm are strong and vastly dangerous to the world.
I am not in Ukraine (at least not today), but I’m here praying fervently for the country I have come to love so dearly. I am praying for a new song to rise up from the lips of her people. A song that proclaims God’s Truth over the nation. One that reflects her courage and determined pursuit for true freedom. A song that completely diffuses the enemy’s schemes to keep a curse of inevitable demise alive. I pray for a song that rallies the people to send out a roar of such godly magnitude that it shatters every yoke of oppression and sends the enemy running. Then, watch the power of those Words of Life begin to create a new destiny–one that is in full accord with God’s love and desire for the nation.
God’s will for you is NEVER death, but life, and life abundant. Remove from yourselves every word that provides an opening for the enemy to sneak in and steal, kill and destroy who you are meant to be and the life you are ordained to live. God bless you with all the favor of heaven, dear people of Ukraine, as you march under a new anthem of Truth.
I will not die, but live and tell of the works of the Lord.
Psalm 118:17
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