Why You Need Jurisdiction for Your Prayer Assignment
One of my first solo missionary trips was to join our team of ministers running a division of our prophetic school in South Africa. During the time I was there, I had the opportunity to meet many different people from different types of cultures. I got to see what a prophet looked like as a Zulu, an Indian, a Colored (this is a genuine ethnicity in South Africa), an Afrikaner and so many more. It was a truly memorable experience.
However, I also saw a lot of intense spiritual warfare during my time there. I was an outsider so I didn't fully understand where the warfare was coming from or what exactly I needed to pray through. So every time I prayed, it was so heavy and there didn't seem to be a clear direction to pray through.
Finally, after another exhausting prayer time where nothing was done, I asked the Lord what I needed to do to help this team He had sent me to support. I had been sent there to be the prophet and I wasn't doing my job properly. He said to me, "It isn't this team I've sent you to pray for. It's this nation and work I've sent you to pray for. Don't worry; I'll give you the revelation to pray through."
That night I dreamed I was standing in our ministry center in the USA but the outside was South Africa. The house was missing all of its doors. There was a storm brewing and I saw a huge male lion prowling around the perimeter. So I was rushing to cover all the doors with a tarp or board before the lion could enter. I woke up before the lion could enter and immediately went to my trainer who was stationed in and commissioned for the work in Africa at the time.
With her help, I could interpret my dream. Then she prayed over me and gave me a prophetic word, saying, "I give to you this prophetic key now. The key to open and close doors to this land; to see this work through so that no word you pray would fall to the ground." Along with that word, I felt the Lord hand me the key to the soil I stood upon in that country.
I knew what my mission was! My job was to put doors in place and protect the work God was doing. The next morning, I grabbed my sword and the key God had given me to war for this work and went to do spiritual warfare. This was when I learned the power of having prophetic jurisdiction.
I spent hours just warring against the enemy before I could start building in the spirit. However, I could see and feel the difference from the times I prayed before I had been given that authority. Instead of aimlessly swinging my sword, I was armed with a mission and I could see exactly where I needed to target my warfare. For the first time in days, I could leave my prayer closet feeling accomplished and seeing fruit begin to show itself in the work.
What I loved the most about this experience was that I knew who and what I was dealing with when I went to pray. During the podcast episode, "Prophetic Jurisdiction 101," Apostles Craig and Colette took the time to go into detail about why it's important to be given that jurisdiction over an area you're praying for.
Some of the points they discussed were:
The demons and angels that have jurisdiction in certain areas.
Who can release or give you jurisdiction.
Along with those principles, they gave some clear and practical steps to apply. So I challenge you and would like to call you to action. Go listen to their podcast, the NextGen Prophets podcast. Find out where you've already been given jurisdiction and you'll see a greater return for every prayer you utter.
Deborah-Anne Velthuysen is a Next Gen Prophet with a message for her generation. Continuing the legacy of her parents, Apostles Craig and Colette Toach, she stands in the blessing of being a fourth-generation minister. She and her husband, Michael, are principals of the AMI Prophetic School. Their mandate is to raise the next generation of prophets to be team builders, warriors and ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Sign up for your free course on prophecy: nextgenprophets.org
