ENCOURAGING BREAKTHROUGHS IN SPAIN
Rick recently returned from a month-long ministry trip which took him to Malta, Morocco, Spain, Gibraltar, and Switzerland. We will share more detail on Spain and Morocco, where it seemed to be a time of spiritual breakthroughs. In Spain, Rick (assisted by Jewish Messianic leader David Rudolph) led a team of ten on a prayer journey to Gibraltar, Cadiz, Algeciras, and Granada. Later Rick and David Rudolph led a group of about 45 to Granada, Cordoba, and Toledo. For that time, the leadership team was enlarged to include John Dawson (author of "Taking Our Cities for God"), Evan Thomas (Messianic Jewish leader from Israel, Bob Lichty (founder of YWAM Spain), and Pedro Reyes (an evangelical prayer leader in Spain). Some leaders of the "Towards Jerusalem Council II" initiative of the "International Reconciliation Coalition" (founded by John Dawson) were also with us. Both times, we were joined in each city by Spanish believers, and had some powerful times of speaking and ministry in several churches.
You may remember that Rick had a vision some months ago of four "spiritual gates" that were key for the gospel going forth in the Mediterranean region. The first gate was in Spain, and he felt the Lord say it was the "Alhambran Gate", and the Bride of Christ had to humble herself and bend down to pass through the gate. She was to do this through confessing and repenting of the "obstacle stones" placed in the way of Jews and Moslems, which were holding them back from recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. At the time of the vision, Rick couldn't remember whether there was an "Alhambra" in Spain. As it turned out, there is an actual "Alhambra Palace" in Granada, Spain. It was built by a Moslem ruler, and was the last Moslem strong-hold to fall when they were driven out of Spain in 1492. The major entrance gate actually had a key carved on it, which the Moslem ruler called "the key of David". In Rick's vision, the Bride was dressed in white, and had to bend in humility to enter the gate. When we arrived at this gate with the first, smaller team, we were there no more than five minutes until an actual human bride, dressed in white came to have her wedding photos taken under this gate! She had to bend down to do something to her shoe, and at that point, looked just like the Bride in the vision! We got to meet her and her bridegroom (she was Spanish, and he was a Syrian Arab), and they even allowed us to pray blessings over them.
About one week later, we returned to the same Alhambra Palace with the larger team (composed of Messianic Jewish leaders from USA and Israel, some American evangelical leaders, evangelical Catholics, and several nationalities) to pray. According to the vision, we were to pray concerning "obstacles" concerning the Moslems and Jews. By now we knew from research that the Moslems had been driven out by force (rather than the Christians seeking to evangelize them in love), and we confessed and repented of this sin. And we had discovered that, in this same Arab-built palace (soon after driving out the Moslems), King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had signed the decree (in 1492) to expel all Jews from Spain! We had a powerful time of confession, weeping, and asking for forgiveness from the Jews among us (and for the continuing anti-Semitism expressed in the Church through the centuries).
During the time in Spain, we also prayed at the site of the first Church council to make anti-Semitic declarations (in 306 A.D.); at sites where the Jews had been made slaves; where their children had been forcibly taken away from their parents to be placed in "Christian" homes; and where they had hung Jews in chains from the side of a church building if they refused to "convert" to Christianity. As you can imagine, many tears were shed during our prayer times, and some very deep bonds of friendship and love were formed among the participants.
In addition to these journeys, while in Spain, Rick went to the north to minister in the National Prayer Retreat (for intercessors from evangelical churches), where the emphasis was on reconciliation with the Basques (who have used terrorism in their battle for independence from Spain). He also spoke for a Catholic charismatic seminar.
