Non-stop prayer is transforming Arizona

This is the testimony of a State in America that is three times the size of Scotland and has a population of 6.6 million people. Arizona is a state that has an international border with Mexico, has the complexity of being multi-national and with the Native American population actually contains nations within the state. This is a story of an amazing three year journey, a story of non-stop prayer impacting all levels of society, bringing unity and decimating crime rates.
At the writing of this article the “Torch”, as it is called, has been blazing across Arizona for almost three years and has no signs of stopping anytime soon!  The vision for the “Torch” is simple; it is to unite Arizona’s Church by establishing non-stop prayer throughout the state.
Initially the vision was to organize and equip 52 local prayer teams who would each cover one week of non-stop prayer in 2008 passing around a cheap camping lantern/torch as they did so. The response to the vision, along with the obvious favour of the Lord, has compelled us to continue non-stop prayer in Arizona for three years.

The Torch was launched in small prayer room on New Year’s Eve 2007. There were 15 of us gathered in that little prayer room. At the time, we had 13 churches committed and a whole lot of faith for the Lord to fill all 52 weeks of 2008 with churches and ministries who were hungry for HIS Presence. The Lord took His flaming torch to the sacrifice of Arizona (Gen 15: 17-18). We have seen individuals, churches and even the government of Arizona start to transform.  During the first year there was confirmed through the Phoenix Police department (Arizona’s State Capital) that the crime rate had seen the largest decrease in 10 years. By the end of 2009 the murder rate in Phoenix had dropped a staggering 45%!

To be honest year two was a challenge, the novelty had worn off and 24-7 prayer was no longer the ‘new thing’. But we persevered knowing that we had heard clearly from the Lord that the Torch would not end in 2008 and neither would it stop with Arizona.

During the second year the Lord started speaking strongly about going outside the church walls to host prayer. We rented hotels rooms, visited casinos and businesses opened their doors for twenty four hour prayer watches. A local Christian television station hosted a ‘watch along’ with the wing of a county jail. There were also weeks hosted by churches in chapels at several local hospitals. As we ended the second year we were seeing a shift and momentum started to increase.

Year three has been a year of amazing acceleration! We launched a second Torch in January 2010 dedicated to release the presence of God into homes. Like the days of Obed-Edom in 2 Samuel 6:11 the presence of the Lord is invited into a home through prayer and worship. We have seen amazing fruit from this including salvations, deliverances, new jobs and family reconciliation.

The second hallmark of this year has been entire communities coming together to host a week of non-stop prayer. We have seen churches from all denominations participate in the week. Each church takes a 24 hour segment during the week and all the churches participate as the Torch is passed each night. There have been great breakthroughs in many of the cities. In one city the Vice Mayor participated in one of the evening gatherings and through this the Lord has now opened the door for the church to partner in civil government.  We are seeing the level of prayer and the hunger for God rise in Arizona.

One thing that is perhaps unique to what is happening in Arizona is what we call our Torch Transfers. Each Friday night the host church travels to the next host location to pass on the Torch (a $20 camping lantern!). The new hosts starts the celebration with a time of worship. Then stories are shared about what God has done and is doing through non-stop prayer. The Torch is then officially passed on and we go back into worship and prayer. Torch Transfers can be small and intimate with just a few people gathered in a Prayer Room or they can be large gatherings with a thousand people. We have seen some great relationship between pastors birthed out of these transfers. We have also seen a Christ-like unity built across Arizona as churches, ministries, businesses, schools and homes unite to see Arizona set ablaze for Jesus through 24-7 Prayer.

The Torch has continued to travel throughout the State and by the end of the year will have been in almost 40 cities! You might be asking, so what’s next? Well, next year already has 15 weeks of committed prayer coverage, with many, many others finalizing dates for their commitment. We have also been approached by several other states in America as well as nations expressing a desire to see a similar model birthed in their region too. We long see believers so filled with the Holy Spirit that He would splash onto those around them, bringing salvation, healing, deliverance and transformation.  We long for Jesus!

Kilde: Carla Harding