"I Beseech You Therefore Brethren" - A Call for Corporate Unity September 2001

David Demian

When we started the journey in Canada four years ago, the cry of our hearts was what it still is today: that Canada will become a dwelling place for the manifest presence of the Lord. The Lord has led our nation on an amazing journey of repentance and reconciliation transforming us from a nation under judgment to a nation enjoying His favour. The journey isn't complete but now, with the Lord watching and building with us (Psalm 127:1,2), we can move forward to see Canada's full healing and release.

Kelowna September 2001
The most recent step in our journey was the Gatherings held in Kelowna, September 18-22, 2001. When the National Fathers and Mothers team (more than 110 leaders from over 45 Canadian cities) met on September 18th, only one week after the September 11th tragedy, we knew God's timing was pivotal for our nation. September 18 also happened to be Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish New Year, a time the Lord had declared to us as a kairos season of favour and new beginnings for Canada. (see the article, The Acceptable Year of the Lord's Favour at www.watchmen.org/docs/kairos.html ) I shared with the leadership that the Lord had spoken to us clearly that He would mark this meeting time in the heavenlies. He longed to birth something in His Church and when it was birthed in Canada, the whole world would reap of what Canada had planted.

The Father's Longing
The Father's longing for His Church was expressed in Jesus' prayer for us in John 17. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:23)

We can rest assured that if Jesus prayed this prayer, it will be answered. We must set ourselves in agreement with the Father to listen to him, walk in obedience and allow the Lord to do whatever He wants to bring us into the complete unity of the Father and Son.

The Foretaste
In May 2001, a large Canadian delegation traveled to Israel on a prophetic assignment that included a mandate to call forth ancient anointings for end-time purposes (Habakkuk 3:2). While at Mount Zion, close to site of the Upper Room we cried out for unity, not only for ourselves but also for the Body of Christ in Canada.

During the trip, the Lord answered our prayer with a foretaste of what I can only describe as a spirit of unity (Romans 15:5). It grew exponentially each day until it became almost tangible, even to the unbelievers with us. The tour bus operator told me he usually had more problems with one bus than with our 10 buses. "You move like one man," he said incredulously. At our final dinner in Jerusalem, a number of important Israeli guests were with us. The managing editor of a large international newspaper, deeply affected by our outpouring of love to our tour guides and bus drivers, exclaimed 'How is it possible that you have built such love and friendship in a few days?"

Loving Not Our Lives Even Unto Death
In Kelowna it soon became clear the Lord was issuing a serious call. From the first night, words came forth about His desire to birth a spirit of unity. We were led through a deep process of repentance, celebration and declaration. On the second night, the smell of burning wood filled the building where we were meeting. Searches were made of the outside grounds- no fires burning. But inside the building, the smell of smoke was undeniable.

The next morning, we discovered that the mountainside on which the camp was located is called Mount Boucherie - French for slaughterhouse.

For us, there was no doubt what the Lord was requiring of us.

The Covenant
The Lord called us into a fellowship of death, dying to our own desires, agendas and ministry goals and laying down our lives for each other. Ezekiel 37 tells the story of two sticks -representing Judah and Ephraim - which in the hand of the prophet became one stick that could not be separated. As we gathered at the outdoor fire pit, we each took a stick and laid it down on a piece of twine. These sticks were then bound together by French Canadian, Aboriginal and Inuit fathers and then set on fire. We took communion and sang as we watched them burn.

The Covering
By a representation of the leadership of Canada coming together in covenant, a standard has been raised in the heavenlies. Kelowna was simply a birthplace: I believe the Lord will multiply this across many Christian groups in the nation.

Through the covenant, the Lord has begun to establish a spiritual canopy that will allow Him to entrust gifts to the body of Christ in Canada because He knows true fathers are in place that will cover and protect people, not use and manipulate them to their own ends. This is turn will release Canada more into her calling to bring healing to the nations (Ezekiel 37:12; Revelations 22:2).

We saw first fruits of the effects of this canopy in the National Leadership Gathering, which immediately followed the Fathers Meeting.

• Safety. The children, not knowing in the natural what had happened in the covenant, sensed a safety to release what the Lord wanted them to do. They initiated a call to repentance for their generation and an embracing of their spiritual parents.
• Authority. We were visited at this Gathering by Stockwell Day, Leader of the Official Opposition. We repented publicly for the strife and division within the Church that has released the same into our nation's political life. The fathers and mothers then surrounded Mr. Day and prayed protection and God's purposes over his life and family. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) We believe this is a first step in how the Lord wants the Church to walk in authority with the government leaders of our land.
• Corporate Leadership. There was a unanimous agreement among the leadership that the Lord was directing our hearts toward French Canada and that it was time to call a 40-day fast as a first step in this healing journey for our nation.

The Call
The world as we knew it changed forever on September 11th. But as we enter a time of unprecedented spiritual warfare, we are also entering a time of unprecedented demonstrations of the power of God. We are going into the fire but we have this promise: there is a fourth man in the fire!

It is time for each of us in the body of Christ to search our hearts. We must lay aside preconceived ideas and personal agendas and embrace His call for this hour. This is a spiritual battle that will require our death. The call to the end-time Church in Canada is the same call Paul made to the early Church in Rome two thousand years ago:

"I beseech you, therefore brethren, in view of the mercies of God, to present yourself as a living sacrifice."