by David Demian
"Canada is the hope of the nations." My spirit was stirred as my translator whispered these words to me. I was sitting, not in a church service in Canada, but more than 4000 miles away from home in a 5:00 a.m. prayer meeting in Taipei, Taiwan. As a national Taiwanese Christian leader declared these words, I realized that it confirmed what the Lord had spoken to us earlier this year.
Kelowna September 2001
Before the National Fathers and Mothers team meeting in Kelowna, BC, the Lord said that He would mark our time in the heavenlies. He said He longed to birth something in His Church and He birthed it in Canada; the whole world would reap of what Canada had sown.
At the meeting, the Lord issued a serious call to lay down our agendas, our ministry goals, our lives for one another. Feeling the urgency of the hour, more than 110 leaders from over 45 cities in Canada entered into this covenant, sealing it with a prophetic act.
The Journey Begins - Again
It was just a few short weeks later that I began a trip to Asia with meetings in Hong Kong. As I shared about Canada's journey and urged people to lay hold of their own destiny, people streamed forward, weeping profusely and crying out in desperation to the Lord. Immediately, I was reminded of the spirit of deep travail and repentance the Lord released in Canada in 1998 and 1999.
Next, I went to Taiwan speaking across the whole country from south to north. In meeting after meeting, I personally began feeling a growing sense of desperation as I urged the people to cry out to the Lord to spare their nation. The Lord was dealing deeply with my heart. Would I be willing to lay down my life for Taiwan? This was not an easy decision. I remember the cost of embracing the vision for Canada. But I had made a promise.
The Taiwan Connection
In November 1998, the Lord sent a young Taiwanese intercessor to Canada to lift up our arms. Although she knew nothing about Canada, in obedience she boarded a plane to Vancouver, BC. Through an amazing series of events she ended up staying with a lady from Victoria that she had met years before in a conference. This lady "happened" to take her to church the morning after her arrival where I "happened" to be speaking about the destiny of Canada.
Two months later, by God's providence, she connected with us through our home church in Vancouver and eventually moved in with my family and for about a three-month period she prayed continuously, with very little sleep or food. She knew she was on a mission from God and there was a supernatural grace sustaining her. Two years later, after the dinner with the St. Louis survivors (November 5, 2000), the Lord spoke to her that her assignment was over in Canada. She then returned to her native Taiwan to intercede there. As I watched her weep for Canada as our nation lay in the balance, I made this promise: if Canada made it through the journey, I would lay hold of Taiwan as she had laid hold of Canada.
Now Lord?
I didn't expect the call to honour that promise to come as soon as it did. But as I shared and saw hundreds of people weeping, puddles of tears forming at their bent knees, I knew that I needed to declare this commitment before God and the Taiwanese people.
I believe Taiwan is a key gateway into the whole Asian world and also some Western nations. Despite less than 3% Christian population, the Lord has birthed a 24/7 satellite Mandarin Christian TV station, the only one of its kind in the world. And by innovatively broadcasting on the Internet, this station reaches tens of thousands of people in Mainland China, even though preaching the gospel is forbidden there.
Next Stop - Switzerland
After the Asian trip, I was scheduled to travel to the U.S. and then immediately to Switzerland. I felt this schedule would be too hard for my family, so I tried to cancel the trip to Switzerland not once but twice. But each time I knew I had to go. I tried to delay the trip until 2002 but the Lord spoke clearly to me that this might be too late.
As I began sharing in the first meeting, immediately I felt the Lord working deeply in my heart. Once again, He asked me not just to share a message, but also to commit to the nation's destiny, just as I had in Taiwan. Honestly, I struggled with this decision, already feeling overwhelmed by the task in Canada and Taiwan.
But the Lord was faithful to encourage me with signs along the way. For example, when I arrived at the conference venue, the only decoration in the entire auditorium was a banner with the name Emmetten on it. It was at a conference in this small Swiss town, in September 1997, that the Lord first revealed to me that anti-Semitism was the root sin in Canada, launching us on our journey with the Jewish people. Only the Lord would have known what a personal reminder this would be to me.
After a long night of weeping and wrestling with the Lord, I answered His call to embrace Switzerland. The next morning, as I stood to share, I was so overcome with weeping that I could not speak. As I stood at the pulpit, the Lord poured out a spirit of travail on His people. And I knew I was watching the journey begin in another nation.
Basel, the city where the conference was held, sits within kilometers of the borders of three nations: Switzerland, Germany and France. I have wondered if the Lord had me deliver the message there because historically Basel has been a spiritual birthing place for movements that have affected the world. I also believe Switzerland will be a key nation to unlocking Europe, especially the Germanic world (Switzerland, Germany and Austria) and France.
The Call for Canada
1) Walking the Journey
We are being asked to walk closely with the leadership of Taiwan and Switzerland and the city of Hong Kong, imparting to them the principles that we have learned from our journey in Canada. We will help them identify and connect their national Fathers and Mothers who, in turn, can begin to seek the Lord for their own destiny.
We believe the Internet and videos (videotapes, DVDs, VCDs) will be powerful tools for discipling these nations, releasing teaching and impartations in many places that we, because of limited time, cannot go.
2) Calling Intercessors
As they did in Canada's journey, intercessors will play a key role in birthing God's purposes for Taiwan, Switzerland and Hong Kong. If you believe God is calling you to stand in the gap for any of these places, please communicate with us any direction, insight or revelation you are receiving from the Lord, so that we may begin to discern and walk this journey together. We believe the Lord may open doors for us to take teams of intercessors with us as we walk with these nations.
3) Releasing Training Centres
For many years, we have cried out to the Lord to release Canada's destiny for training, not just for our nation, but also for the nations of the world. We believe the leadership covenant of Kelowna created a spiritual covering in our nation that will release, among other things, apostolic and prophetic training centres for teaching, impartation and 24/7 intercessory prayer and worship.
The training centre we envision for Vancouver will also focus on releasing the arts (music, drama, dance, visual arts) to prophesy to the culture of our nation. For e.g. we see unbelievers listening to prophetically birthed music that will impart freedom to their spirits. We also see a media centre that will use TV, video and the Internet to teach and impart truth to believers, as well as to innovatively communicate the gospel to unbelievers.
This is the Year of New Beginnings
Although the Lord spoke to us that the next Jewish year (beginning Rosh Hashanah September 18, 2001) would be a time of increased acceleration, favour and new beginnings, we were still unprepared for the speed at which the Lord is moving with us! Along with these new mandates, we remain firmly committed to the journey here in Canada. The Lord is now targeting French Canada for healing, restoration and release into their spiritual destiny [LINK TO FRENCH CANADA ARTICLE] that will in turn prepare us, French and English, to deal with the First Nations People.
It is critical that the National Fathers and Mothers "maintain unity in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3), as increasingly, the Lord provides the Church favour to walk with our government leaders in these difficult times.
We are living in days of destiny and watching history unfold before our eyes. Press into the Lord for the full release of His purposes for our nation: to heal our land, to raise a standard of righteousness in our government, and to walk in our destiny to prepare the nations as a dwelling place for the manifest presence of the Lord. May Paul's exhortation to the Ephesians be our declaration over Canada in this day:
And in Him you too [Canada] are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)