Everyone is talking about Coronavirus. I wanted to share something that’s, well, related but also different. It’s related to a very strange (and prophetic) experience I had when my husband and I were in Paris last December.
First, I’m not sure why God has placed France on my heart. You all know how much I love America and Israel. I have a huge heart for Romania, too, and Latin America (where I did missions) is still precious to me. But during that last trip to Paris, I felt like I was supposed to worship on the steps of Sacre Coeur Basilica. This wasn’t just a “feeling,” either. It seemed like more of a call.
On our last day in Paris, I made the trek to the top of Montmarte (the highest point in Paris, upon which Sacre Coeur sits). My worship was nothing extraordinary. Just me strumming my guitar and singing softly to the Lord on a cold, dreary day.
At nightfall, I went inside to warm up for a few minutes. The nuns were worshiping in Latin, and I felt compelled to sit in a pew and pray. As I did, I was overcome by the compassion of God and broke down weeping. I silently cried out for His mercy to pour out over the French people. Paris is a lovely city, but I sensed so much spiritual darkness and was overcome with a burning desire to intercede for the people.
Nothing quite like this has ever happened to me before. I just could not stop weeping, and I felt convicted to go outside, stand on the top step of Montmarte, the point that overlooks the whole city, and declare Jesus’s throne over the nation and her people. As I went to do this, I was overcome by fear. It was almost a physical attack, like something was trying to stop me.
Desperate, I went to the priest and asked if I could participate in confession (even though I’m not Catholic). He allowed it, and it bolstered me a bit. Then I went outside, stood on that stop step, and screamed “Jésus! Jésus! Jésuuus!” The fear broke, and tears streamed down my face. Military guards surrounded me, but I just kept crying out for God’s mercy to pour out over the people, for Jesus to establish His throne there in these End Times, and for Him to reveal His great love to them. I was not arrested, thankfully, and I left there believing something really and truly shifted in the spiritual realm.
I’ve been praying for France (especially Paris and the police/firefighters) since I got home. After starting the Jesus Fast, I had a powerful vision of water covering a bridge in Paris. The water was very high, making it impossible to cross over. These weren’t rushing waters like a flashflood, though. The water was totally stagnant. As I’ve continued praying and researching, I learned that Paris has had problems with the River Seine flooding (in real life).
This seems to be a physical manifestation of what’s happening in the spiritual realm. God can pour out blessings on a people, but if the people’s hearts are hard — if the tributaries of their hearts are not open — those blessing have nowhere to go. The people’s hearts cannot receive what God wants to give them. Something similar happens when a land is totally parched and heavy rains come. The water just kinda…runs off. The rain can’t reach the roots of any plant life, where it’s so badly needed.
I know things look bleak in this hour, but I am hearing so many beautiful testimonies coming out of this bad situation. God is drawing people to Himself in this hour. Lukewarm Christians are suddenly drawing close to the Lord again. Spouses who’ve been nominal in their faith are suddenly fasting and praying. I’m on fire for the Lord again, and I’m experiencing a beautiful new level of love and mercy for people.
And although things are chaotic as ever in Paris (lots of crime, lots of violence) I pray for France every day, multiple times per day, and I do see blessings coming to fruition:
- NO DEATHS in a recent high-speed TGV train accident (the train was going over 200 miles per hour — it’s miraculous that no one was killed)
- A cop was physically dragged for 30 meters and thrown into his squad car (he was injured but NOT killed)
- Kanye West did a pop-up Sunday Service not far from the place where I shouted that prophetic declaration of God’s mercy (this was at the end of fashion week, and models and designers were present — God is so good! He wants to reveal His great love to these people!)
- Prior to the lockdown, a church in Paris reported that many Parisians were giving their lives to Jesus (this is incredible, because France is very secular — religion is kinda faux pas)
- Molotov cocktails were thrown at a police station a few weeks ago. One of the bottles hit the parking lot, causing NO DAMAGE, while the other didn’t catch fire at all!
Would anyone be willing to join me in praying for Paris, for the French people, and especially for the French police? The first responders are perpetually being attacked, and various hospitals and pharmacies are being robbed of their facial masks during this coronavirus outbreak. The police are stretched thin. Let’s lift them up and ask God to intercede and help them!
As we near Easter and Passover, I’m reminded…two thousand years ago, the cure for sin and human depravity arose from Israel. Perhaps, in this hour, a cure for the modern, deadly plague we face will arise from Israel, as well. Tel Aviv has some of the best scientists, doctors, and researchers on the planet — the Jewish people are BLESSED. May they find the cure for the coronavirus, and may it be a SIGN TO THE WORLD that the Answer to life’s deepest, most perplexing questions also comes from Israel.
His name is Yeshua. He is the fulfillment of all that our souls long for — the ULTIMATE cure.
Psalm 42
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
6 My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8 By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
