ALABAMA - 22nd State Admitted to the Union,
December 14th, 1819
The LORD is well able to redeem the reproach of the past.
Few it seems share such a legacy of shame as the state of
Alabama, but she has not been forsaken - her God
has heard the groaning and is come down to deliver. There is a
growing witness that His hand is very much at work in this younger and
overlooked son. Even from Levi, who with
Simeon shared in the shame of cruelty and shedding of innocent
blood, redemption would be known and a true priesthood would
be revealed. It is true - healing and restoration are
coming, purpose and destiny are at hand.
"Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither
shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called
Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in
thee, and thy land shall be married." (Isa 62:4)
Thank you for agreeing with us in
prayer for the release of the purpose of God for our state and the
fulfillment of her role with yours in the national destiny that has
been entrusted to us together. May our nation fulfill her call
...
Some Key Prophetic Words to
Alabama
Beauty - "I say the spirit of infirmity that
is dwelling on this state will break, saith the Lord. The birthing that needs to
come forth for this nation will come forth ... you will become the Gate
Beautiful and Alabama will be known as one that rose from the ashes and became a
beautiful gate to this land." (Chuck Pierce)
Bridges - "And I am going to change your barriers
into bridges - the dividing walls and barriers shall be changed into bridges."
(Jim Goll)
~ Please
agree with us in prayer for the fulfillment of God's heart in the state of
Alabama concerning "Beauty and Bridges" or "Beauty and Bands." In scripture when
the LORD wrote these two words upon staves, He stated by Beauty/Favor He
referred to covenant and by Bands/Union He referred to
brotherhood. (Zech 11:7-14)
~ Please agree in prayer that
Alabama will move from the ashes of injustice and shame of reproach to
a sunrise of justice and the beauty of holiness, covenant, and union
-- both with God and with one another. It is time!
Gates of Justice - "In these gates where there is
so much injustice locked up, I am opening these gates to usher in Justice to the
South ... Justice is coming through the Southern Gates." (Negiel Bigpond, Yuchi
Peace Chief)
~ Please agree in prayer that Alabama
and the South will be found faithful in opening the gate for
justice to be ushered into the nation. It has pleased the LORD
to bring redemption from where such injustice and atrocity first found
entrance.
Reformer - "I keep hearing the word 'reform,
reformer, reforming, reform' - the ability to reform - there is a reforming
anointing on Alabama, a true Hezekiah reformer anointing, the ability to tear
down the old and establish the new - that's what reformers do, they deal with
the old and bring in the new." (Dutch Sheets)
Voice - "Ask the Lord for a full voice in Alabama -
to become a complete, forerunning, reforming people with a full voice to deal
with the old and bring in the new." (Dutch Sheets)
Catalyst - "You are a womb of some sort - Alabama
you're one of my wombs - I need you to birth things." (Dutch
Sheets)
~ Please agree in prayer
that Alabama will fully walk out the redemptive role of a
Reformer -- a Hezekiah. This springs from a redemptive
gift of prophet -- preparing a way, clearing a path, willing to
confront, uprooting to plant, yet able to galvanize and ignite.
Whether for good or evil this has occurred in a
number of ways through history with national consequence, and has great
possibility when in right-relation to God.
~ Please agree in prayer that as Hezekiah (2 Chr
29-32), Alabama would also establish covenant with God, know cleansing of the
temple, the city, and the land, set in order the ministry in the house of the
LORD, and be a catalyst for the restoration of unity in the Kingdom,
true worship, the Passover, and of a testimony of deliverance
from Assyria! Please also agree in prayer that we would not stumble as Hezekiah
in failing to give thanks to the LORD, our heart become lifted up, or in
revealing the treasures of the LORD to the ambassadors of
Babylon (Matt 7:6)
Bones - "While digging in the earth for something precious
(redigging wells for breakthrough and national revival) I struck something that
hindered all progress. As I continued, I discovered what blocked further digging
were bones - bones of injustice. Then I noticed something written on the first
bone ... upon it was inscribed, ALABAMA." (Lou Engle)
~ Please agree in prayer for breakthrough regarding
"justice" in Alabama, for it is a key to breakthrough for the nation
in regard to these things.
Justice and the Judicial Crisis
To judge in scripture is more than to condemn the guilty - it is also to
defend the right/cause of the innocent. There is a fierce passion in
Alabama to judge/defend the right/cause of self or another. The state motto,
"We Dare Defend Our Rights" certainly reflects this as does
history (the flashpoint in Alabama in relation to the civil war, later civil
rights, and more recently with Judge Moore were all issues related
to real or perceived "rights"). This zeal to judge/defend one's
right/cause is rooted in her redemptive gift, but may (and has been)
perverted. Understanding this, and what God had intended for good, gives
great insight into both the purpose and the perversion.
~ Please agree in prayer that
Alabama will judge righteous judgment and not according to appearance, that she
will execute justice toward the stranger, widow, and orphan in pleading their
cause. Also may she take up the right and cause of the Native American, the
African American, the wavering Courts of our nation, and the unborn who
cannot speak for themselves. Please agree that we will also take
responsibility for where we have erred, that we may see healing and
even restitution come.
Judge Roy Moore provided the flashpoint that finally
brought national awareness to the judicial crisis and our nation's courts. This
case was not about the Ten Commandments, but whether
the state has
the right to acknowledge God publicly. (Note: All 50 of our state
Constitutions acknowledge God). After the Supreme Court did not accept his case
allowing the inconsistency to continue, he announced legislation that would
be introduced nationally to address it. (An update sent
when Moore introduced this several months ago may be seen
here:
Moore
Legislation Link ,
Judicial Crisis Summary ,
CRA 2004).
~ Please agree in prayer that this
legislation will successfully bring this issue before Congress, and that
what the Judicial branch has cowered to address, would finally be confronted
nationally in the Legislature. This is not about legislating righteousness, but
defining the rights and jurisdiction the Constitution already details, but are
currently being ignored by many federal courts and this
disregard going unaddressed.
Even without Moore running, Alabama elections are stirring up the same
issues. With Moore's witness of moral courage and willingness to stand
on principle in public office, the issues are only escalating in the state (and
even nation).
~ Please agree in prayer for godly
governmental and political leaders to be raised up in this years elections,
especially in this time of critical decision. Also that Alabama would
respond to the recent events with Moore is a way that honors God, and doesn't
stop short of the promise and true testimony of Jesus Christ.
Redemptive Gift and Call
"Alabama" comes from the Native Choctaw tongue meaning "thicket
clearer" - one who clears a path, prepares a way, or clears a field. The
redemptive gift of prophet as detailed in Romans seems to fit repeatedly
her role through history whether for good or evil. Whether the birthing of
a number of movements with national consequence, or first to stand with
Israel multiple times, the perceived rights and moral issues that fuel this
call bring tremendous possibility when in right-relation to God.
~ Please agree in prayer that Alabama would
perceive truly and see as the LORD sees, for her greatest stumbling blocks
have been when blinded by her own strength or in standing rightly but
perceiving wrongly (as in zeal for state's rights but blinded to the injustice
of slave's rights). Also please agree for the full maturing of this call, and
the needful relation it has to that of others for the greatest national
impact.
The Heart (not just Dixie)
In seeking the LORD for how to pray for the state of Alabama in relation to
the nation, strong direction has come to pray for Alabama as you would pray
for the "heart" as a member of the Body. This gives further
understanding of part of her intended role, but also insight into why
Alabama has struggled especially with "matters of the
heart." (i.e. especially issues of relationship, covenant, and
justice/prejudice which pertain to the heart, etc.)
~ Please agree in prayer that Alabama would "beat"
again, that she would not be a divided heart, but a heart
united to fear Him, that we would guard her with all diligence
that from her might flow a wellspring of Life, that the
law would be written upon her, the priestly breastplate of
justice would truly cover her (as it did the heart of Aaron the
High Priest), that the word and commandments of the LORD would be hidden within
her (including the state Judicial building in Montgomery), and
for wisdom to understand the times when things birthed must transition
to those who are a "head" with the grace to govern or rule.
Some Key Initiatives
Several interstate initiatives
that are important for Alabama but whose scope include several states are:
1.) The Tennessee River Prayer Initiative - primary focus includes the
River Valley from Tennessee, through Alabama, to Kentucky (land
efforts should finish this year, and river efforts should
occur through next year).
2.) The Trail of Justice - primary focus includes the redemption of
the trail of tears and issues of justice and so throughout the Southeast to
Oklahoma, and then D.C.
~ Please agree in prayer for clear
direction for the leadership of these initiatives, including both
the timing and the strategy of the LORD to see
His purpose accomplished and true healing and release
come.
Brief History of ALABAMA
The earliest inhabitants of Alabama were Native Americans with the first
journey inland by Europeans being Spanish explorers in the 16th century under
Hernando De Soto. By the 18th century few of the peoples De Soto met were still
organized under the same names, with most Native peoples now members of four
major Native American Nations (the Cherokee, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, and the
Creek Confederacy). The French colonized Alabama in 1682 as part of Louisiana,
but the French Indian War in 1763 gave the British ownership and all of Alabama
north of Florida became Reservation Lands for the Indians. White settlement in
this reservation without permission of the Native Americans was forbidden by
king’s order. After the Revolutionary War in 1783 Alabama was given to the
United States, who formed the Mississippi Territory including present day
Alabama and Mississippi.
In the early 1800s the Louisiana Purchase, War of 1812, and Creek War all
had a profound impact on Alabama which became a separate Territory, and then on
December 14, 1819, the 22nd state of the Union. The state capital moved from
Huntsville, to Cahaba, to Tuscaloosa, and finally to Montgomery. With an influx
of settlers the population more than doubled, and pressure intensified with
Native Americans. Under President Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) these Indian
nations were forced to give up their lands and move west of the Mississippi.
Cotton became the cash crop of Alabama and the plantation system, organized
around slave labor, adopted from Virginia. Southern states were convinced
slavery was essential for agriculture and the North just trying to dominate the
economy, so the platform of Southern Rights led Alabama to finally secede from
the Union following Lincoln’s election in 1860. Alabama called the other states
to Montgomery in 1861 to form a Southern nation, the Confederate States of
America, with Montgomery the first capital of the Confederacy. In the
reconstruction following the Civil War, Alabama refused to ratify the 14th
Amendment extending rights to blacks, and was put under military rule until
finally readmitted to the union in 1868. Railroads were built and industry began
to emerge afterward, though a system of sharecropping continued and segregation
of public facilities was the standard at the end of the century.
Industrial and economic growth in the early 1900s was halted by the
Depression, and Alabama’s delegation in Congress provided leadership in the
recovery with the New Deal and TVA. In the 1950s Civil Rights efforts began to
focus on integration and with the flashpoint of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery
Bus Boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King led both the state and nation toward radical
reform. Resistance to the Supreme Court ruling on segregation required President
Kennedy to enforce it with the National Guard, but it still wasn’t until 1970
that most blacks attended integrated schools. Aggressive pursuit of industry
continued in the late 20th century with the manufacturing and service industries
providing the greatest contribution to the economy.
John Buhler
Alabama State Coordinator
U.S. Strategic Prayer Network
May the Gates of Justice open
wide!
"Let justice run down as
waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."