From David's Desk...

As we head into the new Hebrew year I want to bless each of you, that this year would be a year of great advancement and establishment in your personal call and destiny within the Kingdom. I want to really encourage you to take time to reflect on where you and God want to be in 12 month's time.

It's very easy to allow the television news to affect our thinking with doom and gloom and inaction. While I think we need to live our lives with our eyes wide open, let me urge you not to let it rob your hope and vision. When people around you are losing hope, that is when they most need someone with passion to rise up. In the dark the light shines brightest. Make sure your  focus is on Jesus  and on what he has called you personally to do, and then actively seek out opportunities to fulfill your destiny.

In this edition we will outline how people in the Michigan area can help a fellow banner waver fulfill his call by taking the time to visit an art exhibition and vote online to collectively and metaphorically lift up the giant banner we shared with you last month. If you missed that story, you can find it here.

This month I am coordinating the raising of banners at four significant gatherings. I'm sharing the stories because I want to encourage you. I want to invite you to consider the events within your sphere of influence  to look for open doors to encourage others to begin to raise banners prophetically.  Look, even if banners have never been raised there before.

And finally I'd like to share some of my findings as I've begun to research how banners are being used in Healing Rooms in Australia and around the world. Through a simple survey I have been able to document a change over the last five years in the effective use of banners.

Within your spheres of influence you can look for open doors and document progress!

Again, I want to encourage you  to consider what you can contribute to what God is doing with banners now.

David S

You Can Do This, Too!  

by David Stanfield

My purpose in sharing about the following four events is to show you how banners can enhance almost any Christian event. Banners have been used in a low-key way at these events and I simply offered to provide some coordination and leadership in the area of banners.

You can do this, too. In my experience, leaders of events like these are delighted to have someone step into a leadership role if they are approached in a gracious and humble manner.

Jerusalem, Israel  

September 28 - October 12  

At this conference I will be modeling the use of banners to people from many nations who may never have seen banners used in worship before. By making banners available and creating a safe place to experiment with using them, many people will use banners for the first time, both in the main auditorium and in the prayer room.

I will co-lead an elective workshop on banners and movement in prophetic worship and declarations, and the banners will be used symbolically in various prophetic acts both inside and outside of Jerusalem.

Within your sphere of influence you can do this, too!

Perth, Australia 

October 20 -28  

My involvement is in response to a vision I saw of banners lining the route through which HRH Queen Elizabeth and the 54 heads of the Commonwealth Nations would pass on their way to this international summit.

It has grown to where I will now be providing training and banners during the Christian Assembly and in the public street events that will lead up to CHOGM itself, and during a number of strategic official events with clearance from the security forces.

Within your sphere of influence, you can do this, too!

There is something new happening in the realm of healing and deliverance across the world.

Banners (flags) have been used for thousands of years as part of biblical, expressive, and prophetic worship among God's people, but there is a rising tide of people also using them to change lives and set people free.

We recently conducted a survey of Healing Rooms in Australia, asking them to share their experiences with using banners as part of their ministry.  We discovered that people in need of healing have been strongly impacted by the use of banners in Healing Rooms all across the country. Below we share the results of that survey.

How banners are used: 

The factors that help in using banners:  

• A knowledge of the power and anointing of banners
• Space and height
• Availability of the banners

 Of those who responded to our survey:

• 92% are using banners regularly
• 4% are using them infrequently
• 4% not using banners

You don't have to be David Stanfield to do a survey.

We would encourage you to use your banners in more than just worship, to also use them in ministry times to bring healing and deliverance to those who are yearning for breakthrough.

In Healing Rooms banners are used in worship, in prayer and intercession before ministry times, during soaking times, during individual ministry time with clients, like a shawl or covering, by waving them over clients and as permanent features hanging on walls. They are also used outside buildings to attract visitors to the Healing Room.

The result of using banners in Healing Rooms has been described as:

• Bringing deeper intimacy
• Releasing greater anointing
• Declaring victory
• Greater awareness of His presence
• Deeper sense of His love and anointing during ministry
• People receive the anointing more easily
• The power of God seems to flow through banners, releasing people from fear
• Bringing peace and release to clients
• Bringing a spiritual shift in the atmosphere
• More openness to Holy Spirit
• Freedom in worship
• Release from oppression
• People recognize the presence of the Lord through them
• Clients receive a touch from the Lord