Crossfire

by Bill Cassada

©2001 The Lion's Heart Ministries, Inc.

[Editor's Note: This article was originally published to our email subscriber list in July 2001]

A HIGHER PLACE OF PRAISE

This is not a report on one of our own meetings. Actually, we just left town for a couple of days up to the mountains, in Winter Park, Colorado, around 10,000 feet or so. We just wanted a time of quiet to relax, spend some time in prayer. A pastor friend mentioned a camp meeting taking place in nearby Granby, about 15 miles from where we were staying, so on Monday night we just couldn't stay away. What would take place this night reinforced my belief and experience in God's unceasing ability to amaze me in His awesome and unusual workings.

The meetings are being advertised as "A Higher Place of Praise," and are taking place at the Inn At Silver Creek just outside of Granby, Colorado. A huge tent has been erected on the hotel grounds, the glow of the light from the inside through its yellow and white striped canopy being seen for miles. Endorsed by local pastors and churches, the camp meeting idea came from a man named Jeff Collins, an evangelist from Texas. Last year while doing meetings at Central Assembly in Granby the Lord gave him a vision of a glowing yellow tent on the side of a mountain. He knew then that God was calling His people up to the mountain to meet with Him, to have a time of refreshing in His presence, a time for families to enjoy the beauty of mountains together, an opportunity to meet other believers who have a kindred heart and a desire for His presence.

In the midst of a busy traveling ministry schedule, it's sometimes very therapeutic to just anonymously visit a meeting like this and enjoy God's presence with no demands being made. And so we came. We walked into the tent as the worship team was practicing one of the songs they would sing later. The anointing of the Holy Spirit was already present as they sang, "...ah..ah..le..luia...ah..ah..le...lua...the Lord God Almighty reigns..." The atmosphere was already charged with the power and presence of God and the worship team was only warming up! Except for our pastor friend Randy Payne, who was playing the keyboard and now much too involved to notice us, we didn't know a single person there. We quietly took seats near the back of the tent, and immediately began to sense His Presence surrounding us. It was somewhat strange, being in a tent. I looked around at the dirt floor, the makeshift carpet covering the center area, and up at the rigging of the tent poles, the lights strung precariously on ropes and wires. As the worship team continued to play, it wasn't hard to close your eyes and imagine yourself back in the 1950's perhaps with Oral Roberts, or maybe even A.A. Allen. There's just something about preaching the gospel in a tent that seems to invite God's Presence.

AS THE RAIN COMES DOWN FROM HEAVEN

We worshipped for 30-40 minutes, every song focused on the holiness of God. We sang "Holy...Holy...Holy...is the Lord God Almighty...Worthy is the Lamb..." and God just filled the place with Himself. The richness of His Presence descended upon us. We could all feel the weight of His glory. After a time, one of the pastors came to take the evening offering. He talked about Ecc. 11:4-6, and how he had learned not to judge his giving, but to follow the voice of the Lord. "Even as Colorado has high mountains and the water runoff from its mountain peaks feeds many rivers that water neighboring states and regions, so also will the seed that we sow tonight flow out of this place to other regions," he said. Even though he was speaking about the offering, there was a thread or theme about what he was saying that would later be confirmed as the Lord's direction and plans for this evening. We would soon see that it was about a lot more than just finances.

CROSSFIRE

A visiting pastor from Argentina, whose name is Juan Carlos, brought the message. Although he is from Argentina, he actually is a pastor in Mexico. The core of his message was from Isaiah Chap. 6, about how Isaiah had encountered the glory of God. But the real focus was on the Seraphs, the creatures which flew back and forth constantly proclaiming the holiness and the glory of the Lord. "Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” As he taught, he demonstrated this by going up to one person in the first row, putting his face about six inches from theirs, and saying, "He is holy! He is holy!" Then he would "fly" across the front of the altar area and stop in front of another person, again putting his face about six inches from theirs and proclaiming, "He is holy! He is holy!" I recalled Tommy Tenney once talking about the creatures described in Revelation who continuously cry out "Holy, holy, holy." In describing how they could do this for eternity, Tommy explained it was actually very easy. Every time they looked at God, they would receive yet another revelation of His holiness, prompting them to exclaim, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."

As Juan Carlos continued his message, he explained that what the Seraphs were doing was creating a "crossfire" of praise over the mercy seat. As they would proclaim "holy, holy, holy" to the Lord from either side, the power and glory of God would come forth from his throne. "I don't know how it is that God inhabits the praises of his people," Juan continued. "But it is a response to our worship. When we declare His holiness, He responds." It was a powerful presentation and the atmosphere began to crackle in the tent with the increased presence of God. Juan Carlos went on..."sometimes when the worship team is proclaiming God's holiness through worship and song, there's little or no response from the people," he said. "Some just sit with their arms folded and their jaws fixed. But when there is a returning proclamation from the congregation," he went on, "there is that same crossfire that occurs in the midst of the two, and God's presence and glory descends into their midst. It is a crossfire of praise that sets up a mercy seat to which God sends His manifest presence, His glory. I had never heard anything quite like this message, but the picture that Juan painted was powerful and stirring, and called one to focus on God's holiness.

As Juan ended his message, he described the scene at Jesus' tomb on the morning of the Resurrection. "How many angels were in the tomb," he asked? "Two," he said, "one sitting at the head of where Jesus had lain, and one at his feet." He continued, "well, I'm not saying its dogmatic, and maybe when I get to heaven God will say to me 'Juan, that's really not the way it happened,' but that's okay. But what I think happened is that when God decided it was time, those two angels just faced each other across the body of Jesus and began to proclaim, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty..." And they set up a crossfire of praise to which the resurrection power of God descended and raised Jesus from the dead!" Wow! What a powerful picture this painted. Most of the crowd were now on their feet, hands raised, eyes toward heaven, worshipping. It was an intense moment. Hearts cried out in worship and in proclamation of His majesty.

SPIRIT OF PRAISE

We began to worship in full force. A spirit of praise began to sweep through the tent, and the mighty roar of corporate praise began to go up to heaven from this little tent on a high mountain plain in Colorado. A corporate voice of "holy, holy, holy," went up from the people, forcing the worship leader to declare, "most of the time I end up leading," he said, "but now I'm having to keep up with you." The power was electric and all around us I could sense the presence of God. The unified voices being raised to proclaim God's glory and power made it feel like I was standing in the midst of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the upper room on the day of Pentecost, all rolled into one! I was reminded of the words to the song, "...surrounded by His radiance..."

This went on for some time as a crescendo of unified adoration went up to heaven. It was another one of those God moments. After some time, the worship leader mentioned that one thing they had learned during past times of revival in Granby was that often when there were moments such as this, when the glory of God was manifest, and the canopy of his holiness and glory was present in one place, that God would respond with a visitation in another. We were reminded of Ruth Heflin mentioning the same thing, that when worship would go up in one place in Jerusalem, God would visit another place in response. Suddenly, I remembered the offering message, about how we sow into one place, but God is able to bring the blessing into another. It was the theme, the thread, it was God's plan for the evening. And these men of God, gathered under this little tent in Colorado were right on track in discerning the will of the Holy Spirit.

Jeff Collins went to the platform and proclaimed we were going to face the north, the west, the south, and the east, and proclaim God's holiness, fire, His glory and His Lordship to the rest of the world. We were going to do what the angels did, set up a crossfire of praise for God's holiness to inhabit, which would flow from this place to other places. I could see in my mind's eye the picture of the mountains of Colorado receiving the spiritual rain from heaven, and the water, the rivers of living water, flowing from this place into others, springing up into eternal life, bringing water to a dry and thirsty land, to the rest of the world.

INTERCEDING FOR THE WORLD

We were amazed at what began to happen. We've done this type of thing before but it always seemed more a religious exercise. Tonight was nothing short of God's manifest glory and the spirit of intercession invading us. Every single person faced the north and began to set up a "crossfire" by proclaiming His holiness and His Lordship to all the regions of the north. I myself was lifted into a place of intercessory prayer that I had not experienced before, as we lifted our voices in corporate unity and power to proclaim God's glory into the regions to the north. I was suddenly praying for Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Canada, and the northern regions of the world.

We then faced to the west. I found myself asking God to pour out his glory on places like Las Vegas, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, all of Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington. Pastor Randy Gunn joined and lead us from the platform as we proclaimed the Lordship of Jesus Christ to the west.

Then, turning to the south, I was lifted on a spirit of prayer and empowerment that was beyond my ability to understand. I was suddenly proclaiming God's glory and holiness, His Lordship into the southern  regions of the United States, and on into Mexico and Central America, Guatemala, Nicaragua, San Salvador, onto into South America, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, and Brazil. At this precise moment, Juan Carlos began to lead us and focus our prayers, and I heard him proclaim the glory of God over nearly every country that I had just named in prayer. It was a powerful moment as the spirit of prayer encompassed us all.

And finally, we faced the east, proclaiming God's glory to the midwestern states which were east of Colorado, to Pennsylvania, Ohio, the eastern seaboard, the New England region, onto into Europe, Asia, the Scandinavian countries. Brother Jeff directed us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and to come against the spirit of violence that has invaded that region of the world. We found ourselves praying for China, Japan, Taiwan. It was hard to comprehend in a natural perspective, but in the spirit I could see the fire of God going out from this place, circling the globe, and intersecting with the other prayers that had gone out in other directions. It was a crossfire of God's holiness.

AFTERGLOW

This went on for perhaps an hour or so. Then we slipped back into worship again. The sense of God in the place drove us into a place of worship and reverence before Him. I was amazed at how powerful all of this was. People began to sing spontaneously, proclaim Scripture, fall on their faces before the Lord, and just glory in His Presence. Afterwards, we sat in a sort of reverential quiet, gently and softly enjoying Him. It was late when we finally left, but we knew that something had taken place tonight in the mountains of Colorado that would resound into all the world. We don't always know why we are praying or for whom. But one thing is certain. tonight a crossfire of God's fire and glory was dispatched from the high places of Colorado into the rest of the world. As we drove back to our hotel, we turned on a CD and heard the words, "...holy is the Lord...holy is the Lord...Amen..." It was as if God's presence would not leave us, and the proclamation of His holiness rang in our hearts as we drifted off to sleep. 

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:8-11)

Bill Cassada
---------------------------

------------------------------
"Crossfire" Copyright © 2001 The Lion's Heart Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved. You are permitted to forward, copy, download, print and/or otherwise distribute verbatim copies of this document, but altering, changing, or modifying it in any way is not allowed. Please include source credit.

Back To Articles Index     Join Our Email List!

---

 Top of Page