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Iowa Justice Tour

As Iowa goes to the Straw Poll on August 11th, we pray that the abortion issue will be driven like a wedge into the hearts and minds of voters across the state. To contend for this reality Bound4LIFE will be travelling across the state of Iowa to conduct a JUSTICE TOUR. August 5-10 we will hold silent sieges at all seven abortion clinics in the state and end our tour at the State Capitol. We invite everyone to join us as we cry out for justice for the unborn.

Justice Tour Blog

8/5/07
Council Bluffs, IA
We shared the LIFE message at Victory Fellowship today for their Sunday morning service. The presence of God was there. Several young people from the youth group testified at the beginning of the service of miraculous healings that had taken place a few days earlier. Faith exploded throughout the congregation as one young lady that had suffered from scoliosis for years told how God had healed her. Their group had watched in wonder as her spine straightened out before their eyes and as one shorter leg grew out to full length as they prayed.

In that atmosphere of faith, it was easy to believe that God can heal a nation. He can perform a spiritual chiropractic work on the governmental spine of America, and release justice to an entire generation. We mobilized there for our first leg of the Iowa Justice Tour, and over 60 people joined us to stand in intercession at the Planned Parenthood.

It must have been nearly 100º as we stood on the wall. Everyone was drenched in sweat. Passersby must have wondered why we would stand outside a closed building on a hot Sunday afternoon. Many were moved to express at the top of their lungs exactly what they thought. We noticed that nearly every single person yelling profanities at us was a young man in his late teens or early twenties. Know this: abortion is the fig leaf that we use to conceal our secret sin. Any threat to that is sure to stir up opposition.

We gathered at the end to take communion, and we were all encouraged as someone shared Isaiah 25:7-8. “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from the faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.”

8/6/07
Sioux City, IA
Today’s abortion clinic literally looked like a fortress on a hill. This Planned Parenthood provided no direct line of sight to the young women and men walking in the entrance, and there was a solid concrete wall surrounding the whole complex. However, faculty did come out to photograph our team standing in silent prayer, and several of them continually peeked out of the blinds throughout our time there. “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”

Today was all about seeing a redemptive work in the earth. God loves justice because He just likes to make wrong things right. When we gathered at the end of our time, everyone had been praying for some kind of transformation–the faculty seeing truth and light, the facility being converted into a CPC or church, hearts of stone turned to hearts of flesh (the address was on Stone Street).

We want to be instruments for God releasing justice for the oppressed.

8/7/07
Bettendorf, IA
“I will give you every place where you set your foot…As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Take a look at the original Hebrew in that passage, and you’ll see that the word translated as “set your foot” is “darak.” It’s actual definition means to march deliberately and to trample. It filled Joshua with all the confidence needed to lead Israel into the promises of God. It was literally his “marching orders.”

What a beautiful day it was today. Sunny; very sunny and hot. When we arrived at the Planned Parenthood, we saw that the facility has lawn sprinklers deliberately adjusted to spray the sidewalk to discourage pro-life people from gathering, and they run non-stop. We weren’t exactly sure where to stand because of this. I stepped up to the sidewalk asking God to show us where to stand, and the sprinklers shut off the exact moment that my foot touched the sidewalk. Then they shifted zones to water a different area of the lawn away from the sidewalk. “Hey, that’s pretty cool,” I thought. As I was standing there a Catholic gentleman walked up to greet me. I asked if they always have the sprinklers set to spray the sidewalk, and he said “Yes,” in a disappointed voice. I asked, “So will they switch back here in a few minutes?” He looked down and sounded surprised, “Oh, they stopped! I’ve never seen them do that before.”

It was a very intense day at the wall. We knew ahead of time that it was the day scheduled to abort babies. One young couple in their early twenties looked like they were literally in the valley of decision, and the entire company was burdened to intercede for them. They went in; he came out; he went back in, then they both came out and sat in the car talking for a long time. Eventually they went back in, and didn’t come back out. The Holy Spirit told me he was thinking, “I have my whole life ahead of me.” That may be true, but it cannot come at the expense of another.

8/8/07
Iowa City, IA
We sieged two clinics today–Emma Goldman Clinic and Planned Parenthood. Emma Goldman is located just off campus at the University of Iowa. Their namesake is taken from a rabid anarchist in the early 20th century. We halfway expected more human opposition at this location, but it never happened. Everyone felt that the location was very dark. We prayed for the faculty and everyone going inside that light would come. Then we headed over to the second clinic in town. It was a quiet afternoon there as well. There is a lie that pervades the atmosphere. The stillness and calmness are deceptive. This city is need of much intercession to break open the heavens. Friends from the local community joined us, and they are planning to open a house of prayer on campus.

I heard the Holy Spirit say this early in the day, “If you walk in fear, the heart will faint. But if you walk with Me, the heart will burn.” My thoughts immediately turned to the men walking on the road to Emmaus. How easy it would have been for Cleopas and his friend to succumb to fear because of what they had just witnessed. Yet a brisk walk with Jesus left their hearts burning within them.

8/9/07
Cedar Rapids, IA
This abortion clinic is a little different from the rest. It’s identified simply as Cedar Rapids Clinic for Women. Research revealed that they do provide abortion services, but some of the local Bound4LIFE chapter leaders shared that it’s very secretive and hidden. When they’ve called with informational questions, they were told, “We can’t even talk to you unless you have a doctor’s referral.” After investigating it further they discovered that they don’t even perform abortions during normal business hours. They only do them after hours in the evening. The location is nestled in an office park next to a real estate company and directly behind a church.

A couple of young people that live in the neighborhood stopped to see what we were doing. They said that they had no idea that the clinic was performing abortions there. As we prayed together at the end of our time the young man unexpectedly began to weep. He said he didn’t know why he was crying, but the reality of what was happening there was suddenly impacting him. He had never stopped to even consider the truth behind abortion, and he wasn’t prepared to touch God’s heart there. We pray that the entire Church awakens to this kind of experience. I believe that it could be a “suddenly” from God.

Concerning the hidden aspect of this particular clinic, a couple of intercessors got the same picture in prayer of a woman with bleached hair, fake tan and fake fingernails. We felt that it spoke of the façade being put forth to the community. It has the appearance of what the world calls beautiful, but ultimately it’s merely a shallow portrait that won’t last.

8/10/07
Des Moines, IA
Something exploded in our spirits today on the wall. We concluded our state tour with two sieges. The first was at the seventh and final abortion clinic in the state, and the second was at the State Capitol building. 1 Kings 18 seemed to literally come alive as we prayed in front of Planned Parenthood this morning. After the showdown with the prophets of Baal, Elijah went to the top of Mount Carmel to pray. Six times he prayed with his head between his knees, and nothing seemed to happen. Then on the seventh time his servant reported seeing a cloud the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea. That tiny cloud became a raging storm that marked the end of the drought and a cleansing of the whole nation.

Could it be that our tour of praying at these seven clinics traces Elijah’s experience? We pray that there would be “the sound of a heavy rain” that could be heard in Iowa.

No doubt that after three and half years of drought the torrential rain that fell reshaped the panoramic view of Israel. As the water fell the lifeless landscape was changed. The thing that brought life to the nation first had to bring destruction to the old ways. We pray that God would release something in Iowa that would change the landscape of America. In faith, we say we can see it rising even now.

It’s also interesting to note that shortly after the drought ended, Ahab was struck down in battle. Specifically, it says in 1 Kings 22 that a random arrow hit him in between the sections of his armor. Who knows which prayer is the one that tips the scale, the random shot that hits the sweet spot? We believe that the life issue is the weak point in the political campaigns, and we pray that candidates will rise and fall based on their positions and voting history on abortion.

Iowans cast their vote tomorrow. They have an opportunity to be a prophetic voice to the nation. “Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America.”

AUGUST 5-10