THE SENTINEL AND THE SCROLL

The Sentinel and the Scroll

5/30/2021

Dear Friends,

Today the Lord reminded me of an encounter I had with Him during a prayer retreat on April 11, 2021, asking me to share it with you. The encounter illustrates what happens behind the scenes through an ongoing cycle of prayer and communication in the Spirit. I believe Father wants to encourage the Body of Christ with a visual understanding of what is happening in the Spirit as we pray.

THE SENTINEL

On April 11th, I was praying in the Spirit. I had a vision of being seated in a heavenly place with Jesus as we talked near the Father’s throne. (Ephesians 2:6)

As I watched from my seat, a divine being appeared in front of us. It seemed that he had flown upward from a dark void beneath to approach Christ at His seat.

When the angelic being approached, I heard the Spirit announce that he was a “sentinel.” The sentinel was dressed in white and seemed (in form) to be like a young man; a messenger of some kind.

“Sentinel” angels are only mentioned twice in the Bible, in Daniel 4. They describe holy watchmen, or “watchers,” who descend to earth from heaven. Daniel’s sentinel is a messenger who announces a divine verdict against king Nebuchadnezzar.

The sentinel approached our seats, handed a scroll to Jesus, and disappeared as quickly as he came. No words were exchanged between the two of them. I saw the Lord open up the scroll on His lap to read it.

THE SCROLL

I leaned over the arm of my own seat, asking to see the scroll. The scroll had a good amount of parchment-colored paper thickly wound around the two dowels holding it.

The writing was in ancient Hebrew, covering only one side of the parchment. The Lord opened the scroll to the middle section.

At my request, Jesus lifted the scroll slightly so that I could see it. As I looked, in the middle of a full page of writing in black ink, one Hebrew letter was supernaturally “lifted” off the page by about an inch or two for inspection.

The Lord said that every single letter of the scroll, while forming a part of each word, also had a story of its own.

I could not discern in the vision which Hebrew letter I was looking at, but I knew that it represented one person, or one person’s story.

This meant that when Jesus read the more general scroll, He was also reading about individual lives through each letter. It was as if each letter became a “gateway” or portal through which He looked down into people’s lives to see or understand what was happening with them.

I was told that the scroll was a “missive.” The Lord reminded me of an encounter I had a year ago in a library of heaven, when He had shown me that He read all of the documents that Kingdom writers created.

He told me that He receives these angelic “missives,” or scrolls, daily, just as someone on earth might read a daily newspaper to keep updated on what is happening.

PRAYING FOR THE NATIONS

I asked the Lord what this particular scroll pertained to; what was its subject?

Jesus replied: “Italy.”

The sentinel angel had come from the nation of Italy bearing this scroll. In a sense, he was one of heaven's "reporters."

I believed the sentinel to be a high-ranking angel over that nation, just as there are angels over the churches in Revelation. (Revelation 1:20.) He represented that nation’s interests before our King, and could transmit messages back to the nation as the Lord desired. (Daniel 4:13; 23; see also Revelation 2:1,8,12,18; 3:1,7,14.)

I saw that the Lord was updated on current events happening in the nations through these high-ranking sentinels and their missives in the Spirit. Yet the letters within the scrolls contained even detailed information pertaining to people within each nation!

I was amazed at the depth of insight the Lord had because of these scrolls. He could read horizontally across the page to receive a more general overview, or look deeply into the layers of each word or letter within the scrolls to understand the intimate details of peoples’ lives.

Because I did not know the Hebrew language, I wondered what information the scroll contained concerning Italy? Yet at the time of the encounter, the Lord showed me only that He used the information from the sentinel's scroll to pray. He then invited me to come and pray with Him before the Father’s throne.

We stood up and walked over to where Father was, bowing before Him. I asked Jesus what He wanted me to pray. I did not feel I knew enough about Italy to pray intelligently. The Lord responded: “I will pray; you watch in the Spirit and simply agree with Me!”

So we prayed together: I in my prayer language; and Christ more specifically, for Italy.

Holy Spirit (who stands continually before the Throne; cf. Revelation 4:5) gave understanding of what we had prayed for a short time later, when He inscribed the full revelation onto my heart.

YOUR WORDS ARE HEARD IN HEAVEN!

As I revisited this encounter, I felt so strongly that Father wanted to encourage those who are interceding for nations, churches, cities, and individuals today.

Your prayers are being heard! Your songs, books, letters, decrees, documents, and artistic creations are all being seen and heard by Jesus and the Father!

Not only that, but Christ our Great Intercessor is interceding before the Throne daily for details we may not even be aware of. We can partner with Christ in prayer as we join together with Him in the Spirit.

There is an increased need to pray in the Spirit continually this year. I believe one purpose of the encounter was to demonstrate the importance Christ places on praying in the Spirit, which often offends the mind, or can seem less effective if not interpreted.

In our weakest moments, Christ is strongest. In our weakness, the Spirit helps us. (2 Corinthians 12:10; Romans 8:26-28.) To pray in the Spirit is to pray a perfect prayer of alignment and agreement with Christ’s heart!

Although it seems that what happens in the nations goes unchecked sometimes, God has established a cyclical Kingdom communications system that involves not only prayer, but also angelic activity through messengers sent to serve those who will inherit the Kingdom. (Hebrews 1:14.) Do not discount the activity of the angelic in this hour! Nothing is going unnoticed.

The Christian faith is the only religion that boasts a personal, living God who sees, hears, and deeply loves His children. We celebrate a Savior who created us, identifies with us, saves us, and continues to pray with us as we establish His Kingdom here. May you perceive in greater measure the benefits and blessings available to you in the Spirit as you press in to know Him more.

Deborah

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