Sons of God ｜ Dr. Laura Sanger

In one paragraph

Doctor Laura, a speaker and author from Salt Lake City, visited Tribe for an evening of teaching and discussion on spiritual mapping, the practice of researching and praying into the spiritual dynamics of a city or region. She drew on twenty-five years of experience doing this work, most extensively in Salt Lake City, and applied some of that framework to what participants observed during a prayer...

Read together

1. Isaiah 30:21 Bryson, age five, quoted it to guide the family back to their hotel in DC
2. Genesis 28:12, 16-17 Jacob's dream of the stairway and angels ascending and descending, used to illustrate spiritual gates
3. Exodus 20:4 cited to show three realms mentioned in scripture: heaven, earth, and water under the earth
4. Ezekiel 26:16 princes of the sea coming down from their thrones, used to identify water gods in scripture
5. Revelation 13:1 the beast arising out of the sea, used to show Satan builds his power base from the waters
6. Psalm 29:3 the voice of the Lord over the mighty waters, used to explain the term mighty waters as referring to the water kingdom
7. Revelation 21:1 new heaven and new earth with no more sea, used to show Yahweh will eradicate the water kingdom at the end of the age
8. Psalm 89:9-10 God breaking Rahab in pieces and stilling the sea, used to identify Rahab as a water spirit
9. Job 9:13 cohorts of Rahab cowering at God's feet, cited to further identify Rahab
10. Job 26:12 God cutting Rahab to pieces by his wisdom, cited to further identify Rahab
11. Isaiah 30:7 Egypt called Rahab the do nothing, used to connect Rahab with Egypt
12. Exodus 7:14-18 Moses confronting Pharaoh at the Nile, used to show Pharaoh consulting water gods each morning
13. Psalm 74:13-14 God splitting the sea and crushing the heads of Leviathan, used to show Yahweh dealing with water gods at the Red Sea
14. Colossians 2:9-10 quoted aloud while commanding a storm in the Bahamas, asserting authority over powers in Christ
15. 2 Corinthians 5:7 we live by faith not by sight, recalled by the Holy Spirit while the storm kept coming to redirect focus off the storm and onto Jesus
16. Psalm 32:5-7 confessing sin and the mighty waters not reaching him, cited as showing repentance as a strategy to defeat water spirits
17. Matthew 17:16-23 disciples unable to cast out a demon tormenting a boy who fell into water, cited to show some water spirits only go out by fasting
18. 2 Kings 2:19-22 Elisha cleansing the spring with salt so it no longer caused death, cited as a strategy to cleanse waters with salt
19. Psalm 144:7-10 deliver me from the mighty waters, and I will sing a new song, cited as a strategy of releasing a new song over the waters
20. Daniel 9 listed as a biblical example of identificational repentance
21. Ezra 9 listed as a biblical example of identificational repentance
22. Nehemiah 1 listed as a biblical example of identificational repentance
23. Jeremiah 3 listed as a biblical example of identificational repentance

What was said

• Take your notes from any prayer walk or reconnaissance you have done and look for repeated themes across what different people sensed at the same locations.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to show you something specific about your own family line that may need identificational repentance, then sit quietly and write down whatever he brings to mind.
• If you live near a body of water, spend time on or near it this week blessing it aloud and asking the Lord how he wants you to steward it.
• If you have children who mention seeing something frightening in their room at night, pray with them out loud rather than dismissing it, and teach them a simple declaration of who Jesus is.
• Come to the Virginian Saloon Sunday at 10AM to continue what was started in this gathering.

Talk about it

1. Jessica said that going on the reconnaissance trip to Torino taught her to be more afraid of humans than demons, and that being activated in her gifts gave her tools she carried into everyday life, parenting, and babysitting. What has equipped you most for recognizing spiritual dynamics in ordinary, everyday situations?
2. Doctor Laura described spiritual mapping as combining objective research with subjective discernment, comparing intercessors to snipers rather than someone firing a shotgun randomly. What do you think the difference looks like in practice between informed, targeted prayer and more general prayer over a place or situation?
3. Doctor Laura said she learned the hard way that you only move in the timing of the Lord, describing it like stepping out from an umbrella in a pelting rainstorm. Has there been a time when you moved ahead of what God was actually asking you to do, and what did that cost you?
4. The two factors present in every documented community transformation were persevering leadership within the Christian community and fervent united prayer. What does persevering leadership look like in a place like Jackson, and where do you see it already at work here?
5. Bobby Daily closed by saying that intercessors in Teton County have been on their knees for this valley for generations, and that warring angels stand on the surrounding mountains. How does knowing there is a history of faithful intercession behind you change the way you think about your own role in praying for this place?