How land becomes spiritually defiled and how to pray

This earth and all that dwell on it belong to God. The Lord has blessed the earth He created and appointed mankind to steward and protect it. We are meant to prosper and multiply the goodness that God created here. Yet when we look around us, we see a world in decay — environmentally, morally, and socially. Some places have become known for hopelessness, suicide, poverty, crime, violence, drugs, prostitution, and so on. Such places can be ‘hard ground’ for the gospel. Thankfully, God also reminds us that His Word is “like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces”. The Spirit of God will inspire us with the words to pray over a neighbourhood, district, city or country, to return it to blessings once we build an understanding of its spiritual strongholds and how to pray over them.

 

Psalm 24:1 NKJV  The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.

Jeremiah 23:29 NKJV  “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

God made mankind in His image and gave us dominion over this earth. This dominion was lost when Adam and Eve submitted to the devil and ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge and good and evil in the Garden of Eden. Since then, man has been yielding more and more of this earth to the devil through sin, allowing the kingdom of darkness to build strongholds that have oppressed generations of human beings.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Nahum 1:7  The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.

Psalm 115:16 NKJV  The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.

Patterns of iniquity build demonic strongholds

No one is perfect, everyone is sinful. We all make mistakes and cross the line at times — but not everyone lives in iniquity. Iniquity does not refer to one-off acts of misjudgment but a perverted, wayward pattern of thinking and behaviour.

The Lord clearly distinguishes between sin, transgression, and iniquity (Exodus 34:6-7).

• Sin is simply the act of falling short of God’s glory and divine nature (Romans 3:23) e.g. speaking in a way that hurts someone
• Transgressions occur when we cross a line or boundary, whether intentionally or unintentionally i.e. jaywalking
• Iniquity is the wilful choice to walk contrary to God, it involves rebellion against God and all forms of perversion i.e. committing a crime or intentionally harming someone

Exodus 34:6-7 NKJV  And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

Each type of sin differs in its level of severity and the judgment that it brings. God does not condemn us for our sins but He does condemn iniquity. In Leviticus 26:43, God described those who live in iniquity as “souls that abhor His statues”. Leviticus 26 also shows us that the condition of the land is directly linked to the iniquity found on it.

Leviticus 26:40-43 NKJV  ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt— then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

Iniquity defiles a place spiritually. When a group of people choose to live in rebellion against God’s ways, they by default, separate themselves from God (Isaiah 59:2), their ultimate Provider and Protector. This gives demonic powers an open door to operate in their regions. When generations of people continue in such patterns, demonic strongholds begin to form in their land. Instead of spiritual blessings, wickedness becomes pervasive or normalised over time. Cultures and mindsets that oppose God become entrenched. People forget or neglect God. Iniquity has a very real impact on the spiritual conditions in a land.

Isaiah 59:2 NKJV  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

Leviticus 18:25 NKJV  For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants.

Types of iniquity the defile and bring curses to the land

Just as God promises to bless the land, He warns against abominations (forms of iniquity) that defile the land we live in. These bring very real consequences on the land because they open the way for demonic powers to build strongholds in an area. Evil spirits only bring death in their wake, not life.

Leviticus 18:26-28 NKJV  You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

1. Idol worship and witchcraft

An example of the consequence of idol worship and witchcraft on the land is the severe drought that Israel suffered as a result of the state-sponsored Baal worship and witchcraft that King Ahab and Queen Jezebel introduced. (1 Kings 16:30–33, 1 Kings 17:1)

Examples of idol worship and witchcraft include:

• Setting up temples and shrines to idols
• Witchcraft rituals or use of shamanism to manipulate the weather
• Conducting rituals to harm political enemies
• Festivals that honour pagan deities involving entire communities
• Festivals to honour and give glory to dead ancestors, kings, chiefs, warlords etc.
• Dedicating the city to a “city god”
• Statues of guardian spirits at city gates
• Conducting agricultural rituals for other gods to bless the crop of the land
• Mountains dedicated as “sacred mountains” to other gods
• Key city or region monuments adorned with idolatrous statues and imagery
• Worshipping human emperors, kings and rulers of the land etc.

Jeremiah 16:18 NKJV  And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.

2 Kings 9:22 NKJV  Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?”  So he answered, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many?”

2. Bloodshed and violence

An example of the consequence of bloodshed and violence on the land is how the ground would no longer yield its bounty to Cain after he murdered his brother Abel, and Abel’s blood cried out from the ground for justice. (Genesis 4:10–12)

Examples of bloodshed and violence include:

• War
• Abortion
• Ritualistic blood sacrifices
• Gang violence
• Lawlessness
• Blood cried from the land
• Dead bodies left unburied etc.

Numbers 35:33 NKJV  So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

Deuteronomy 21:23 NKJV  his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.

3. Sexual immorality

An example of the consequence of sexual immorality on the land is Sodom and Gomorrah where God rained fire and sulphur on both people and land to wipe out the rampant and unrepentant sexual perversion amongst both young and old in the land. The land became scorched and life on it was wiped out. (Genesis 19:24-25)

Examples of sexual immorality include:

• Prostitution
• Incestuous and close-relative relationships (Leviticus 18:6–17)
• Adultery (Leviticus 18:20)
• Homosexual relations (Leviticus 18:22)
• Bestiality (Leviticus 18:23)

Jeremiah 23:10 NKJV  For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, and their might is not right.

Jeremiah 3:2-3  “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the wilderness; And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed.

4. Broken covenants

An example of the consequence of broken covenants on the land is how the ground became cursed because Adam broke his covenant with God. (Genesis 3:17-19)

Examples of broken covenants include:

• Broken treaties and covenants between people groups
• Unfulfilled oaths between people groups
• Taking land belonging to someone else by covenant
• Broken covenantal relationships such as between fathers and their children
• Injustice and oppression etc.

Isaiah 24:5–6 NKJV  The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men are left.

Malachi 4:6 NKJV  And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Interceding for our land and its inhabitants

It is God’s will to bless both land and people, and to multiply us as well as the fruit of our land. As followers of Christ, we ought to also care about the territory the Lord has placed us in and to bless it as well.

Deuteronomy 28:8 NKJV  The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 7:13 NKJV  And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.

It is always God’s heart to redeem lost souls (Luke 19:10). As we humble ourselves to seek His face and live according to His commandments, He will also move us to seek the healing of the land we live on and the salvation of others who reside in it too (2 Chronicles 7:14). The Lord is actively seeking those who will “stand in the gap before Him on behalf of the land, that He should not destroy it.” (Ezekiel 22:30)

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV  if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Ezekiel 22:30 NKJV  So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

Our prayers should always be led by the Holy Spirit. Here are some key points to keep in mind.

1. Study the land

It is best to start with research on the land we are to pray for. We can look into the different types of iniquity on the land, both present and past. Some may have been committed decades or centuries ago but have never been prayed over. Examples include broken treaties, murders, and other atrocities committed on the land in past generations. For a guideline on how to do this, please refer to this post; Asking the Holy Spirit to show us the spiritual map for a territory to pray over

2. Partner with a few others with the same heart for the land

Partner with at least one other person with the same heart to intercede for the land. Ensure they are legal inhabitants of the land.

Each person is gifted differently and a variety of people can bring a wider perspective on the place and how to pray for it. It doesn’t harm for the team to have lawyers (who can point out broken covenants), elders who are familiar with the country’s past, or people from its indigenous tribes (who can give insight into transgressions against minorities), and so on. Such intercession teams can range from two to preferably, no more than 10 people.

All intercessors need to be selected through prayer and not by our own human understanding and briefed thoroughly on the research and the prayer points and parameters.

3. Ensure each has done their own personal confessions

Before any intercessor represents a place to confess its iniquity, he or she must first have repented of the same and turned from its ways. For example, someone who is struggling with sexual sin is best advised not to pray over the sexual immorality in a land until it is dealt with in his or her own life and the related spirits cast out. Otherwise, the enemy will have reason to resist the corporate prayer time.

4. Consider a corporate fast

The Bible shows that corporate fasts have been called on occasion as people humbled themselves to seek the Lord for mercy on their communities and land in joint repentance.

1 Samuel 7:6 NKJV  So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day, and said there, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.’”

Joel 1:14 NKJV  Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

5. Praise God and acknowledge Him as the Lord of lords

On the day the intercessors gather, begin with praise and worship, preferably for an hour or so, as the Holy Spirit leads the team. Enthrone the Lord on our praises.

Psalm 22:3 NKJV  But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.”

Read scripture over the land (see examples below). Hail God as the rightful Lord of the earth and all that is in it.

Psalm 24:1-2 NKJV  The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.

Deuteronomy 10:14 NKJV  Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.

Deuteronomy 28:8 NKJV  The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

6. Confess the iniquity in the land

Next, confess the iniquity that is practised on the land. Identify with the people of the land and confess on their behalf, just as we have prayed over ourselves.

The Holy Spirit may sometimes inspire us to go on site to pray at certain locations for the people in the area. Only do so in a way that will not call attention to ourselves, be a nuisance or obstruct others.

WARNING: Never confront, challenge, or rebuke the spiritual principalities and powers over an area and try to cast them out or down. God created all thrones, dominions, principalities and powers (Colossians 1:16). He did not cast them out or down when Jesus arose victoriously from the dead (Corinthians 15:20), disarmed them (Colossians 2:15) and took the keys of Hades and of Death (Revelation 1:17–18). Those spiritual powers are there because God Himself has seen it fit to leave them there. He is the One who will deal with them as we earnestly seek His face, as we pray for the healing of the land and its inhabitants from their oppression. We should not presume to take on spiritual powers that rule over entire regions directly ourselves. There have been instances of Christians who have done so that experienced severe backlash as a result; from mental confusion and madness to miscarriages, near fatal accidents, cancer, and even death. Moving presumptuously outside our jurisdiction is “iniquity and idolatry”, the very things we are praying over. This opens us up for attack.

Colossians 1:16 NKJV  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Colossians 2:15 NKJV  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Ephesians 1:20-21 NKJV  which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

Acts 10:38 NKJV  how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

1 Samuel 15:23 ESV  For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.

7. Ask the Lord for forgiveness and mercy

We now ask the Lord for forgiveness and mercy on the people and the land. Ask the Holy Spirit to move those in authority to shift their policies toward godly righteousness, heal and rehabilitate the people, and equip those who will assist in the rebuilding of God’s name in the land.

Daniel 9:9 NKJV  To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.

8. Bless the inhabitants

We pray a blessing over the inhabitants, that they will experience the goodness of God in their lifetimes and turn to Jesus as Lord and Saviour. We can ask God to renew people’s hearts, turn them toward righteousness, and spark spiritual transformation.

9. Wait on the Holy Spirit for the Word of the Lord for the land

As we finish with our confessions, it is time to wait on the Holy Spirit to inspire us with what to pray about and how. This is a very important step because we do not always know what to pray for but the Holy Spirit will fill our mouths with the right words.

Romans 8:26-27 NKJV  Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

10. Call on God’s promise to heal the land

Next, we can call to remembrance God’s promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14 to heal the land and to pray for restoration, peace, and fruitfulness across the physical, cultural and spiritual landscape.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV  if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

11. To boldly preach the gospel

As we near the end of our prayer time, we can thank the Lord for the opportunity to stand in the gap to pray for the land and ask to be filled with boldness to speak His word, and be accompanied by signs and wonders to glorify His holy name.

Acts 4:29-31 NKJV  Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”  And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

12. Finish with a cleansing prayer

Finally, we close the time with a cleansing prayer, to cut spiritual ties with all involved and with the places we have prayed over, forbidding any backlash over ourselves and everything connected to us in Jesus’ name.

Testimony 1: Redeeming a building known for suicides

“I was walking my dog around my neighbourhood when the Holy Spirit dropped a word of knowledge into my heart, “suicides”, for a particular apartment block. I was not familiar with the history of that building and went back to do some research. By compiling past news reports, I noticed that there was one suicide in that block every year for the past few years. I found this quite concerning, so I prayed for the Holy Spirit to connect me with a Christian who lived in that estate to pray with me. The next week, I bumped into a friend from church who told me that he lived in that estate. Taking this as an answer to my prayer, I asked if he would join with me to fast and pray for one week for that apartment block. He agreed and we prayed together for one hour every day for seven days for the building and its residents. After those seven days, I felt a release from the prayer assignment. I am very glad to report that ever since then, there have been no more suicides in that block! Praise God.”

Testimony 2: Redeeming an office filled with conflict and animosity

Two senior managers in a large conglomerate had been praying for a spiritual turnaround at their company for over two decades, concerned by the corruption that they saw through under-the-table dealings. It seemed that the upper management felt like their hands were tied and could not do anything about it. The corruption was spreading and becoming more widespread. Known to uphold biblical principles and to refuse bribes (and therefore hinder some of the behind-the-scenes corruption), the two honest managers even received death threats. Frustrated, they were thinking of leaving the company but they felt the Lord did not give them the green light to do so.

So, they sought a few friends for prayer and invited them to go into their office premises to pray on a day when no one would be around. Led by the Holy Spirit, their intercessors advised them that the Holy Spirit had shown them that the two managers could not pray for those who they also complained against, that that would not be the right spirit to pray for revival. As the two senior managers repented for their attitude, they blessed their enemies at work. The group of intercessors then went across the entire office and blessed each occupant at each desk and sought God for mercy and blessing on those who were trapped into the corruption. They repented for the fengshui in the office and invited the Holy Spirit to do His work at the office and bring revival. Since then, the atmosphere at the office has changed significantly. There is more cooperation and opportunities to share the gospel with co-workers. Praise God!

Testimony 3: Confessing the pain a treaty brought to local residents

“We were praying in church one day, when the Holy Spirit inspired an intercessor with the instruction to ‘ask for healing over the impact of the treaty.’ We were a little surprised by this and immediately looked up the history of the church and its location. We noticed that two national powers had made a treaty 165 years ago to split the district the church was in into two. Overnight, neighbours and families were split by a boundary that now kept them on opposite sides of the border. They were never consulted and never compensated for loss of property. This must have brought a lot of grief. It also led to many economic hardships. In short, the people were treated unjustly. As we prayed to confess how the people must have felt and stood on their behalf in prayer to forgive the politicians on both sides, an immense peace fell into the hall that we were in. We felt that the prayer changed something in the spiritual atmosphere. Praise God.”

May this sharing be a blessing to you as you seek to love the Lord with all your heart and follow the Holy Spirit’s lead to pray for your land.