...Yet despite the language barrier the Lord worked mightily during my visit to Ecuador's largest city....

** I traveled to the city of Guayaquil (pop. 2.2 million) with Nebuardo (“Nebby”) Gomez and his wife Dee. They are Ecuadorians who planted a church five years ago in the Orlando area. Nebby has been bringing leaders from around the world to his native country to help fuel a revival that is beginning to transform the nation. Last year he began hosting an annual Apostolic and Prophetic Conference. Nebby, Dee and I were joined by Diane Buker in Miami and then we all flew to Guayaquil. Diane is the director of the Strategic Prayer Network, a national movement chaired by Dr. Peter Wagner.

** Recently the Lord has been working in Guayaquil in amazing ways. Just a few years ago the city was infamous for a high crime rate, widespread corruption and a horrible garbage problem. In the 1980s the garbage in the streets caused the whole city to stink—and this reflected a deeper spiritual problem. However some Christians learned the principles of spiritual warfare and began to pray strategically. One day in 1993 several thousand believers marched to the top of the two hills where Guayaquil was founded. They prayed, worshiped and asked for God’s intervention, and a transformation began. Today the garbage is gone, evangelical churches are growing, new businesses are starting, the city has a gleaming new airport, and residents are actually happy with their mayor.

** I preached in the conference on Friday and Saturday, with the help of my translator, Marlon Morey, a young Peruvian man who now lives in Orlando. About 3,000 people attended the meetings. In my first session I confronted the power of machismo directly and challenged men in the audience to repent. A group of them came to the altar to kneel, and some of them were weeping as I prayed for the Holy Spirit to set them free from abusive behavior. Then I asked Nebby and other pastors from the city to come to the stage and repent on behalf of all Ecuadorian men. Amazingly, the local newspaper, Expreso, took a photo of the kneeling men and published it in the paper the next day! God made sure that this special moment was documented in the city’s history.

** In my second meeting I focused more on praying for the women, asking the Lord to unleash an apostolic spirit on them. They were eager to respond after I told them how God is using women to plant churches and win the lost in China, Russia and Indonesia. They rushed to the altar and something dynamic was released upon them as we broke the power of fear and intimidation.

** These people were so spiritually hungry that they literally pulled the message and the anointing out of me. On the last night hundreds of men and women were lined up to receive prayer from the speakers. I learned to pray for them in Spanish and I grew accustomed to saying, “Rompo el poder de oppresion” (“I break the power of oppression”). Often when I .prayed this, women would begin to cry or fall on the floor.

** On my last day in Guayaquil I did a women’s meeting at Abba Ministries, one of the churches that helped organize the conference. The interesting thing about the meeting was that many men came, simply because they are so spiritually hungry. I focused on releasing healing to the women who had negative experiences with their fathers—either because of abandonment, rejection based on gender, physical abuse or molestation. More than half the women in the place came to the altar for prayer at the end, and a sweet anointing of healing was released. A few women had to be taken aside when demons of abuse began to manifest. Others just wept and received a baptism of the Father’s love. At the end, I also called to the altar men who had been abused or harshly treated by their dads. Nebby, Pastor Hugo and I held them in our arms and prayed that they would experience their Heavenly Father’s embrace.

** I had one nagging frustration during my entire time in Ecuador. I really wanted to communicate to the people in Spanish because I know it is easier for them to grasp the message without having to deal with translation. So it was very encouraging when Costa Rican apostle Rony Chavez , one of the speakers in the conference, prophesied over me on the first night of the meeting and said that I would be learning Spanish rapidly and supernaturally. Yes, Lord! Estoy listo a predicar en espanol!