America is in a perilous situation today. I sense an urgency in sharing with you, my fellow intercessors, encouragement to remain on high alert and be quick to pray when the Spirit prompts.

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A week after the February 2004 National Prayer Breakfast, a friend who was the wife of U.S. Senator contacted me. She wanted to know if I would accompany her and some other women on a nine-day trip to five Balkan countries. The purpose was to encourage leaders in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. Douglas Coe, who then headed the NPB, could not have been more urgent about the trip’s importance: “You must go now; it cannot wait until spring.”

Our first stop was Serbia, where we stayed in the White Palace and met with Prince Alexander and Princess Katherine. We had some excellent discussions around the Lord Jesus, accompanied by powerful prayer times in which we listened to these royals’ hearts for the restoration of their divided nation. We shared Jesus with the director of Romania’s Social Services as she discussed the heartbreak of that country’s inability to care for millions of orphaned children. We met with many other brokenhearted leaders seeking answers to their country’s problems. But our visit with President Boris and First Lady Vilma Trajkovski, of Macedonia, would impact my life forever.

After we ladies had enjoyed a delightful lunch with the first lady, President Trajkovski dropped by to say hello and to welcome us to Macedonia. On his way out the door to return to his office, he turned to my friend Marge and me and pointed to a bench in the garden.

He said: “I sat right there on that bench and prayed. I asked the Lord if I should sign the bill Congress had passed. All it needed was my signature. I clearly felt the Lord tell me what I already knew: I could not approve this bill, so I refused to sign it.”

With those words, he excused himself, said a few quick goodbyes, and went out to his waiting car and driver, who would take him to his office to tend to his presidential duties.

Marge turned to me and whispered: “That, Nancy, will cost him his life.”

Let Me Pray Now! Or Perhaps Later …

My knees went weak. I felt an immediate urgency: Pray! Now! A second thought overruled that urgency as I looked around the room. I thought: Many important people are in this room, and if I pray or get on my knees like I want to do, they will think I’m crazy. My third thought was a bit more logical, and that was the idea I finally embraced: I belong to a wonderful intercessory prayer group, and we will pray for him when I get back home.

Later, I learned that the bill the president declined to sign would have established a second Albanian university in Macedonia. I wondered how refusing to start a university could cost the man his life. I didn’t know. But I did know that Marge, the prophetic one in our group, had a reputation for being highly accurate in her promptings from God.

Three days later, as we waited to visit with the president of Romania, an aid bolted from his office and came directly to where we sat waiting. The president couldn’t meet with us; they had just received notice that President Trajkovski and eight members of his staff were all killed in a plane crash. On their way to a NATO meeting, they encountered fog and crashed into the mountains north of Skopje. NATO planes carried investigators out to the crash site, but being unable to fly through the fog, they delayed their search for survivors for three weeks. By the time they did reach the site, all those in the plane were dead.

My mind could barely grasp the magnitude of the situation. Boris Trajkovski was a strong believer in Jesus and a great spiritual asset to his nation. For years, he had headed the Macedonian Evangelical Methodist Church. He established a youth-exchange program between Macedonia and England. Most important, his country needed his strong leadership.

His enemies faulted him for his loyalty to his country. He cared deeply about the sovereignty of Macedonia. One of his primary objectives was to secure the border between the Christian nation of Macedonia and the Muslim nation of Albania, to the south. The Albanians had a slow plan in place to take more and more land from Macedonia. Every year Albania encroached on Macedonian land increasingly, blurring the borders by moving their homes and businesses into Macedonia — where of course they spoke Albanian, flew Albanian flags, and pledged allegiance to Albania.

In retrospect, I should have dropped to my knees and prayed on that very day when the prophetic warning came. Could my prayer have stopped the deathly hand of the Enemy? I will never know. But I do know painfully what the outcome was when I allowed doubt to overrule and made a decision not to pray when the Holy Spirit had prompted me. Instead, I postponed my prayer to a “later time.”

I have learned the hard way that when God speaks, when the spirit of compassion comes upon me with undeniable force, that that’s the time to pray. Intercessors know when this happens. And wise intercessors will pray immediately.

My prayer now is that each of us will be quick to pray whenever a warning comes to our attention. And at present, during these tumultuous times, our nation needs and depends on our prayers.

Ask the Lord if there is an urgent prayer need right now, and then pray! 

Nancy Huff is an educator with a mission to equip believers to pray strategically for the cultural mountain of education. She is the author of Taking the Mountain of Education: A Strategic Prayer Guide to Transform American Schools; Safety Zone: Scriptural Prayers to Revolutionize Your School; and Decrees for Your School. She leads groups for prayer at key educational locations across the U.S. Find out more by visiting TakingTheMountainOfEducation.com. Photo Credit: itsmejust/Getty Images via Canva Pro.