“Crack the Dome!”

This came to me as a whisper as I rested in my YMCA room in Jerusalem. It was 1994 and I was on my first trip to Israel.  I had seen two domes that day on the Temple Mount, so I asked, “Which dome?”

View Comments (32)

“The Dome of the Rock!” The answer was swift and certain.

Visit your state page to pray.

For years, I prayed — literally, “Crack the Dome, Lord. The Dome of the Rock.”

As can happen, this prayer began to slip away in my daily prayers, until several years later, when I happened upon a small news piece in a Christian magazine that reported minute cracks appearing in the foundation of the Temple Mount.

Boom, I was back on this prayer in a jiffy.

When I received the prayer, I didn’t imagine it to have a literal dimension; I assumed it was metaphorical. That the Lord wanted to remove the desecrating building from the Temple Mount in some way — perhaps clearing the way to build the third temple. Reading about the cracks in the Temple Mount gave me a renewed sense of wonder about the power of prayer and the need for persistence in it.

In Luke 18, Jesus relates an important principle about persistence to His disciples. We call it the parable of the persistent widow who regularly pled her case before an unjust judge. Worn down by her nagging, the judge resolves to rule for her to get her off his back. Jesus ends this lesson by comparing the unjust judge with the kind and loving Father who will certainly give justice to His people who cry out to Him.

While the parable is primarily focused on the perceived delay in the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus is teaching His disciples that prayer and persistence are critical to thriving while awaiting His return.

Those who are laboring in seemingly unfruitful fields of prayer find much hope in this parable. And it has proved pivotal to my continued “Crack the Dome of the Rock” intercession.

I pressed in on the prayer over the years, but my thoughts about it continued to center on the removal of the Dome from the Temple Mount. I’m rather astounded by my lack of insight into the fullness of the prayer. I failed to link it to the amazing accounts of Muslims deep in Islam territories having dreams about Jesus and coming to faith in Him. Not making the link to this prayer, I rejoiced with other IFA intercessors at these reports and relished the news that Gazans displaced by the conflict in the beleaguered area have also received the dreams and been saved.

Only a couple of weeks ago did I suddenly get it: The Lord was cracking the Dome! And He is using the Mideast conflict to serve this Kingdom purpose, too.

This “Crack the Dome of the Rock” prayer is just one among millions from devoted disciples of Jesus Christ for the salvation of Muslims. When my husband and fellow IFA contributing writer Rich visited the Bible College of Wales in 2000, he found the folks following in Rees Howells’ footsteps also committed to salvation in the Muslim world.

Connecting the dots on my little prayer, I have a new wondering awe for the power of persistence in prayer. And for the imagination of our Creator God.

Last week on Headline Prayer Live, Remco Brommet and Lori Meed discussed one of the Lord’s instructions to Pennsylvania Prayer Leaders Bill and Betsy West. The Lord called them to bold prayer for their Senator John Fetterman. They began to pray and reach out to the legislator. He has not only recovered from his serious health issues, but increasingly, he has proved to have his own mind on many issues, including holding the line on support for Israel.

The Lord once told me that praying big, bold prayers honored Him by recognizing His ability and desire to move in miraculous ways. For many IFA intercessors, the needed miracle centers on prodigal children and family members as well as what could be called a prodigal nation.

Are you laboring in this prayer? Can you see that as much as you yearn for miracles in your prayer, He yearns even more? If you happen to be a mother or grandmother, your prayers have special access to the Father’s ear. Recall that Jesus’s mother Mary’s request of her son caused Him to perform a sign — water into wine — before He had planned. And clearly this sign was approved by the Father, for Jesus testified He only did what the Father willed.

Intercessors, take heart! Take up those prayers you may have laid aside in discouragement or forgetfulness! These are the very prayers He loves to hear and act upon in His time and in His way.

Lord, thank You for encouraging prayer. Thank You for encouraging big, bold miracle prayer. Thank You for allowing us to participate in the establishment of the Kingdom on earth. We take hold of the Kingdom ways now and reactivate those prayers, dreams, and desires You placed in us. Open our eyes to see how You are answering and will answer these prayers. In Jesus’s Name.

Ask the Lord for an “impossible” prayer. Post in the comments what He shows you.

New York City–based Joyce Swingle is an intercessor and a contributing writer for IFA. With her husband, Rich, also a contributing writer for IFA, Joyce shares the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world through theater, speaking, writing, and film. Prior to going into full-time ministry, Joyce worked for about 20 major magazines and now works in pastoral ministry and Christian counseling. www.Richdrama.com. Photo Credit: Intercessors for America.