Five New Yorkers from various regions joined me at the West Capitol Park in August to begin a prayer walk and lay hands on some important buildings in the Albany area. Though few in number, we thought of Gideon’s army, and how sometimes the Lord only needs a few to get His purposes fulfilled.

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There was David, known around New York as one who moves in the prophetic, and Debra, whom the Lord often wakes up at night to pray. Cathy, an intercessor who helps her husband shepherd a local church, joined us along with Melissa, the New York state leader for the “Don’t Mess with Our Kids” April rally, and her friend Sandy.

Excited to get started on our journey, we prayed and took communion together before going to the Alfred E. Smith building. This building houses offices for many state agencies that have to do with business and commerce, and we prayed for God’s will to be done within these agencies, salvation for those who don’t yet know the Lord, and fire and boldness for those who do.

The second stop was the Department of Education building. The seal emblazoned on the building was intended to be a mother with her Geneva Bible opened, teaching her children a biblical foundation. Over time (since the influence of the humanist educator John Dewey), public education veered away from this biblical foundation. The Department now fashions itself as the “mother” of our children, despite the original meaning of the building’s seal displaying the biblical foundation of education and pointing to our godly roots at Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.

Mindful that our schools no longer allow prayer but rather teach “doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1), we prayed for the enlightenment of our educators and administrators. We also prayed for protection for the children of New York.

Moving on to the Albany Civil Court building, we prayed for God’s justice to reign. We referred to an IFA article titled “4 Scriptures to Pray over the Justice System” by Jamie  Rohrbaugh, asking the Lord to sanctify the justice system for His purposes.

Next, we went to the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state above the New York State Supreme Court, to pray for God’s justice for upcoming cases. A September hearing was scheduled there for the teachers who lost their jobs because of their refusal to take the COVID vaccine. This court will also host the “quarantine camp” lawsuit, which seeks to give the government power to evict New Yorkers from their homes on suspicion of being in contact with a communicable disease, and to place them wherever the government sees fit. This law is an example of total government overreach, considering that there were Tuberculosis laws written 70 years ago requiring due process and medical consultation before isolating those who are ill.

We were about to leave the court when a security worker offered us booklets that explained the court’s function, photos of the presiding judges, and pencils with gavel-shaped erasers. He invited us to come back on a weekday when we could take a tour inside the building.

Next, we visited the Albany County Court building, where the Lord gave us several words of knowledge, visions, and impressions. We felt we couldn’t move on to our next stop, and David noted that this building was so much darker than the building next door, the Court of Appeals.

“I kept seeing the county court building with a black shadow that was moving over in a stream to the Court of Appeals,” David later described. “It didn’t make sense since usually it is the state level that overshadows the county /local level. This was clearly the reverse and therefore hidden.” When he asked the Lord what he was seeing, he sensed God revealing that an older root at the local level was affecting the state level. Iniquity was deep in the soil long before the creation of the state level.

 I kept hearing the word “foundation” and told the others. We prayed and broke curses from the brutal events and broken covenants with the Native Americans in the 1600s when the Dutch owned New York. We took communion and blew the shofar there.

We proceeded down State Street and prayed at the Albany County Office Building, where the public can attend and voice their opinions before new laws are voted on. Recently, there was a hearing for Local Law “D,” an item our group had prayed against on our weekly state calls. When I had written up my prayer agenda for the weekly call, I checked the link for the Albany County hearing agenda and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the words “withdrawn by sponsor.” What an answer to prayer! Local Law D would have forced Pregnancy Resource Centers to tell women that they are entitled to an abortion. For now, this law has been withdrawn by its sponsor, at least until after the election, and we praise the Lord.

Just before reaching our last two stops (the Capitol building and the Legislative Office Building), we passed the State Trooper office building. It was not on the agenda, but we felt led to stay and pray for sheriffs and all law enforcement, for their safety, and that none would misuse their authority to abuse others.

At the close of our walk, David blew the shofar again. We prayed for our protection and families and went our separate ways. We hope to do another prayer walk soon and visit other sites in the Albany area.

Has God given you insight into the needs of your state capitol as you prayer walk? Share them with us!

Debbie Jantzen is the IFA state prayer leader for New York. Photo Credit: Andre Carrotflower – Own work, Public Domain.