Why Pray in Front of the US Supreme Court for 10 Years?

Saturday marks the 10-year anniversary of Bound4LIFE and the Justice House of Prayer DC. We are so thankful for God’s faithfulness this past decade–how He has made a way for us to remain on Capitol Hill. Some have asked the question, “Has it been worth it?” Emphatically I say, Yes!

From Day One, we’ve burned with a burden to plead the Blood of Jesus over the bloodshed of the innocent due to abortion. Lou Engle has often asked, “Has there ever in history been a larger, more focused application of the Blood of Jesus on a single issue?”

As I was recently praying for the upcoming anniversary, the Lord gave me a powerful picture of what 10 years of prayers in front of the Supreme Court have represented. On the day of Passover, the people were instructed to take the blood of the lamb and apply it to the doorposts and lintel of their homes. I saw the left and right doorposts as 2004 to 2014. The lintel connecting the two was the 10-year span that we have faithfully cried out on behalf of the nation. The picture is of the “doorway of a decade,” and what a privilege it has been to apply the Blood of Jesus to it.

In the Beginning

After 50 days and nights of prayer before the 2004 elections, Lou Engle led a team of young intercessors to Washington, DC. The objective was to contend in prayer for the ending of abortion. Immediately at stake was an anticipated shifting of the U.S. Supreme Court.

At that time, everyone knew Chief Justice William Rehnquist had cancer. His departure from the Court was expected, creating the potential for a dramatic shift in the make-up of the nine justices. The change of even one seat could have a profound effect on how the Court would rule and subsequently determine the destiny of our nation. In times of political upheaval and governmental uncertainty, it’s vital to lay hold of the eternal reality of the heavenly throne—as when Isaiah said, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne” (Is. 6:1).

The day our prayer team arrived just happened to be the opening day of a new session—the first Monday of October. No one had planned it, but we walked right into a protest and media frenzy focused on abortion. Pro-abortion protestors held signs that read, “Save Roe” (to us, this defensive language highlighted possibilities on the horizon.) The team was greeted by bullhorns, shouts and angry chants like, “Keep your rosaries off our ovaries.” We weren’t even Catholic, but I can’t repeat some of the vulgar chants. The rancor in the air was palpable.

A Strategy Only God Could Have Planned

Leading up to that visceral moment, one of our young leaders had been fasting for the ending of abortion. He received a dream from the Lord in which he saw thousands of people filling the city of Washington, D.C. In the dream, everyone had a piece of tape over their mouth with the simple word “LIFE” written on it. The scene in front of the Supreme Court on the day of our arrival could not have been more different.

Rather than joining in the commotion, the team sought the Lord for what we should do. In a moment of clarity, Lou Engle said, “Let’s just do the dream.” Someone on our team had red tape on hand. Each person wrote “LIFE” on it and placed the tape over their mouth. In Ezekiel 22:30, God says, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land.” With red Life Tape we stood side-by-side and formed a wall in front of the Court.

Imagine the stark contrast of one group screaming and yelling, right next to another group standing in complete silence. It didn’t go unnoticed—not by us and not by the media.

A leader of a national pro-abortion group approached one of our people asking, “What is this? We’ve never seen this before.” It wasn’t a protest; it was a prayer meeting. The silent prayers were to identify with the silence of the pre-born who have no voice to defend themselves. The pro-abortion leader responded with a statement that has been proven true time and again: “I don’t know if you realize it, but what you’re doing is brilliant strategy.”

In a short time, the image of young people praying with red Life Tape spread everywhere as the media latched on to it. It quickly became a picture that spoke a thousand words. Red Life Bands—worn after committing to pray, vote and obey—reminded us of the vision everyday.

Young countercultural dreamers dared to believe a nation’s conscience could be subpoenaed with a single word from heaven declared in obedience. Faith was rising; the death culture of a nation could be challenged and thrown down.

A Hill Above Capitol Hill

During the earliest days of that “Silent Siege,” the Lord made it clear He wanted a house of prayer to contend for righteousness and justice on Capitol Hill. This wouldn’t be a man-made effort of lobbying lawmakers. Instead, it would lobby heaven. It would ascend a hill higher than Capitol Hill. It would make its appeal to a court much higher than the Supreme Court.

Miracle after miracle took place, and a space for a prayer room was secured. The Justice House of Prayer was born.

Malachi 1:11 says, “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty.” Thankfully, Washington, D.C. isn’t off limits to this promise.

Training for the Battles Ahead

Many people have referred to abortion as a Goliath. It certainly seems to have earned that title, challenging the church relentlessly for decades and leaving us feeling powerless before it. What I have learned, though, is that abortion is not the giant. It is, in fact, a lion or a bear—a training ground for something bigger.

Abortion is a proving ground for prayer, intercession and fasting. Put it to the test—I dare you.

Please understand that I’m not trying to minimize abortion in any way. It is a holocaust, and it needs to be a focus for the entire church right now. In the same way, I would never suggest that a lion or bear be taken lightly. They are very dangerous predators. Yet for young David they were an opportunity for courage: to train his hands for battle, to snatch his innocent lambs from the fangs of a fierce enemy.

Days are coming when the church will need much courage and conviction to stand in the face of opposition greater than anything we have previously known. We will need better understanding of spiritual weapons and how to handle them in the context of culture, government, public policy and the civic arena.

Praying for the ending of abortion is no simple matter. We must understand the enemy’s ever-changing tactics: the abortion industry’s racial targeting, sex-selective abortion, telemed abortion, one-child policies, abortion-inducing birth control mandates, fetal pain, post-abortion stress syndrome—the list goes on.

How can we reach people in love while at the same time opposing an antichrist status quo? How can we identify the enemy’s shrewd strategies and contend for the justice of Jesus to come? This is the challenge today, but it will be amplified in the days ahead.

Ten Years and Counting

So what has happened in the last 10 years? A lot.

I have watched the pro-abortion lobby grow gray hair, while pro-life advocates have an increasing youth and zeal on our side. 1970’s-era science is giving way to cutting-edge genetic research that demonstrates human life begins at conception—a fact now upheld in our courts.

I have seen four Supreme Court justices replaced in that time. Early on, one of our young people was told the name “John Roberts” in a dream weeks before President Bush ever nominated him. In another dream, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told us she was coming to help the cause. A few days later she unexpectedly resigned from the Supreme Court—a decision she later regretted—and made way for her replacement, Justice Samuel Alito.

While praying during Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings, one of my staff and I were unexpectedly seated right behind her. Right at the moment she was responding to a question about abortion, one of our Life Bands was clearly visible just over her head as the C-SPAN cameras rolled. I took it as an encouragement from the Lord: He is raising up a prayer movement to prevail even over the minds of judges.

I was praying in front of the Supreme Court late in the day on April 17, 2007. I looked up to see Justice Anthony Kennedy standing in one of the front windows looking directly at our small team in red Life tape. No one else was out front besides us, and I wondered what he might be thinking. The next morning the court released its ruling in Gonzalez vs. Carhart upholding Congress’s ban on partial-birth abortion, and Kennedy had written the opinion. Some time later I read an account of Kennedy standing in a front window looking at protesters in 1992 right before he surprised his colleagues by changing his position in Casey v. Planned Parenthood.

During the hot summer of 2008, the Lord led us to stand and pray 24/7 in front of the Supreme Court for nearly four months. We began on April 28, ended on August 15… and at the conclusion we were not able to discern any effect of the intensified stand in prayer. Yet one year later, studies and polling showed a sudden, dramatic shift in the nation’s culture. For the first time ever, the majority of Americans identified themselves as pro-life. A subsequent study by Pew Research in October 2009, entitled “Support for Abortion Slips,” confirmed the results, but no single cause for the shift could be identified. All the reports indicated, however, that the shift began in the first week of May 2008. Incredible!

The Supreme Court has heard abortion-related cases a total of five different times in the last 10 years. In all five cases, the majority has come down favorably on the side of life.

Gaining Momentum Through Air Power

Some might ask, “After 10 years, haven’t you run out of things to pray?” Not at all! I am so encouraged by the pro-life momentum that’s taking place in states all across the nation. I see the unjust props of the abortion industry being removed and their profit engine being dismantled. It is so important to pray for governmental leaders. Those who are taking a stand for babies in the womb, for mothers and fathers, need us to pray for them and contend for their success.

Ground battles can be won only when the battle for the air has been won. They need to know that, but so do you. Don’t think that the momentum we see right now is any indication or promise of success. Demonic adversaries are raging right now. The abortion industry is clinging to remnants of an ideology that has fallen out of favor and is grasping for new ground.

Today we begin our second decade of prayer in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. I’m excited to see what God wants to do next and to partner with Him in seeing His heart revealed in the Earth. I invite you to make this story your own. Join us in persistently praying for the ending of abortion. Visit us in D.C. Get a Life Band, an everyday reminder to pray, vote and obey. Join in with a Bound4LIFE chapter near you, or start one of your own.

“Jesus, I plead your Blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America.”

Matt Lockett is a full-time missionary serving as the director of Bound4LIFE and the Justice House of Prayer D.C. Follow @mattlockett on Twitter.