What is a 'War Room'? In secular militaries it is the place where the Commander-in-chief meets with his advisors to map out battle plans, combat tactics and strategies, etc., and where they are discussed in detail before being executed or discarded.
Likewise, in the spiritual realm, The War Room is the Center where you as Prayer Warriors will go as an Armed Force to gain knowledge of your 'battlefield'; how to research and map out your neighborhood, community, or city for spiritual warfare to be most effective. A place where you can openly discuss tactics, strategies, logistics, unexpectent strongholds that might be encountered, the best possible defense to tackle them, and so forth. It is also the place where you will do much of your warfare on your knees.
John Dawson in his book Taking Our Cities for God, pp.115,116, talks about researching the particular city where you live. The same principles he shares can also be applied to particular neighborhoods, or entire nations. One of his very first questions is:
"Do you know your city?...First, get a map of the city. Study it carefully... What you research depends on your goals..."
As our Commander-in-Chief's special forces here on planet earth we must be knowledgeable about the inroads the devil and his cohorts have to use to infiltrate territories in our families, neighborhoods, towns, cities, etc..
Once all this information has been gathered, then the actual plotting is carried out:
1) Obtain a map of your neighborhood, community, city, etc.. (if your Armed Force is just in your apartment complex, tenement building, or immediate neighborhood/gather names of who lives where; local businesses; churches, and so forth). Maps may be obtained via the Internet; Post Office; the county or city tax assessors; or from local realtors.
2) Walk or drive the area--a town, for instance, check out areas that especially need intensive saturation/where drugs are predominate, or pornography, or.... Mark these on your map with colored markers (more battles will be fought either in your homes or in The War Room, then through Prayer Walking). But you still need to know where these areas are. Also, remember to locate schools, places where young people congregate/they are very vulnerable to evil and its associates. The same applies if you are in a city, or wherever.
3) As a group determine who is to be assigned what area, at least 2 or 3 Prayer Warriors for each.
4) Visit the churches within each assigned area, talk with the Pastor/and possibly members, secure their cooperation to pray on a regular basis for their area. And if they have concerns to reveal them to your Warriors to be added to the burdens needing more intense warfare.
(NOTE: A question has been asked: Is Prayer Walking biblical? If we let the Bible interpret itself the answer is, in one way 'Yes'; but on the other hand, it's 'No.' The Old Testament tells us about Enoch who "walked with GOD." ~Genesis 5:22, and Joshua marching his armed force around Jericho ~Joshua 6:4-20. Also, that GOD once instructed one of His prophets, Ezekiel by name, to "...take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it...then take an iron pan and place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel." ~Ezekiel 4:1-3.
Now there are some professed Christians who believe these texts are referring to Prayer Walking and Spiritual Mapping. And I suppose they could be stretched to include those meanings, but it would be a long stretch of the imagination after reading each in their context. What about the New Testament? The silence is deafening!
So, is Prayer Walking biblical? Technically 'No.' Then is it wrong to engage in them if they are not in the Bible? No. What we do all depends on who we know. If we know CHRIST as we ought to, as a close personal friend, He's more than willing to go with us even on a Prayer Walk.
The simple reality is that every time we--you, me, or any Christian--walk out of our front door, we must be in an attitude of prayer. Remember what 'prayer' means? It is talking with GOD as if we were having an intimate conversation with our BEST friend.
If He is not with us, then we are not really 'prayer' walking.)
5) When all the preliminaries are completed, it is time to kneel and seek in prayer the LORD's timing and the exact plan of attack.
6) Whatever you do, DO NOT RUSH AHEAD of our Commander-in-Chief. Do not take verses out of His holy Word and make them fit your agenda! The Bible tells us to "be patient and wait" upon the LORD! (Psalm 37:7)
7) In every thing we do, fellow Warriors, we must copy CHRIST. 1 John 2:3-6 says "And by this we may be sure that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. They who say 'I know Him' but disobeys His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in them; but whoever keeps His Word, in them truly love for GOD is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in Him. They who say they abide in Him ought to walk in the same way He walked." (Each of you might just take some time and check out GOD's commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17; if this is the criteria by which we know if we are in CHRIST; we need to make sure that we are in Him.).
These are not my words, but GOD's. Prayer Walking and Spiritual Mapping are okay as far as they go, but JESUS, to my knowledge, did neither. Nor did He do what we refer to as spiritual warfare. He went about doing His work throughout the day in whatever place He was at, and then at night He would go out to a garden, or a mountainside...and there He would pray, on His knees, sometimes all night.
One last note on this subject:
Active warfare praying (every day/several times a day... 2 or 3 interceding for the same individual) does bring changes in people, and/or their situations because the HOLY SPIRIT is in our world softening hearts. This is verified by a multitude of testimonials. But there is a time when warfare praying becomes unScriptural. And as Prayer Warriors we must not only be aware of this, but must make sure that we DO NOT step across the boundary into that forbidden area.
1 Timothy 2:1,2 tells us that we are to intercede for all peoples and governments, which translated into today's language means: neighborhoods, communities, countries...etc.. However, if you do an 'in-depth' study into our 'Manual of Arms', the Bible, you will discover we have never been given authority to take over any government, country, or...
Read Matthew 13:24-30, JESUS says here: "The wheat and the tares are to grow together until the harvest...." Notice verses 28 and 29:
28 ...The servants said to him, 'shall we go gather them (the tares) up? 29 He said 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you uproot wheat with them."
Now go to verses 36 to 42. Here JESUS explains what this parable about the tares is all about. V.38) (last part) the tares are the children of the wicked one. V.39) The enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; AND THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS."
The reason for this text is our Commander-in-Chief's policy of 'no force or coercion' against anyone's free-will choice. The devil's forces can only be totally demolished and eradicated when those for whom we are praying for accepts CHRIST as their LORD and Savior, and is born-again.
Our emphasis must always be "Is what I am doing (or claiming) approved by GOD?" If, after studying the Bible, you cannot find a clear 'Thus says the LORD', DO NOT proceed any further! You will be on satan's ground, unprotected. Even if you sincerely believe you are right...sincerity will not protect you. Remember Proverbs 14:2 "There is a way which seems right unto a man, but its end is the way of death."
Victories can be hastened and casualties lessened ONLY by doing things GOD's way. It is imperative that you, fellow Prayer Warrior, have a settled conviction that the Holy Bible is just that: Holy, GOD-given, GOD-breathed, GOD-protected, and GOD-preserved Word. You must settled it in your heart that it is without error (even though there might be parts of it you do not understand) and that it contains all you need to fight - and win - every battle with the devil and his cohorts. If you are not absolutely convinced of this, you will be defeated in your endeavors.
GOD's Truth must be at home in you, and you must be at home in it.