War Room comes to theaters Aug. 28 and Christian leaders who received a recent sneak peek at Atlanta’s Convergence Conference are singing its praises.
They’re saying this cinematic tale of one woman teaching another to go to war spiritually in her prayer closet could be nation-changing.
“If you’re really going to fight and be engaged in these last days battles for the Lord, we’re going to have to do it in our prayer closets first,” Kay Horner, Awakening America Alliance executive director, told CBN News.
“War Room is something that helps us realize that unless we engage in prayer in our personal lives and become an example in our families, to our children, that we’re really just playing around and kind of like shadow-boxing,” she added.
One thing the movie highlights is why the word “war” is right in the middle of the term “prayer warrior.”
“I’m really happy to see a movie—a Christian movie—that talks about the most pivotal topic for a Christian: spiritual warfare,” Atlanta’s Carli Eli said. “The enemy is out there to steal, kill and destroy. And to see these characters really take that ownership with the presence of the Lord and take back their homes, their families, their marriages, their communities—it was just fantastic.”
Eli said War Room‘s main message to her was, “We do have the power and the authority in the name of Jesus…that we should not walk in fear, that we should walk with the power of God to destroy all principalities and powers of darkness, and just walk in that victory that God has laid out for our lives.”
“It’s probably the most significant word from God to the Body of Christ that I’ve heard in the last 20 years,” David Franklin, Georgia coordinator for the National Day of Prayer team, said of the film.
Franklin believes it will teach everyday believers, “I can do this. I can grab a hold of God Himself.'”
“And just by getting into the Word is the way to do that,” Theresa Cantrell, Georgia Capitol coordinator for the Awakening America Alliance, said.
Cantrell had special praise for the movie’s heroine basing her prayers on Bible passages.
“The way she had the Scriptures and she actually prayed the words of God, that Word came alive. It’s the Living Word,” she said.
Franklin pointed to research showing 58 to 60 percent of Christians feel stuck in their relationship with Christ.
“Number one way to get somebody unstuck? It’s praying over an open Bible 15 minutes a day,” he said. “Praying over an open Bible, those people’s joy goes up, service goes up, and abundant life, giving, everything radically changes.”
“Go on your knees, get on your face, pray the Scripture, pray the truth, and you’ll see transformation,” Bryan Davidson of Cumming, Georgia, said after seeing War Room.
Davidson talked about how a group of female prayer warriors changed his life.
“I’m saved because my mom and her prayer ladies, they prayed for me,” he said. “It caused me to get real uncomfortable and it led me to Jesus.”
Pastor Corey Lee of Atlanta’s Convergence Church said War Room will provide a valuable education for many believers.
“We want to pray, but a lot of us don’t know how to pray,” Lee pointed out. “I think this is an historic movie that’s going to shape the way the Body of Christ functions in America.”
Genendal Fratantuono came out of the sneak preview emotionally touched.
“Look at my face: at the tears, my makeup all messed up,” she said. “This is going to motivate people to pray and to trust God to give answers to the cries of their hearts. So it’s wonderful.”
War Room, like the Bible itself frowns, on lukewarm Christianity. Cantrell tied that into how she believes God is looking at America today.
“He doesn’t want the half-hearted seeker,” she said. “He wants someone who’s desperate for Him and I think that’s why here in America He’s let us get a little bit desperate. He’s let us see a degree of brokenness we’ve never seen before so that we would know we can’t fix this ourselves.”
That’s one of the reasons Davidson said of the film, “It just gives us exactly what we need for the times that we’re in right now. It’s perfect.”
Franklin, Cantrell, and Horner are all part of a national team organizing prayer gatherings this Sept. 11 called Cry Out America.
They believe it’s no coincidence “War Room” is coming out just before those prayer gatherings.
“With War Room being released on August 28, we’re hoping it’s just going to be a real mobilization force to get people out at noon at their county courthouses on 9/11 to cry out to God for a Christ Awakening in America,” Horner said.
“What God wants for a family, for a person, for a nation, has to become what we want,” Cantrell added.
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