The name of the book comes from Genesis 22:17-18, where God promised Abraham, "thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies". Because we are Abraham's spiritual seed, this promise pertains to us today. "The gates of hell will not prevail against a praying church" (p15).

In the first two chapters of the book, Cindy describes the three phases the Lord took her through in her development as an intercessor. The first phase, which lasted for several years, was to pray behind the scenes as the Holy Spirit led her. She experienced many remarkable answers to prayer during this time, and began to speak to others about what God had taught her. Then God asked her to lay this ministry down and learn to intercede, and thus began phase two. During this phase, she observed and prayed with some very experienced intercessors, asking them countless questions. Much of the book is a compilation of the things that she learnt from these people. Finally, God led her into the third phase of her training: that of a prayer leader. This involved gathering His "generals" of intercession together to learn the Lord's strategy to combat the enemy and to take cities and nations for God.

This book is very easy to read and contains lots of illustrations from her own experience of prayer and intercession. It is also very encouraging, as she describes some of the miraculous answers to prayer that she and other intercessors have received. For example, Bruce Olson, a missionary to the Motilone Indians, had been captured by guerillas in Colombia. A team of intercessors in Manila interceded for his release, standing in the gap between Bruce Olson and the satanic forces behind those that held him captive. One week after this prayer, he was released.

Throughout the book, Cindy emphasises the importance of having a clean heart. Without a clean heart, intercessors can pray out of their woundedness rather than praying the desires of God. The quote by Rees Howells at the beginning of the chapter on The Clean Heart Principle says, "Before He [the Savior] can lead a chosen vessel into such a life of intercession, He first has to deal to the bottom with all that is natural". This includes every area of self as well as sin. In this chapter, Cindy describes how God dealt with Joseph in the Old Testament and allowed him to go through some rather unpleasant circumstances in order to get rid of the pride in his heart. Cindy also tells of some of her own experiences through which God exposed her own wicked heart.

Possessing the Gates of the Enemy is a book for both the beginning intercessor and for those who are more experienced in the use of this gift. It has a chapter describing some of the terminology of intercession for those who are new to this ministry. This describes the meaning of terms such as "breaking a yoke", "binding and loosing" and "supplication". It also has a chapter on the manifestations of intercession, in which travailing, weeping and laughing are described. The section on travailing gives an interesting illustration of a trainee missionary called John, who, when asked to pray for a missionary who was very ill in the Philippines, entered into travail for her. He had never prayed like this in his life before, but the prayer was dramatically answered and the missionary sovereignly healed. A short time later, she visited the camp where John was training, they met, and were married soon after.

A chapter on Flaky Intercession warns us of some traps to avoid. Satan can lead us into deception in the area of intercession just as much as he can in any other area. Again, Cindy emphasises the importance of having a clean heart. Pride or lack of submission can cause intercessors to get into manipulative or even witchcraft praying.

A chapter of prophetic intercession deals with praying the things that are on God's heart. The author defines prophetic intercession as "the ability to receive an immediate prayer request from God and pray about it in a divinely anointed utterance" (page 151). Even small children can pray in this way. One day, Cindy's 6 year old son, Daniel, came running in, saying that he felt something funny in his tummy. Cindy asked him if it really was his tummy, or whether God was trying to tell him something. As they prayed together, Daniel asked, "could the President of the United States be killed?" He prayed and asked God to protect the President. The next week she was told about a plot to assassinate President Reagan that had been uncovered the previous week.

Further chapters deal with intercessory praise and spiritual warfare. Cindy gained an understanding of intercessory praise from Isaiah 56:7, "My house shall be called a house of prayer". A study of the word for "prayer" in this passage showed her that it meant intercessory song. Prayer was closely connected with music in the Old Testament. She goes on to stress that God wants intercessors to be joyful in the house of prayer, rather than to allow the enemy to overwhelm them with grief and sorrow over the problems they pray about. She continues the chapter with a discussion of the value of praise in spiritual warfare.

She covers spiritual warfare in more detail in the final chapter, which has the same title as the book, Possessing the Gates of the Enemy. Here she describes some of the characteristics of the enemy hierarchy and strategies for overcoming the spiritual strongholds of a city. She also emphasises that this is not to be undertaken lightly, and gives two safeguards for anyone undertaking spiritual warfare on behalf of a city:

1. It should always be done corporately by those who know what they are doing
2. Those involved should be under spiritual authority, and use godly wisdom.

There are also very practical chapters, one of which gives advice and guidelines to ministers about finding personal prayer partners, and tips for becoming an effective prayer partner. Another chapter deals with corporate intercession for a church or ministry. It describes the role of a prayer leader, and gives guidelines for the leaders and members of intercessory prayer groups. Another describes prayer watches and walks. Prayer watches are intense, concentrated sessions of prayer for a specified time or purpose. The longest prayer watch ever was a 24-hour one held for over 100 years by the Moravians. Again, guidelines are given for setting up prayer watches, especially for those being held for conferences.

Overall, the book is a very thorough coverage of the topic of intercession from the point of view of someone who has intimate knowledge of the area from years of personal experience. It encourages and motivates us to pray and to expect to see God answer prayer. I would recommend it to anyone who anyone who desires to have a further understanding of this very powerful ministry of intercession.