The past week, and indeed the past summer, has been an incredible one for fans of praying for London.
- Last Monday night we held our final evening prayer walk of the year around the City of London. Three people came out for it, which admittedly is not very many. But when we add it up, Prayer for London has organised walks for over 100 people over this summer. Great that so many people have come out for evenings of tourist prayer action.
- Last Thursday the bi-monthly Kingdom Come prayer meeting at HTB gathered around 150 people. We spent two hours seeking God, listening to what He was saying, and then praying those things into being. HTB will continue running the meetings in the future, and announced this New Year’s Eve they are opening a dedicated 24-7 Prayer room at the church, open to everyone, and available as a resource to the Church in London.
- On Saturday, tens of thousands of people gathered in Wembley Stadium for the National Day of Prayer. We came together to pray God’s blessing on England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The staging of this event is the partial fulfilment of a vision God gave to National Day of Prayer convener Jonathan Oloyede many years ago, and should be an amazing encouragement to us as a church, that He is moving us forward into an exciting future, where more people are praying, and the Kingdom is growing across these islands.
Last week @PeteGreig also sent a series of tweets that really grabbed my heart:
- I remember when a single 24-7 Prayer Room was mind-blowing. Ten years on, there’ve been 130 prayer rooms in Ireland alone this year.
- I remember when the idea of 1000 Londoners queuing to hear about Jesus on a 10 week course would have sounded like revival. [HTB had that number turn up for their latest Alpha course.]
- I remember when prayer meetings were for a handful of little old ladies. Last night @KingdomCome2012 we had 100s of every age interceding.
- I remember smuggling bibles into China. Now they’re printing millions of bibles openly in China, for Chinese people.
- I remember when the church in the UK was considered to be in terminal decline. Now it is officially growing again.
- I remember Wembley stadium being rebuilt to host London’s greatest sporting events. Tomorrow it will be filled with 10,000s praying.
- I remember when running a prayer week in a state secondary school seemed crazy. Now it’s normal. [This one courtesy of @Tim_Abbott]
So what are we to do in the midst of all this? Are we really on the verge of a coming revival? Are we actually already living in the beginning of something?
Regardless, the response should be the same – to keep praying for God to do ever more in our churches, schools, businesses, towns and cities, and to live as though we are experiencing revival. That means living a life utterly consecrated to Jesus, praying seriously and regularly, taking every opportunity to share the story of Jesus with others, and expecting the Holy Spirit to do mind-blowing things when we invite Him to.
Let’s commit to doing that, and see what God does in response!
Mark Williamson is a founding director of One Rock International, a training organisation resourcing missionary leaders across the globe. He’s also passionate about praying for London, getting into deep conversations, and going for long walks with his wife Joanna.