July 2004

24-7 in Parliment

'...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.' (2 Chronicles 7:14)

This scripture came to my attention in a new way as I heard a member of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship recount the vision they had had to hold a 24-7 week of Prayer for Parliament. It was planned and subsequently took place on June 8 – 14.

The vision from the verse was that the Lord, through prayer would heal every part of our land. One small word I have always overlooked in the past is 'if'. The promise is, of course, conditional on our response to everything the Lord says - that we his people would humble ourselves and pray and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways and then God says he will hear us, forgive our sins and heal our land.

During the week of prayer there were young members of the House of Commons’ staff kneeling outside the building in heartfelt cry to the Lord. There were prayer meetings in the Foreign Office and Cabinet Office for the first time. Everyone who took part was really excited. 'God shapes the world through prayer' (E.M. Bounds). We were able to support this week of prayer in our Tuesday and Thursday prayer and worship meetings. I have asked Calum Lindsay to tell you of our own plan for a week of 24-7 at Home Focus

‘Our week of 24-7 Prayer at Focus is part of 24-7 London Prayer which aims to cover the city of London in unbroken prayer for the whole of 2004. All different types of Churches, denominations, cultures and ages are coming to stand together united by one purpose - to pray for God to move in London.

Our prayer room at Pakefield will actually be a special, curtained off, area inside the Prayer Tent created to inspire and help us to pray. People will be able to sign up for a slot in the week so that the chain of prayer will be unbroken. Those of you who want to find out more about 24-7 should visit: www.24-7prayer.com/

There is also another very exciting prayer and worship event planned to help make a difference to the future of London. Last year, for the first time, we held a London regional prayer meeting for the Alpha Initiative in St Paul’s Cathedral with 2500 attending.

This year ‘Prayer for London’, in association with just10 south london, will take place in a marquee on Clapham Common on 10 September 2004 between 7 – 9pm (worship commences 6.30pm). There will be worship with Matt Redman, the Festival of Life Gospel Choir, Psalm Drummers, Soul Survivor and Holy Trinity Brompton. We are expecting thousands to come. We will be having contributions from Pastor Agu Irukwu, J John, Mike Pilavachi and Nicky Gumbel, as well as prayer and worship with an agenda emphasising London. It promises to be a great evening – it would be wonderful if as many as possible can join us.

Jeremy Jennings

This article is an edited version of one first published in Focus, July 2004. Reproduced here with permission.