April 2006

Elijah was human just as we are.  He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.  James 5:17-18

In essence, Elijah prayed earnestly and it made a difference.  There is a link between desire and effective prayer.  If Elijah had been indifferent about the outcome, or the state of the nation in his day, then we probably would never have encountered him in the pages of scripture.  As it is, he is one of the bible’s heroes and his life had a huge impact on those around him – indeed he was into the transformation of society long before any of us and it worked for him!

Have you ever ached inside concerning some circumstance or for something to happen that you long to see?  That is the desire which equips you for “earnest” prayer.  Sometimes some issues are so urgent and pressing that they keep us up at night – maybe all night – and that is exactly what I am talking about.  We can experience it in the personal realm: for example, most of us who are parents can remember times when anxiety for our children has kept us awake at night and we can experience it in the corporate realm: for example, some aspect relating to the state of society can drive us to pray into the night from time to time.  A love of the object of our prayers is often (and maybe always should be) involved.  Love breeds concern in us so, for example, if we have a love of London, we will have a concern for its wellbeing.  This does not mean that we will see London as perfect – far from it – but we will long to see it changing for the better and becoming more inwardly and outwardly Christian at every level.

There will undoubtedly be stepping stones along the way before this transformation is complete (will it ever be?) and these could easily include some or all of the following:

1. A greater openness to and hunger for the gospel (consciously or subconsciously),
2. More people in Christian churches
3. Church planting and the building of new churches

Of course, none of these on their own, are the totality of transformation but they would all mark change pointing in that direction.  We need to remember in our praying for London that God loves London and his plan is to see it re-evangelised and transformed.  Only when we begin to see London (or any of the other objects of our prayers) more as God sees it will we truly begin to pray in its best interests.  Of course, we also need to remember “the Lord disciplines those he loves” (Hebrews 12:6) and this may well apply from time to time.  Nevertheless, I do not hesitate to say that, if we loved London half as much as God does, it would totally transform us in our prayers for this city.

In this sense, prayer as I see it is essentially positive as an activity and it is for that reason that we always try and pray for things rather than against things.  Jesus taught us to pray “Thy Kingdom come” (the corollary of this would be praying against the dominion of darkness) and we have found it is so much more preferable to pray for the light rather than against the darkness as a general rule.  In short, we need to pray for the kingdom of God to keep advancing in this great city of ours until it has been completely and utterly transformed.

JAJ