AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER

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Probably one of the most important things in our spiritual walk for which we need encouragement is our prayer life. This is true whether we think in terms of our own personal prayer or of united prayer with others. We live in a world where everything seems to conspire against it. Satan is very active against prayer and finds, amongst other things, good ground to resist it through our own natural predisposition to take an easy route in life whenever possible. Desperation and pain are frequently an unpleasant stimulus to prayer and we would probably admit it is in such times that we really pray. But there are much more positive stimuli, and some are offered below.

1 The Privilege of Prayer

“Let us the approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” Heb. 4:16

It is so important to recognise what a privilege prayer is. Such a privilege is something for constant meditation. Prayer is the practical expression of the two most important things that any human being can have in this life; access to God and relationship with God. This means we can come into his presence and find that he is pleased to receive us, and ready to listen to us. It is important to recognise that the access we have is to a place where God rules – the “throne”. Our access is to the all-powerful, ruling Lord of Creation, the one who has power over everything and knows everything. Our access is to an audience with God who is King over all. Without such access prayer would be of no avail, just mere words, and we would have no confidence in making requests. But with such access we have come to the centre of divine power. All is available to us through One who is all-wise.Such access means we have a relationship with God. Talking to someone and listening to them, and especially talking at the deepest level is the essential mark of relationship. And our relationship in prayer is with an Almighty God who is also our Father. At a human level if we fail to talk and listen to our friends or family our relationship founders and we lose all the value and help it can provide. It is so important to communicate. God, as Father, is, in the nature of things, always ready with a listening ear, ready to “help in time of need”, ready to provide, ready to guide. It is very short-sighted on our part to fail to talk and listen to Him, so letting the relationship weaken. Relationships in life which are helpful and strengthening are one of the most important things to successful living and much to be pursued; how much more so our relationship to God. We are always glad to talk to helpful friends and we should certainly have the same frame of mind with God. We should feel able to be utterly free to really speak our mind and our heart, and in simple language. We should feel able to simply sit with Him and just enjoy his presence, even when we are not quite sure what to say; relationships are sometimes secured as much by being quiet in the presence of a loved one as by talking. And what a privilege it is to have access through our relationship at any time and in any place!

2 The “Price” of Prayer

“We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” Heb. 10:19

Access and relationship with God was bought at a great cost. It did not simply “just happen”. To establish the “privilege” of coming into the “throne room” of God our sin had to be dealt with, and a sacrifice was essential. Prayer is no cheap privilege, to be taken for granted. God’s own Son paid the price with his own blood, something that we can scarcely really conceive. Calvary, and the forgiveness of our sin makes prayer possible. The only cost we are called to make is to allow sin to die in our lives, and leave godlessness behind us. If, at a human level, a family member’s death proved to be the means of restoring a warm and enduring family relationship we would be eternally thankful, and would honour that death immensely. The death of Jesus as done precisely that as far as our relationship with our Heavenly Father is concerned. How tragic that we are all too inclined to neglect such a privilege that was paid for at such a price! Thinking on the cost, however, will bring us more readily to the throne of grace, release a deep sense of thankfulness into our prayer and see it release the Father’s power.

3 The Power of Prayer

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be opened in order that you may know …….. his incomparably great power for us who believe” Eph. 1: 18,19

Prayer in itself is not power, but it is the switch that releases power, or more precisely, God’s power. That is why it is so powerful. If the switch is rarely pulled, the power is rarely seen! Two things are required in order to operate that switch. First, there must be faith in the Living God and in his readiness to listen to prayer. Second there must be godly living in the one who prays. Prayer is no mere slot machine operated by “correct” words or much repeated words. It is the function of a living relationship in which a genuine heart faith in God is allied to godly requests and a life which is pleasing to Him.

4 The Priority of Prayer

“You have not because you ask not”. James 4:2 “Ask and you will receive”. Matt.7:7

There is no clearer lesson in Scripture than the truth that all powerful works of God have their beginnings in prayer. In fact it becomes very clear that when God wants to move and do something He seems always to get someone or a number of people to pray for what he is wanting to do. It is part of the way he works. In prayer we are co-workers with him in his purposes. The genuine works and power of God have always come out earnest prayer.

Sometimes indeed that prayer comes in the shape of a heart-rending cry out of sheer distress, as with the Israelites suffering and crying out for deliverance under brutal Egyptian oppression. In answer to their cry God raised up Moses and delivered the Israelites, a deliverance that was, however, in his purpose before ever they cried out. Following the ascension of Jesus, the apostles and others gave themselves to ten days of prayer, pursuing in their prayer Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit. God met with them on the Day of Pentecost and the promise was mightily fulfilled. The switch had been pulled – here was the power. Paul, blind and broken in spirit cried out to God for three days for God to speak to him, and he was answered by Ananias telling him of his commission to the Gentiles and praying for him to receive the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes prayer comes out of a promise or a vision of a work which is strongly impressed on the heart of someone who has learned to “wait on God”. The annals of those sent on missionary work over the last two centuries are full of examples of this; Brother Andrew of Open Doors, seeking to support persecuted Christians is one such remarkable story of an entirely new twentieth century work begun in vision and secured by uninterrupted intercession to the benefit of untold Christians. There are many other similar stories

In whatever way such a burden of prayer is released it is always prior to and fundamental to the work which is accomplished through it.

Bob Dunnett

NATIONAL INTERCESSION – Further Thoughts

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Last week’s blog looked at the intercession which was made during the crisis of World War 2 by those who had prophetic insight and faith to grasp that God could and would act in answer to prayer.  We considered such intercession on both a national scale and among individuals.  It clearly undergirded military victories and the final success against an evil regime.  This week we continue to look at some of the lessons we can learn from that intercession.

One very important fact to keep in mind as we do this is that in the bible experiencing war is always seen as an act of judgement on God’s part.  This is not an easy principle to grasp especially when what is seen as a seemingly “innocent” nation is attacked by a ruthless, unprincipled antagonist.  The idea that an “innocent” nation in such a situation is under judgement goes against deep emotions of loyalty, against a sense of justice, and, of course, in a godless world, against rationality!   If the nation happens to be our own nation then the idea of judgement is all the more strongly rejected!  But the bible is quite clear on the issue. God, speaking to his prophet Ezekiel spoke of “My four dreadful judgements, ’Sword and famine and wild beasts and plague” (See Ez. 14:12-21).  To be caught up in a war (the “sword”) is to be under judgement, whether the country which is attacked thinks itself innocent or not.  The twentieth century European (and world) wars are rarely, if ever, seen as judgements, but to the prophet’s eyes it is all too clear.  The twentieth century was labelled by one well-known historian as “the century of slaughter” – world-wide slaughter; and not without reason!  Biblically it was a century of judgement. Germany, Russia and, yes, Britain and America, along with many other countries, came under the judgement of war.  Wisdom lies not in claiming innocence but in trying to understand why it came to us.  “Where were we at fault?” is the proper question to ask.

This was a concept that initially stumbled the prophet Habakkuk.  When God told him that Judah was going to be ravaged by the merciless Babylonian army, he expressed great indignation at the idea of such a godless power being let loose on his country which, though not perfect on any count, was far less deserving of judgement than the attacker.  This was his viewpoint despite the fact that he knew perfectly well that Judah’s sister nation, Israel, had a century or so before been ravaged by the equally murderous Assyrians and that the event had been clearly recognised by the prophets of the time as a judgement .  Indignant, he in fact challenged God on the question of judgement through an evil power.  He was partially helped when he learned from God that evil Babylon would itself be judged in due course, but he nonetheless had to accept the fact that Judah was going to come under judgement for turning its back on God and was going to suffer grievously from the Babylonian war machine before Babylon in its turn suffered.

Two weeks ago in our blog we quoted the text of Abraham’ Lincoln’s 1863 Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation and Prayer in the midst of the American Civil War.  In an astonishing way he recognised very clearly the nature of war as a judgement of God.  He wrote, “And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People?”  He did not condemn the Southern States for their slavery or seek in any other way to justify the Northern States for their actions but recognised that the whole of the nation, North and South, was under judgement.  He was not offended as was Habakkuk.  More astonishing still, he clearly recognised that the judgement could bring about a national reformation and had a profitable purpose.  That “reformation” would lead to a turning away from the arrogance and pride which had rejected God in the midst of the success and prosperity of the growing nation. Lincoln was remarkably biblically literate and had a clear understanding of the nature and purpose of the judgements of God and that war was one of those judgements.

Thus when the likes of Rees Howell and Derick Prince, whom we mentioned last week (and the many others whom we shall never know of), took on a burden of prayer for the nation as the Nazi threat was carrying everything before it, they were in fact praying for a nation that was under judgement.  Much prayer had been made in 1939 for peace to prevail, but that had not been answered in the way that was hoped.  War came; judgement fell.  What in effect was happening with those who went on interceding was that they were praying essentially on the theme of “Lord, in wrath remember mercy”.  They could not turn the judgement (wrath) away but their prayer was effective for mitigating the judgement of war.  This had become Habakkuk’s position with God when he learned that his prayer would not prevent judgement; he pleaded for mercy in the midst of judgement.  He could not prevent Judah from being overrun and exiled to Babylon, for that was a decreed judgement of God, but he could plead for acts of mercy from God in the midst of it and he could plead for an ultimate restoration of Judah.  Thus when “wrath” comes, God remains open to a cry for mercy.  That should not in any way deaden our recognition or de-sensitise us to the appalling horrors of war as a judgement, but it does mean we are not left utterly helpless.

At the moment we are, as a nation, already under the judgement of God, though not at present under the judgement of war.  The present judgement is witnessed in the growing confusion and incompetence of government, in the way the nation has been “given over” by God to its own increasing moral and social collapse, and to its worship of pleasure and treasure.  This judgement is not, of course, peculiar to our own nation; it is in fact happening world-wide.  In such a wide scenario strong, evil men are likely to gain power and look for conquests, if need be by force of arms.  They in turn become the human agents of war (or terror), and become the instruments of judgment.  This process of development is one that we are becoming more and more familiar with in our world and is by no means unk nown at this time in our history.  It is very sobering and should lead (in Lincoln’s term) to a spirit of humiliation.

With a world bent on ignoring its Maker and pursuing its own libertine agenda, the call to God that he might none the less release acts of mercy is very urgent for our world. Looking for him, however, to hold back judgement itself is much less secure. But, judgement or not, the intercessory call for God to fulfil the mission to the Gentile world, to gather his own and to bring in His Kingdom remains paramount and will certainly be answered.

Bob Dunnett

NATIONAL INTERCESSION

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Last week’s blog contained the Proclamation that Abraham Lincoln made to the United States in 1863 calling for a Day of Humiliation and Prayer in the midst of the American Civil War. This was actually one of three such proclamations; the first preceding it by two years at the beginning of the war and the third toward the end. Is it possible to say what they achieved?  The two aims of the Prayer were clear: “…the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country to its former happy condition of unity and peace”. The second of those two requests was fully answered. The secession of the South with its endemic social structure of slavery was always a very real danger; its armies initially were not inferior to the North’s. But the “divided and suffering Country” was in fact restored and united. At the same time the end of slavery in the South was secured. The united nation went on to prosper greatly. In the blessing of that very restoration and ensuing prosperity we can also see the first aim, the pardon of God of national sins, was also achieved. God gave the nation a new start with its most marked sin of slavery being removed. So prayer was answered. Such is the power released when a whole nation responds to God in time of need.

Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Proclamation and its outcome were not, however, unique. The same sort of thing has happened in our own national history. Few people will be unaware of the new and graphic film “Dunkirk” with its great concentration on the horrific reality of the event. No portrayal of Dunkirk and the deliverance of the British army at that time of complete national crisis will ever be complete, however, without recognition of the request of King George VI for a National Day of Prayer throughout the whole Commonwealth on May 26th 1940. Only two weeks earlier, On May 10th, the Germans had launched their offensive on France and by May 24th they had broken through all the allied defences. The whole British army, over 300,000 men, having lost most of its equipment, was hemmed in at Dunkirk, its only escape port.  King George VI, a man of clear Christian faith, called the people of Britain and the Empire to commit their cause to God: the loss of that army would have meant the end for Britain. The Day of Prayer was for the salvation of an army and of a nation. The King led the way on that day, along with members of the Cabinet, to Westminster Abbey, where hundreds queued to get in. All over the Commonwealth this happened. The sequel is well known. Hitler hesitated, a great storm over Flanders slowed the Germans, a great persistent calm over the Channel enabled the smallest of boats to reach Dunkirk, a huge response came from hundreds of seafaring people to face the dangers of the beach at Dunkirk and the result was that a whole army was evacuated and saved. Churchill had estimated that possibly 30,000 might have got away. In fact ten times that number were brought home. A further call to National Prayer was made for September 8th 1940 in the midst of the Battle of Britain which was reaching its climax. Immediately afterwards an all-out attack was made by the Germans but just when they had achieved a major victory the German air force gave up the battle and the long onslaught of several intense weeks petered out. Another answer to prayer, and recognised as such by senior leaders.

The story of God acting in answer to prayer during those appalling years of World War 2 does not stop, however, with National Days of Prayer called by a godly King, crucial though they were. There is a great deal of evidence available of groups of Christians and individual Christians on their own, giving themselves to prayer and intercession and seeing God move in the most remarkable ways at times of grave national danger. Rees Howells, the Director of a Welsh Bible College was an outstanding example of this continual prayer being offered up by Christians during the war. He turned his college into a remarkable intercessory force and followed through on every major military campaign from Dunkirk to the landings in Normandy and beyond, seeing remarkable answers to prayer throughout the war until Hitler was finally defeated. Derek Prince, known to many as an outstanding Bible Teacher, records his own personal individual intercession when as a medical orderly he served with the British Eighth Army in North Africa at the time when Rommel was on the very point of breaking through into Egypt and then Palestine. He simply gave himself boldly to prayer and fasting that Rommel would be stopped. I suspect there were many others doing the same but unknown to each other! He records the powerful intervention of God which he witnessed as Rommel was stopped within a few miles of Alexandria. Both Rees and Prince were deeply aware of the fact that though the war was in a sense a judgement on Britain, Hitler was an also instrument of Satan against the world-wide spread of the gospel and the survival of the Jews. It was on that account that they felt able to intercede for victory in the war.

Intercessors who hear God are, therefore, people of great importance in the flow of national history, whether operating singly or in groups. They are much to be encouraged, and the need for them is always of the highest. They are still important for a number of reasons:

1 I think it fair to say that in the general flow of prayer in the church generally there is not very much persistent and earnest prayer on national issues, despite Paul’s injunction, “I urge, then, first of all that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving,  be made for ….. kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Tim. 2:1). The Sunday services in churches frequently lack any such concerted national intercessory prayer, and this is true of many evangelical churches. It is also frequently neglected in prayer gatherings.

National prayer for rulers and governments is not very high on the agenda. But some need to stand in the gap! Praise and worship is utterly essential, but perhaps we need to reflect on the fact that earnest intercession can have just as much effect in stimulating believers, and convicting and impressing unbelievers.

2 The fact is that we are facing an appallingly threatening time in our history when we need to be alert to the dangers before us. Very few Christians are aware of the judgements that overhang our nation in view of our blatant and arrogant rejection of God.

3 Intercessors still have a critical role even when the nation goes has to through judgement. As in the case even of such majestic prophetic intercessors like Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, they are not always able to stop God’s decreed judgements (as is, I believe, currently the case with our own nation), but their prayers through the trials of judgement are crucial for ultimate survival and restoration. This was precisely what happened through the intercessors who were praying for our nation during the war

4 Such intercessors are in fact the instruments by which God is able to “in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk) even in the most dire of national straits. Their ministry, mostly hidden remains of primary importance

Bob Dunnett

WISDOM FROM HISTORY

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I was much impressed this week as once again I came across the proclamation by Abraham Lincoln when faced with national chaos in the midst of the American civil war. I was struck by the sheer spiritual stature of the man and equally struck by the spiritual stature of the members of the American Senate. It was a remarkable outburst of the spiritual DNA of so many of the first settlers on that Atlantic sea board: that DNA was a simple but real faith in the God who brought them to, and watched over them in their new land. It is printed in full for your consideration, some parts are highlighted in bold print, and at the end I have made a few concluding comments. I hope it speaks to you and challenges you afresh in the same way I found it challenging me. It is much more than just a bit of history!

 A Proclamation

By the President of the United States of America

For a Day of Prayer and National Humiliation

Fasting and Prayer *

(* This was made in 1863 in the middle of the very bitter American Civil War)

 

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.

And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behoves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

Comment

As the President stated, blessing on any nation is tied to its acknowledgment that God is its Lord. This is the same for individuals. Faith and trust in God accompanied by obedience to the standards he has set before humanity is the royal road and only road to blessing, national or personal. When we jettison God we jettison our blessing, for God rules the world and its nations on his own principles. This is as true for “Christian” nations as for others. Indeed for those who have known and walked in God’s ways and then deliberately turn from them and forget God, the inevitable outcome of judgement is even greater.

This is precisely the matter that the Proclamation faces up to; “We have been preserved, these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God”. Lincoln is speaking for the nation as a whole, the nation as it had become before the outbreak of hostilities. He clarifies the situation with the words, “We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!”

 There could not be a more prescient and accurate statement to describe our own present situation in our own nation at this time in its history. We are not in the midst of a civil war, but we are certainly in the midst of something akin to political civil war with turmoil, confusion “drawn daggers” and treachery. The hope of strong leadership that did seem to be present at one point has now been broken. The outlook is very bleak and threatening. The real tragedy, however, is that there is at this time no one of the spiritual ilk of Lincoln in national leadership, no phalanx of spiritual thinking such as was present in the U.S. Senate when it formulated the Proclamation and laid bare the real heart of the national problem. With us there has been not only a forgetting of God and his ways, but a deliberate embracing of a secular anti-God position along with a dilution and discarding of his moral commands. Indeed the marginalisation of our Christian heritage has begun and is fast increasing. Judgement stares us in the face, judgement that could cost Christians dearly.

This presents the church of God with a massive challenge, for there is nothing left but the church. There is no room for a “National Day of Prayer” of the kind Lincoln proclaimed; we simply do not have the required spiritual capital left at the national level. The church has to step in. It requires two things of the church: a prophetic voice in the nation that refuses to be silenced and a recourse to prayer of a kind we have not been generally used to. The real danger, however, is that we have not yet fully woken up to a full grasp of what the current chaos will lead to. Until we do wake up to the position the motivation to such prayer will simply not be there.

 

Bob Dunnett

 

To be continued

CREATION SPEAKS – A REALITY CHECK

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Last week we wrote about the text, “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1). This paean of praise from David’s lips was underlined by Paul’s words, “what may be known about God is plain … for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and his divinity – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Rom 1:19-20). Paul makes a very sharp point here that God himself considers the natural revelation sufficient for all people to grasp his existence as Creator, and not to do so is reprehensible. We endeavoured to show what his creation reveals about God and to encourage meditation on it.

Thinkers in the modern world, however, have enthroned scientific rationalism and have not been slow to challenge such a perspective. The creation, they point out, has a very dark side to it and that dark side speaks not of a God of love or beauty, but speak of violence and pain, uncertainty and vulnerability. The very universe speaks of fire and destruction, collisions and explosions. The very earth on which we live, and particularly its living creatures, presents a picture of predatory violence as an inherent and marked feature. This perspective was “immortalised” in Tennyson’s much quoted poetic words, “Man, who trusted God was love indeed …. though Nature, red in tooth and claw …shrieked against his creed”. Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the survival of the fittest was the scientific basis for such poetic agnosticism. He produced the most lurid and accurate instances of creatures distressingly feeding off each other, both on land and sea. The conclusion seemed obvious – there was no moral law at the heart of creation, only violence and a vicious struggle to exist.

This attitude and perspective is still very much with us and has been highlighted in particular by a number of recent television nature programmes. These seem to have a double focus; either the hunter/killer instincts of animals which, with the use of incredible filming techniques, are portrayed in a manner which leaves the “red in tooth and claw” aspect very “red” indeed! Or, if not violence, then there is an alternative and lurid focus on the reproductive activities of the creature world (also often violent). Violence and sex are, of course, deemed to be “attractive” to audiences and good for ratings, but the underlying philosophy remains a suggestive, “How can there be a God?”.

These observations of scientific rationalism are of course based on fact; nature is indeed “red in tooth and claw”. And we could add to the violence of living creatures the natural world of earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, famines etc. Nature kills – randomly it seems. So we need to say something about this negative observation on the created world, and the first thing to be said is that whilst it is a true picture it is only half the picture. The other half is just as important and cannot be brushed out, namely that there is much in natural creation that speaks volubly of love and care. A starving male bear may eat its offspring, but the elephant family will show incredible patience, care and solidarity with an ailing baby elephant. One observer noticed a male bird faithfully feed its chicks for many days after the mother had been taken by a bird of prey. Cubs may fight but will also enjoy each other’s company with much affection etc. The idea of nature being “red in tooth” and claw applies as much of course to human beings as it does to the animal world. Some parents will abuse and throw out their children; but then other people will foster them at great personal discomfort and sacrifice and love them and give them a new start in life. The soldier who has been pouring murderous fire at his opponents by day will none the less crawl out to “no man’s land” by night at great personal risk to rescue a stranded wounded companion. The world is awash with selfish aggression and self-seeking covetousness, but it still remains full of acts of love and kindness between people. So human beings are indeed capable of great cruelty but they still retain something of the image of God in acts of love. It is not all death and violence.

What is properly required, therefore, is a perspective which reconciles both aspects of creation’s witness, the dark side and the bright side. It is important to recognise that whilst encouraging a thorough grasp of the glory of creation, Biblical Christianity has never denied the dark side. On the contrary it is precisely this dark strand of creation that it has been most concerned with. The very first chapters of the Bible engage with the coming of this dark strand into the world and the rest of the Bible is engaged with dealing with that problem. The overall theme of the Bible message is that God’s purpose with this world is to restore the creation to the full beauty which it had in its original state and to remove the dark side, and it indicates the way in which it will be done. The scientific rationalist’s view is that the “chaos” of creation is intrinsic to the creation and essentially part of it. The Christian view is that the dark side is an imposition on it and an imposition which will ultimately be removed.

The starting point of the biblical message is humanity itself, the crowning glory of the creation, created in God’s image and intended to express the beauty and righteousness of God himself, with the creation providing all its needs. It states unambiguously that it was humanity’s disobedience and continued rejection of God that opened the door for darkness (violence and covetousness etc.) to enter into his being. More than that, it opened the door for darkness to invade the rest of creation. The earth became “cursed”. It would no longer be fully friendly and it would know death.  Thus Man “fell” but the earth fell with Him – that is, it became pervaded with natural violence and uncertainty, though its beauty and provision was nevertheless not entirely eliminated. Put in other biblical terms, man’s disobedience to God and his desire for forbidden things opened the world up to the malign influence of dark, satanic, destructive forces. Thus the problem with the natural world is not that it is a blind, random, evolutionary development groping for some purpose, but essentially a spiritual problem centred in the relationship of humanity and God the Creator.

Any plan for the restoration of the creation must start, therefore, at the point where it first fell, namely with humanity itself. As it unfolds God’s purpose for creation, the bible message, therefore, centres on the restoration of man. Humanity needs to come back to God, find forgiveness and a way in which it can serve God as was first intended, with love, righteousness and truth. It is precisely this that is provided for us uniquely in Jesus. He died for the forgiveness of humanity’s rebellion and to provide a way back for repentant humanity to walk with the blessing of God as was first intended. Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is now gathering a great multitude of redeemed people. Jesus will return to this world and at that point the redeemed “sons of God” will be presented to Him and receive a new body. At the same time the material creation will be restored even though it be by fire.

This ultimate denouement is clearly and beautifully portrayed by Paul in Romans 8:19-21 where he says ”the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed”, and “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God”. But this concept of a spiritual interaction between nature and man’s disobedience is something that constantly weaves its way through the Old Testament, and is very instructive even for our present living. The well-known text, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways and pray, then I will hear from Heaven and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14) is an example of precisely the same thinking: where people turn to God in repentance, it is “the land” that is “healed”. There are many similar texts, but most strikingly the great Mosaic covenant promises that God made to Israel state quite categorically that obedience to his ways will bring the nation fruitfulness in its land and its cattle etc. whereas disobedience will bring natural troubles and shortages of all kinds. The later prophets brought home this principle and were all very quick to point out the connection between Israel’s disobedience to God and famine and such like affliction that Israel experienced. It is not, therefore, a minor concept biblically: it is a fundamental proposition. What happens in nature is profoundly connected with the behaviour of humanity.

It is well worth noting that in recent intercessory prayer activity this principle has been noticed in remarkable ways. Where people in fullness of faith have humbly sought God for their “land” (and their businesses and other possessions) a new prospering has occurred. Similarly where repentance for past sin has been offered, places which have known only barrenness on account of the evil that has taken place there have been released into a new prosperity. The children of God, though not totally or fully redeemed as yet, are still able even today by the measure of grace which is on them to bring release to the natural creation.

Whilst the scientific rationalist might well be inclined to mock such biblical concepts (as the Athenians mocked a resurrection), it might be much wiser to ponder on God who is the creator and has laid some fundamental principles for his creation. The most fundamental of these is that faith and obedience toward God bring blessing to humanity and to the creation that sustains it; rejection of God, on the other hand, brings increasing alienation between humanity and its environment, a factor that is hugely relevant in our modern era in which humanity seems have fallen foul of its environment in a frightening manner.

Bob Dunnett

THE HEAVENS SPEAK

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“The heavens declare the glory of God” Ps 19:1

 The days we live in are getting increasingly turbulent and threatening. Political turmoil faces us at home, and strong arm rulers are increasing across the world. The problems facing us are almost entirely problems of man’s own creating. Human beings have always been their own worst enemy; they are (despite their extraordinary creativity) destructive and even self-destructive creatures. The root problem is that unfortunately they reject their Creator for their own wisdom and rationality, and worship instead a multitude of idols of their own creation, including the idol of their own humanity. People have lost touch with the only Source that can bring stability. In the midst of the growing threats most of us tend to gulp up as much pleasure and self-indulgence as possible. How do we face all this? We need to go back to Source, back to the Creator, and drink deep, especially if you are fearful, or thoroughly weary. The need is to get back to God.

There is one simple and wonderful way in which we are encouraged to do that: Go back, take a long reflective look at the creation and see what it tells you about the Creator. Let your holiday, for example, be rather more fulfilling than just a pleasure cruise (literal or metaphorical)!! If you are literally on a cruise, look at the stars, the sunset, the sunrise, the sun, the mighty ocean. And then reflect on these words of David, the psalmist:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”                                           Psalm 19:1-4

These are much more than a poetic reflection by a gifted Shepherd Boy/King; they were inspired by the Spirit of God resting on David and were a direct reminder from God Himself to his human creation as to how his true nature could be perceived in his creation. The Creation speaks; it speaks every day; it speaks every night; it speaks to people wherever they are in his world; it is not verbal but it is in a “language” which all can understand. And it speaks of the presence, existence and glory of God. What does it say?

The first thing it speaks of is beauty. The recognition, realisation and appreciation of the beautiful is one of the great gifts that God has endowed us with. God is “beautiful” in all his ways. We are made in his image, and we can relate to his beauty. The sunset, the sunrise will draw many watchers who are simply entranced by the depth and purity of the extraordinary range of ever-changing colours that the scene presents to them. It is not even a “still” picture; one scene gives way to another and none are inferior. When the sun has “gone” the moon continues to reflect its brilliance and illuminate the sky. It hangs effortless in space and glides gently and imperceptibly across its dark background. On a clear night (and in a spot where earthly light pollution is not to be found) it will have a great consort of stars of gleaming brilliance. The modern understanding of these heavenly bodies has in no way diminished their beauty, though an over-concern for scientific analysis might momentarily blind us to that beauty. Even the mathematics of the heavenly bodies has its own beauty (so I understand) even if doubtless at times presents massive challenges. As with the heavenly bodies, so with one of them in particular, the earth on which we live, we are surrounded by extraordinary natural beauty. So the sea is something of continual beauty, though frightening when it rages! The landscape, the trees, vegetation, and the flowers in particular all speak of great beauty. The failure of humanity is to concentrate on the beauty, however, rather than its source. It is not so much the creation that is beautiful as the God who has inspired and made it. Rather than satisfy, beauty on its own sets up a deep longing which is not necessarily satisfied. Only the recognition and acknowledgement of God, the source of beauty, brings ultimate satisfaction.

The second thing creation speaks of is power. The sea is the nearest thing to perpetual motion, unless it is the heavenly bodies themselves bursting with energy. There is enormous power in the universe(s)! God is powerful beyond imagination. His knowledge is equally beyond comprehension.

The third thing it speaks of is stability. Yes, I am aware of the thunderous changes in the universe, of dying and exploding stars, of meteorites and indeed our planetary earthquakes, but the mountains give a very different perspective, as do the trees; they give tranquillity and a sense of permanence.

Finally the creation speaks of peace and joy. Far away from the madding crowd of the noisy, raucous and bustling city we can find green fields, avenues of trees, gardens of flowers where a peace can flow into us. By the sea we can see a seagull riding the strong sea winds with great beauty and huge enjoyment, a dog chasing around a beach with an equal enjoyment, not to mention the great delight of children (and adults) on the sand or among rock pools.

All these things, beauty, power, peace, joy, stability point us to the Creator God. He is the source of each one of them. When humanity turns its back on that Creator God, it experiences less and less of those characteristics in its daily living. When humanity acknowledges God and worships this Creator it opens itself to its Creator it experiences his power, his joy, his peace and his beauty, especially his beauty of holiness.

Bob Dunnett

P.S. I can already hear people whispering what about “nature red in tooth and claw“, and I’ll return to that next week!

DARK SHADOW OVER THE NATION

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“This year it is difficult to escape a very sombre national mood. In recent months, the country has witnessed a succession of terrible tragedies”.

“As a nation, we continue to reflect and pray”.

(From the Queen’s Birthday message this week.)

The Queen took the unusual step of sending out a message on her birthday celebration day this week. It was very short but much to the point. She noted that traditionally it was a day to celebrate but in fact her message voiced her own deep distress at the Manchester attack and the Grenfell fire. She was clearly not in a mood to celebrate – she had the nation at heart, as she always has. Her genuine concern for the people afflicted was very evident and so also was her appreciation of those who voluntarily sought to help them. She noted “a very sombre national mood” and obviously very much felt it herself. Of course she could make no references to the confusions that surround her government at this time and to the general political climate, though there can be little doubt that she will have felt equally deeply saddened about those things; they also add to the “sombre mood” she detects.

There was concern, there was compassion, but there was a complete absence of “rage”. You wouldn’t expect the queen to be in a rage, would you? That would be outrageous! You’d want constructive concern. Anger might be a powerful motivator in one sense, but you’d want it fully under control. If it were not under control it would almost certainly be destructive. The control of anger or “rage” is essential in those who aspire to rule. (In contrast, the media seem to like the word “rage” because it sounds so much more emotive than “anger”; it grips the reader and sells the paper!) No, those who rule must not rage, and those who rage must not rule.

In contrast to this we read of activists, masquerading under a specious banner of justice, attacking the Kensington Town Hall after the Grenfell tragedy and leaving an innocent man injured and badly shaken after physical assault. The man turned out not to be the “Tory councillor” he was thought to be, but a man volunteering to help the victims of the fire. Such activity is a grave danger to our society; politics by the mob, the violent mob. It was not even rage caused by the human tragedy of the burnt-out tower block. It was quite simply “rage” with political motivation, cynically using a human tragedy to make a political point and gain political advantage. Contrary to what the perpetrators think, it was utterly unacceptable to the free society which has been our birth right. Our birth right is the rule of Law, not the rule of the fist.

Unhappily there is real danger that such organised bullying violence will seek to impose itself more on the nation. Today, Wednesday 21st June, the Queen is due to open Parliament and give her customary speech. However, there has been a nation-wide call (so easy on social media!) for left wing militants to come to London in their thousands, to descend on Parliament and disrupt the Queen’s speech and embarrass and even remove Theresa May. There are those who will do their best to introduce violence to the occasion, a fact that is perfectly well known to the organisers of the event. But the motto of the organisers is “change by whatever means it takes”. This day has been called a “Day of Rage”, a “March of Anger”; it is precisely what the country does not need whatever political party we may belong to. It is particularly not needed at this already tense political moment in our history. The vast majority in the nation will not want mayhem on London streets, with the police yet again in the firing line. We have too much of it already from terrorists. It’s very important that all political leaders go out of their way to roundly condemn such behaviour, though sadly some politicians seem ready to turn a blind eye or even condone it.

History gives a clear verdict on the dangers of such behaviour. In fact “strong-arm” repressive politics is actually very much a contemporary happening in many nations, and they present a very dark scenario. But, in my mind, the memory of the appallingly destructive effect on Germany’s ailing democracy caused by the “private armies” of demagogues in the early 193os remains very much alive. We all know what the outcome of that was. Brute force, coercion, violence, rousing people’s anger are very dangerous tools to play with. They do not build – they only destroy.

The Queen said we were “reflecting and praying” on the grief we are witnessing in the nation (and since her message was given, Moslem worshippers have been mowed down by a van – more grief!) We certainly need to reflect – on many things. One glaring fact emerging from the Grenfell fire certainly calls for reflection; the juxtaposition in Kensington of low cost, poorly maintained public accommodation alongside luxury flats costing millions many of which are unoccupied and simply representing unused assets of rich investors. It highlights the vast gulf between poor and rich in a modern, greedy, riches-seeking society. Interestingly, and very appropriately, a lady preacher in one of the churches adjacent to the tower reflecting on the scene preached about the similarity of Kensington to the greed of the rich in the society of Amos’ day which drew down God’s strong judgement. We also need to reflect on a society which cuts corners at other people’s risk simply for profit, on a society which is losing integrity to increasing corruption. On the other hand we need to reflect on the readiness of so many ordinary people to rally so quickly to the needs of those who have been afflicted; this is good “capital” in the nation and we should give thanks for it. Those who would rage do a gross disservice to such people whose heart is to help.

It certainly is a critically important time to pray. Our society is being “given over” by God to its own lusts and desires, and the increasing and ugly confusion we are witnessing is a marker of that fact. We can only pray for his mercy to be revealed in the midst of his judgements, and for restraint and righteousness to prevail.

Bob Dunnett

“PUT NOT YOUR TRUST IN PRINCES”

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This blog is not intended to make any “political” judgements over the extraordinary event of the election last week. Such judgements are all over the papers and still continuing!  I have found some of them to be very helpful, but the fact is that I have very little of the political “background” that would make any comments of mine of any great value.  What I do know, however, is that this election will go down in history as something that was extraordinary, perhaps even unique!  The consequences have yet to been seen and assessed, but the possibilities are legion, and frightening! This was a game changer election!

My eye has been less on the political parties than on stability in our national political institutions (for reasons that I will return to), and I must confess that after the dramatic defeat of David Cameron’s referendum gamble and his consequent resignation I was very thankful that the Tories managed to sort themselves out and provide someone in the person of Theresa May who prevented a wholesale slide into what could easily have been political mayhem. Unpopular with many (what politician isn’t?) she nevertheless sought to bring a strong, determined lead to a nation which had made a momentous, bitter and polarising decision over Europe. The ship of state seemed to regain its stability, even if many frantically thought it was sailing in the wrong direction, and even if the future was fraught with difficulties. However, I felt a great sense of relief and thankfulness for such stability (it was in sharp contrast to what was currently happening in the U.S. political world!). That stability has now been lost; we find ourselves again in a position where political chaos, confusion and in-fighting threaten.  This “strong” leader made the wrong decisions in the wrong way at the worst time (though, of course, a good many are rejoicing that she made those mistakes, chaos or no chaos!!)  “Put not your trust in princes”!

Why do I keep my eye primarily on the issue of political stability?  The fact is that historically speaking political confusion and instability of the kind we are facing is a very serious and lamentable position for any nation. It is also dangerous.  It can paralyse government activity at critical moments and it can open a door for extremism and autocrats or demagogues when things get really out of hand. Instability is particularly dangerous when a nation faces an issue of the magnitude and complexity of Brexit for which clarity of intent and unified purpose is essential.  It is even more dangerous when opinion still remains so bitterly divided over the issue of Brexit.

Interestingly we are not alone in this instability. The United States has been living with it for some time now.  The Democratic Obama Presidency has been non-functional with the two Houses of the Senate and Congress, both Republican, making any legislation either impossible or extremely difficult.  With Donald Trump as President, his erratic and impulsive behaviour has probably made the situation even worse.  Confusion reigns, despite his façade of strong action. Paralysis of government in the world’s most powerful nation is not good. One could list other nations in the world where confusion is to be found, and not a few where conditions are chaotic.

We could, however, view all this instability in a much larger context. For instance we could ask the question; “Where is God in all this?” That, of course, seems to be a rather ludicrous, not to say irrelevant question to pose. God and politics don’t mix! At least they shouldn’t do!  God is God, and politics is politics.  God, if he is there, doesn’t do politics; that’s for us.  That is perhaps the unthinking de fault position even of a great many Christians.  But that’s not quite in line with the Scriptures. They tell us, “The Lord watches the nations”: He weighs the nations, he judges the nations, he it is who raises up rulers and puts down princes.  He is the God who brought Israel out of Egypt and destroyed Pharaoh, he is the God who raised up the Assyrian and Babylonian monarchs and let them take Israel back into exile.  He is the God who raised up Cyrus and redeemed Israel once again.  He is in the flow of history, and he is in the demise of nations and he is in their prosperity.  He blesses and he punishes.  Strong and righteous government is his blessing; weak and evil government, along with confusion and instability is his punishing.

Thinking over these present confusions I have been going back in my mind to a position I arrived at whilst studying Amos. Amos prophesied the demise of Israel some twenty to twenty five years before it actually happened.  When he first prophesied its destruction, God was just stirring up a dormant Assyria through a very active and ambitious ruler.  It took all those twenty or so years for that ruler to be in a position where he could terrify and conquer the nations of the Middle East, Israel included.  In those intervening years Israel, oblivious to the prophet’s warnings, pursued its own self-seeking way, ignoring God and his calls for righteous behaviour – it was consumed with pleasure seeking and increasing corruption and greed.  As far as the political scene was concerned one thing about those intervening years was very plain to see: they were years of political instability, incompetence and corruption.  Amos began his prophetic work under a very strong and able king, Jeroboam, but when he died the rulers who followed were of much inferior capacity.  The first year saw two of them murdered in the power struggle that ensued.  Government changed hands rapidly.  It remained unstable and incompetent, and its policies toward the growing threat of Assyria were disastrous. The fact of the matter was, however, that judgement had already started and was evident in Israel’s increasing confusion and incompetence at the political level. God was very much in the unstable and unsavoury happenings and political processes of those years. Those very happenings were part of the very warning God was seeking to bring to a godless nation.

I fear lest the political confusions and chaos with which we have to face up to in the tortuous negotiations in front of us should in fact be part of the displeasure that God has indicated toward our nation. It is extremely perilous future we face: far beyond human competence!  As far as Brexit is concerned it could turn out to be either a blessing or a catastrophe. That outcome will not depend upon our politicians. We have to reckon with the God of the nations.  He deals with nations according to their righteousness and their acknowledgement of Him. Our clever, opinionated analyses of what will happen and our carefully laid plans will not in the end decide the issue. The favour of God alone is sufficient, and that means faith in Him and righteousness of living.

“Put not your trust in princes – put your trust in God.”

Bob Dunnett

BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

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“John baptised with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit” (Jesus to his disciples) Acts 1:5

“Exalted to the right hand of God, he (Jesus) has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear”. (Peter preaching at Pentecost) Acts 2:33

The baptism with the Holy Spirit was of great importance to Jesus. It was something he wanted to give, and he was able to give because of his death on the cross. It was part of the glory of his ascension. It was something that was of primary importance for the dynamic spread and development of the church. It became of great importance to his disciples. It is not therefore a matter that we should allow to lapse on account of theological disagreements. It is much too important for that. Neither is it something merely of historical interest. It is something that needs to be grasped, received, experienced and sustained in our spiritual walk today.

As an expression, “baptism with the Holy Spirit” first appears with John the Baptist. John, the forerunner of Jesus had three essential “programmatic” things to say about Jesus; first he was the “greater one who was coming (The Lord)”; second he was the “Lamb of God”; third he was the one who would “baptise with the Holy Spirit”. These three things formulate the “gospel”. All three are crucial in our understanding of Jesus and none is to be neglected. All are to be part of our spiritual life and experience. All four gospels make direct reference to Jesus as the one who “baptises in the Holy Spirit”. The question we need to ask is how are we to understand this baptism?

We look first at Jesus. Jesus himself received the Holy Spirit after he had been baptised by John in the Jordan. John the Baptist gives testimony that God told him that he would recognise the “one who would baptise in the Holy Spirit” by the fact that he, John, would see the Holy Spirit come down upon that person. And John saw the Holy Spirit come down as a dove and settle on Jesus. This presents a problem, for Jesus already had the Holy Spirit. Indeed he was literally born of the Spirit in Mary’s womb, and his discussion with the Jerusalem elders when he was in early youth indicated a person in whom the “Spirit of wisdom” truly dwelt. By the time he came to his baptism he had an extraordinary prophetic grasp of the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit and knew precisely the nature of what was to come in his life. What was happening, then, at the Jordan? Why the coming of the Spirit?

First we need to notice that it was immediately after the coming of the Spirit at the Jordan that Jesus began his ministry. The ministry started with forty days of prayer and fasting in the wilderness and conflict with Satan. Luke tells us Jesus went into the wilderness “full of the Spirit”. and likewise came out of it “in the power of the Spirit”. The period in the wilderness was a crucial preparation time for the nature of the ministry he was to pursue, a fundamental beginning of the ministry. Clearly the timing of the coming of the Spirit at the Jordan was related to the onset of his ministry. Luke throws more light on this connection when he reports in some detail a sermon of Jesus at Nazareth in which Jesus took the book of Isaiah and read the words from chapter 61, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has anointed me to preach… to proclaim freedom ….to release the oppressed etc.” Jesus affirmed that this had now happened to him. (Luke 4:18).  Luke wants us to recognise that this was Jesus’ own understanding of the coming of the Spirit at the Jordan – it was an anointing for his ministry. This is evident from the fact that chronologically Luke puts this episode at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry

If the events of Pentecost tell us anything it tells us likewise that the coming of the Spirit on that day was fundamentally related to the forthcoming ministry of his disciples as witnesses to Jesus, and that it was the essential thing that was necessary for their witnessing. Nothing could be clearer that Jesus’ own words concerning this; “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses ….” (Acts 1:8). On that day the apostles were filled with a great Spirit of praise and worship together with great boldness and freedom. This was their equipment for witnessing to the risen Jesus. They were further strengthened by the remarkable prophetic sign of the gift of tongues – prophetic because the gift of tongues was the sign that the gentiles with all their different languages were now to begin to come into the Kingdom. Peter’s great sermon on that day which led to the conversion of some three thousand people was a remarkable testimony that he had now been appointed to preach. No less remarkably the vital personal witnessing among the rest of the believers indicated they also had been anointed to proclaim the gospel.

This baptism with the Spirit remains the great need of the hour. We must never suppose that it is always part and parcel of our conversion experience. If there is any sense of the lack of this in a person’s Christian experience then there is simple solution – “ask and you will receive”. As with Jesus it may come later in time, as many have experienced. As things get increasingly difficult for Christians to witness it becomes increasingly important.

Bob Dunnett

AN EXCELLENT PRAYER INITIATIVE

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We are coming to the end this week of what I believe is one of the most productive and promising of the many prayer initiatives that we have seen of recent years.  I am referring to the ten day prayer initiative launched by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York and covering the ten days between the Ascension and Pentecost Sunday.  There are many things which commend it.

First it came from the Archbishops of the National Church acting in harmony and unity.  It was not a “token” call in any sense but an expression of their oneness of heart-longing for real renewal by the Holy Spirit in the church at large.  It was not aimed merely at the Church of England but was genuine “national” in concept in that it built bridges and was wide open to other Christian denominations and streams.  Among those other groupings there was widespread response. It gave adequate space for wide variety in the mode and manner and intensity of prayer.

Second it was a clear “spiritual” call – a call to prayer.  Refreshingly it did not centre on projects and programmes, but put its finger on the most important need in the church – a return to urgent and focussed prayer.  The church needs prayer more than plans – prayer leads to God’s plans and God’s power.

Third it was eminently practicable and possible because of its essential simplicity.  It was actually the nearest thing that we can get to a National day of Prayer at this time.  The Queen is in no position to call for such a National Day of Prayer, for such days have as their essential rationale a truly and blatant national calamity which is obvious to the vast majority in the nation.  The days after Dunkirk were the background to what I believe was the last National Day of Prayer, called by George VIth, when we all knew that invasion and conquest by the Nazis was imminent and very possible.  We have no such evident calamity.  None the less prayer for the nation and for genuine Christian spiritual renewal in the nation remains its most pressing need.  The call by the two Archbishops for such prayer, using their position, authority and power in the Church of the nation was the next best thing and highly appropriate.  We should thank God for them and for the Providence that has put them together at this time to make such a call.

Fourth it was astutely and firmly biblical, taking, as it did for its inspiration the model of the early church at prayer for the ten days between the Ascension and Pentecost Sunday. In those days the early disciples gave themselves to earnest and prolonged prayer.  This again was no token prayer, but an expression of their deep desire that the promises of Jesus about the Kingdom and the Spirit would be fulfilled. We are told they “gave themselves to prayer” (“made a business of prayer”)”. There were not many of them – a bare handful – but they believed the promises of Jesus and the readiness of the Father to answer their prayers despite the fact that they were few in number. Their number was not an essential factor – their spirit was.  In effect 120 praying people brought about the coming of the Spirit and subsequent revival among the Jews.

Fifth the Archbishops’ Call gave a very clear and simple direction to the prayer.  It is so important that prayer is given a direction and that intent is spelled out. Much of prayer is simply “ask and you will receive” and we should not be ashamed or put off by such simple direct asking.  It is very biblical, and it is encouraged by Jesus himself.  Intercessory prayer is intended to achieve objectives and get results; it needs to be specific.  It is the church’s weapon. There are, of course, other aspects of prayer which are important and belong to the asking process, but we want things to happen.

The direction that the Archbishops gave was twofold, and again thoroughly biblical and simple.  We were asked to pray for the Coming of the Kingdom of God, not only in our own country but across the world.  This was the essential longing of Jesus himself and the substance of his commission to the disciples “to go into all the world and make disciples”.  The Kingdom of God, His rule, is intended to operate in the hearts of men and women and to be worked out through them in acts of peace, righteousness and justice.  Thus the Kingdom of God is extended and grown as people turn to Jesus. It is as simple as that; and that is precisely what this initiative put its finger on – that people might turn to Jesus and so the Kingdom might grow. What a wonderfully accurate pointer for prayer!  At the same time, moreover, the call in its second directive was that we should seek the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to make this happen, to empower Christian people to be the sort of witnesses that could bring other people to believe in Jesus.  It was prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit. There can be no real renewal without the presence and empowering of the Spirit Himself. It cannot be planned and it cannot be programmed.  The Spirit blows where He will, and will not be directed; but God sends Him to those who earnestly seek Him – prayer is key.  How appropriate that the ten days should end on Pentecost Sunday, therefore.  It was Pentecost that gave the power essential to the witness of the church – it gave it great boldness and it gave it great clarity and it released something of the miraculous in the life and experience of the church which greatly authenticated its witness.  It is to be much hoped that we shall see something of this happening on this Pentecost Sunday and succeeding days.

It is also profoundly to be hoped that though this prayer initiative was very sensibly made for just ten days that the impetus will go on for a great deal longer than that and leave a permanent impression. “Keep on asking” until we receive is the need. At a personal level, having moved from the “big city” to small village I have witnessed myself the beginnings of revitalisation in the groups of the 4s and 5s who make up the prayer life of the village through this initiative. It will have had a major impact elsewhere, I’m sure.

Bob Dunnett