Remarkable answers to prayer
11 Jan 2019
Recent weeks have seen answered prayer and God’s protection over His people. Pakistan’s police foiled an attack on Christmas worship in Karachi. A police officer tragically lost his life when the bomb he was defusing detonated outside a Cairo church, but his brave intervention thwarted Islamist plans to take many more lives a few days before Orthodox Christians’ Christmas Day. Iraq’s government made a landmark announcement declaring Christmas Day a national holiday for all Iraqis, wishing its Christian citizens a ‘happy Christmas’. Meanwhile, an anti-Christian tirade by the Grand Mufti fell flat when the country’s Sunni authority condemned it as irrational and offensive, pointing out that Christians don’t try to prevent Muslim celebrations. In Egypt, the Ministry of Justice produced a remarkable animated public information video cautioning Muslims not to ‘fall prey to the extremists’, and encouraged them to extend greetings to their Christian neighbours during the Christmas holidays.
Meaningful Brexit vote
11 Jan 2019
As the Parliamentary vote on 15 January draws near, here are some facts to help generate informed intercession. The ‘meaningful vote’ will be on the draft Withdrawal Agreement. If MPs pass it, the deal will have less of a problem passing through the House of Lords. However, the Government appears likely to lose any vote on the current deal. Brussels will not reopen the agreement, fearing demands from member states over such matters as fishing issues and Gibraltar. It may offer small tweaks to a non-binding political declaration and/or a statement from EU lawyers on the backstop not being permanent. Meanwhile there need to be clarifications and reassurances over an invisible border in Ireland. We can pray for the boundaries, borders and sovereignty of this nation to be established and concluded according to God’s plans and timing, as God’s Spirit blows powerfully through Parliament.
Praying for Britain
11 Jan 2019
Our country is in crisis. Our whole future is in question. Britain - once a Godly nation - has now turned away from God. Brexit and the authority of the Bible have divided church and state. You are invited to a Day of Prayer on 26 January at the SSE Arena, Wembley. We can change Britain through the power of united prayer. Intercessions will be led by David Hathaway, Clifford Hill, Rev Betty King, Andrea Williams, Lou Engle, Bishop John Francis, Pastor Nims Obunge, Rachel Hickson, Rev Yemi Adedeji, Pastor Tobi Adeboyega, James Aladiran, Apostle Elijah Chanak, and others. For information and tickets click the ‘More’ button. For other upcoming events, including prayer and fasting from 14 to 16 January for the Brexit vote in Parliament on the 15th, go to
Operation World: a new resource
11 Jan 2019
Most of us in the UK recognise that we live in a big, complex world with lots going on in the global church that we are not aware of or we do not quite understand. We also know that God desires His people to pray for His will to be done, and His kingdom to come, on earth as it is in heaven. Often we don’t quite know how to put these two together. That conundrum is why Lausanne and Operation World have put together a step in the right direction. Prayer Alert is delighted to announce that their project, long in the making,is now live. They have produced a free weekly church bulletin insert that is aimed at exposing church members to how God is at work around the world, and encouraging them to pray for the needs of the nations. A sample and more information about the resource here.
Universal Credit rollout delayed
11 Jan 2019
The next stage of Universal Credit rollout will be scaled back, amid concerns it has made an estimated 3.2 million households worse off. It has also run over budget, is years behind schedule, and is said to have forced claimants into destitution and in some cases even prostitution. Others say they have been left to rely on foodbanks. The Trussell Trust, which runs national foodbanks, said it welcomed the news but added, ‘It will come too late for the thousands making new UC claims over the coming year. As an urgent priority, the 5+ week wait for a first payment must end’. When she started as work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, said she would listen ‘very carefully’ to concerns. She admitted the system could be better, and promised to ‘learn from errors’ and adjust the system where needed. See also
Christian is deported despite Islamic threats
11 Jan 2019
On 9 January Asher Samson, from Birmingham, was deported to Pakistan, despite last-minute attempts to convince the authorities that his case warranted a judicial review because the proper procedures had not been followed. Mr Samson came to the UK in 2004 to continue theology training in order to become a pastor. He decided to apply for asylum here after being beaten and threatened with execution by Islamic extremists during visits to Pakistan. A friend from his church writes, ‘He has no close family there, and rightly fears for his life. We can only pray; though on one level that seems so little, we know it is the most effective thing to do.’
Farming and the land
11 Jan 2019
The NFU has a new strapline for 2019: ‘UK – a nation united by food’, underpinned by four pillars: Moral Imperative, Standards and Integrity, Health and Nutrition, and Respecting Nature. Excellent aspirations, but without acknowledging the Lord they are just nice ideas. Pray that God will cause our farmers and those in related industries to run to Jesus and trust Him for clarity and purpose. Pray for reconciliation, firstly between God and man, then amongst people, and finally in restoration for God’s creation (Isaiah 55:6). Bovine tuberculosis continues to devastate many herds of cattle across Britain. Controlling the epidemic is hugely controversial: the role badgers play in spreading the disease, and the effectiveness of badger culling, are hotly contested. Pray for understanding between different interest groups, and that new solutions currently being developed will be implemented effectively and help reconcile farming and food production, animal welfare and care for creation.
Archbishop of Canterbury on Brexit vote
11 Jan 2019
Justin Welby has told the Lords that if Parliament fails to back a deal with Brussels, it will have shown itself to be ‘unfit for the job’. He warned that a no-deal Brexit could hit the ‘poorest and most vulnerable’ communities the hardest, and MPs have a ‘duty to build a compromise, even if it is unwelcome to some’. He urged MPs to show leadership and put the interests of their constituents first: ‘Parliamentarians must be able to look back at this time and say honestly to the people of this country that we put them, their choices, their welfare and their communities above the politics and ideology that can seem so all-consuming here in Westminster.’