Shepherds & Suddenly's
17 Jan 2019
At the beginning of a New Year and at this time of reset on our WPC journey, I have felt a prompting from God to call for Shepherds to prepare for a suddenly, some of which will be good and others challenging.
We cannot plan a suddenly for ourselves, but we can prepare for a suddenly in the place God has placed us, on the journey He has called us to take. In preparing for whatever God will release or allow, I have looked at how a few people in Scripture received and dealt with their suddenly experience and how in many cases a suddenly changed the course of history.
Jacob (Israel) who would shepherd huge flocks, is on a journey. Suddenly angels are climbing up and down ladders and God is saying, “I am the Lord the God of your father Abraham and your father Isaac, I will give you the land you are lying on.” From that holy, fearful place that he called the house of God, the gate of heaven, Jacob the twister, changed to one who blessed and prophesied a nation into being.
Moses is tending the flock when suddenly a bush is burning but is not burned up. Moses, more humble than anyone on the face of the earth, faithful in all God’s house, who talked to God face-to-face, leads the nation Jacob blessed, out of captivity into freedom.
David is out tending the sheep when he suddenly gets the call from Samuel to lead the nation and deal with the giants that are trying to kill God’s flock. Psalm 78 tells us that he did so with integrity of heart and skilful hands. No wonder he could write with such authority, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”
When God wanted to use a king who did not even acknowledge Him to rebuild God’s city and set the exiles free, He said of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd.”
When hundreds and hundreds of years later God wants to announce the greatest happening in world history, He finds a bunch of shepherds, on watch, and suddenly the skies are filled with the glory of the Lord. An angel freaks them out, the biggest choir heaven could send turns up and such is the impact they decide to go and see this thing that has happened, acknowledging the truth they had been told. World history suddenly changed.
33 years later, suddenly to His followers, this Good Shepherd is being led like a lamb to the slaughter, laying down His life for the sheep of all nations to know God’s Mercy, His Grace, His Freedom, His Justice and His incomparable love.
When Peter was asked by Jesus to, “feed His sheep,” his ministry of shepherding started at a prayer meeting in which suddenly the Holy Spirit comes, shakes the house and shakes him and his friends out of the house, to turn the known world upside down.
When God wants to call a nation into His purposes, when He wants to bring a nation into freedom, when He wants to protect a nation from powerful people, when He wants someone to restore, renew, and rebuild, when He wants to turn our world upside down, He takes a shepherd with a limp, a shepherd on the run, the shepherd who is the odd one in the family, a king shepherd who needs straightening out, a denying disciple, an obedient son and suddenly uses them to prepare the way of the Lord in a family, community, nation and the nations. The coming of His kingdom on earth as in Heaven.
At a time of national and global uncertainty, whether we are shepherds in a family, a church, in a community or in Government, wherever God has placed us, let us as good shepherds keep watch. Prepare for a suddenly, in humility, integrity, skilfully, faithfully and in obedience, with a willingness to go and see and believe what God is doing and join Him, even if in our humanity it freaks us out.
Are you ready?
Source: Ian Cole, Founder of World Prayer Centre
Christians in sport share their faith
11 Jan 2019
Stoke City F C’s new manager, Nathan Jones, has been praised by the Bishop of Stafford: ‘It's so impressive that Nathan is able to talk openly and honestly about his faith, and it's particularly great that he has found strength from this during times of adversity’. Jones, who regularly attends church and has Christian-themed tattoos, has described how God keeps him ‘grounded’ and helps him persevere against temptation: ‘Through hard times I've always had the stability of the Lord in my life.’ Billy Vunipola, regarded as one of England's best rugby players, has spoken about how his faith is helping him get back to fitness after suffering three broken arms in just over a year. For his interview with the Daily Telegraph, see
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.’