On Ascension Day, May 10th, millions of Christians around the world will start a 10- day season of worship and prayer based on Acts 1 and 2. Prayer meetings, services, events, walks, pilgrimages will take place; continuous prayer and worship will flood thousands of communities; cathedrals, parks, churches and community buildings will be used as Christians gather to pray for His Kingdom and His Holy Spirit to come. As God’s children humble themselves before Him we know that He will hear us if we ask from that place of alignment with His kingly rule and His plans and purposes (John 15:16-17)

“In praying 'Thy Kingdom Come' we all commit to playing our part in the renewal of the nations and the transformation of communities." Archbishop Justin Welby

And it is timely to pause and reflect about what are we doing when we pray Thy Kingdom Come?
A number of leaders from different churches and organisations have been invited to offer their perspectives: see more at www.thykingdomglobal.com

Gavin Calver and Peter Martin from Spring Harvest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txHr8WQh-8g

Lynn Green of the Baptist Church https://vimeo.com/264480551

Archbishop Angaelos from the Coptic Church https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OHafHBnyfw

As we, at WPC, have shared ‘we increasingly realise the weightiness of praying this prayer …if we pray for His Kingdom to come then other kingdoms have to make way for it…… As we pray, 'Thy Kingdom come' we are praying for righteousness, truth, love, hope, wisdom, justice and peace to come; all of which the kingdom of darkness despises and hates. At a time when we are constantly bombarded with the evil outworking’s of that kingdom, what a privilege to demonstrate through our united praying, our words and actions, that the light of Christ has overcome the darkness and always will. This is powerful, transformational prayer. When we start to pray in faith we must expect change, we must expect shaking, and we must expect a push from God to keep on praying http://www.worldprayer.org.uk/images/PDF/Thy%20Kingdom%20Come%202018%20(JH)%202.pdf

A key part of Thy Kingdom Come is praying for those we know to come to know Jesus and the suggestion is we think of up to 5 people we know, meet or come across in our daily lives and pray for them daily in this season and beyond. Need some encouragement to persevere in prayer? Listen to Grace Wheeler ‘s story from Youth for Christ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT3tOCnvk9U&t=2s

New music video: Thy Kingdom Come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA2q295l9A

Resources for individuals, churches and families in. www.thykingdomglobal.com

10 day prayer guide from WPC http://www.worldprayer.org.uk/images/PDF/Thy%20Kingdom%20Come%20Prayer%20Resource.pdf

In Mathew 25 Jesus tells a tale of ten virgins, waiting for the bridegroom. All ten had been given lamps and oil, they plan to walk in a celebratory procession with the bridegroom. The challenge was – were they prepared to wait, because it was not till around midnight that the bridegroom arrived? Jesus is talking here about the powerful combination of the Word (“Your word is a lamp to my feet” Ps.119:105) and the Spirit “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came on David.” 1 Sam. 16:13.

At the midnight hour the wise virgins had their oil topped up, but the foolish ones had run dry. Smith Wigglesworth brought a strong prophetic word 70 years ago. Many will be familiar with it. He said “When the Word and Spirit combine we shall see the greatest move the church of Jesus Christ has ever seen.” Smith Wigglesworth saw great miracles and conversions in His ministry but believed that the best was yet to come.

We have asked R.T.Kendall to join us at Trumpet Call. He believes the coming together of the Word and Spirit – the lamp and oil, in the ten virgins parable is key. They produce light and flame. He believes we will experience a growing reverence for the Word of God as a “wake up call for the church – then there will come the greatest outpouring of the spirit in the history of the church.” He says this will be accompanied by the “clearest preaching of the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, accompanied by signs and wonders not seen since the days of the early church.”

We are in extraordinary times and this spiritual turning is happening now. WPC’s experience is that God continually speaks to us though key scriptures. We were led into a new phase when Malcolm Duncan shared 2 Kings 19: 29 with us. A clear Word about change. Many other scriptures have inspired us on our journey like Joshua 3:5 “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” He is currently speaking to us about the Lamb of God, the holiness of the lamb and the great global changing power of the lamb who comes to take away the sins of the world – surely the most fundamental and historical change and transformation call. You will know how God has been speaking powerfully to us through 2 Chron. 7:14 with deeper and deeper revelations of God’s plans and purposes as we keep returning to this scriptures and the context it was spoken into. God is continually reminding us of his goodness, mercy and transformational power. He is awesome.

We so want you to come on this journey with us. To read your bible with great expectation and awe. To wait on the Lord and let him lay a scripture before you. The great outcome of this turning is the cry “Your Kingdom Come”. It is prayer for a great outpouring of His Holy Spirit. Imagine yourself with an old fashioned oil lamp. You can pray each day for it to be full. Imagine taking that oil lamp into your day, asking God to give you words of encouragement, reveal His compassion and mercy in you and let your spirit burst into flame with healings, forgiveness, and revelations of Jesus. We are so blessed to be living in days of the Word and Spirit. The five wise virgins waited believing the bridegroom would come, their oil and lamps were ready, although it was near midnight they trusted the bridegroom. So do we, we await his arrival with joy.

Steve Botham, Director
World Prayer Centre

We want to give you an idea of what goes on at Prayershift and encourage you to add your prayers to what was covered on the day.

Prayershift is a powerful mixture of praise and worship, input on key issues and prayer with an emphasis on creating breakthroughs and change.

We watched a powerful video from an unprecedented gathering of global prayer leaders and mission leaders held at Hernhutt in Germany last year. See https://vimeo.com/244739881

One of the memorable quotes was “The degree to which prayer is mobilised is the degree to which the world is evangelised.” We followed this praying for prayer and mission to be brought together and the gospel to go forward. As we did, we kept getting led back to Hernhutt’s mission cry – as they left their village they would shout “For the Lamb that was slain”. A word was given “Hear the sound, the Lamb is in the field. He is calling forth redemption, mercy and change.” We found ourselves praising and honoring the Lamb, who has taken the sins of the entire world. We also prayed for Trumpet Call, that the hall will be full and that everyone who attends will hear God speak powerfully.

Jane and Ian reported back from a prayer gathering in Northern Ireland representing the nations of the United Kingdom plus the Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland. We followed this with a very powerful time of prayer for reconciliation in Ireland, repenting for our division and calling for Christians to focus on God’s Kingdom. We prayed for Ireland to commit to “life” in the forthcoming abortion referendum.

We also prayed into the Windrush situation and the hatred and fear that had been released into the nation following Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of blood” speech in Birmingham fifty years before. God is exposing injustice as he shakes our nation. We are aware that divisions still exist and prayed for healing and reconciliation through His church.

We all felt blessed to be there, standing together in God’s presence and being given authority to pray into some key issues.

Our next Prayer Shift is the last one before Trumpet Call, on May 12th. This is such a key time to pray for Turning in our nation and for God to pour His spirit of love, forgiveness and goodness on our nation.

We would love you to join us! We meet at The Betel Church Centre, 122-138 Sherlock Street, Birmingham, B5 6NB from 10.30 – 3.00. It is time to see God do extraordinary things!

All mighty spiritual revivals have had their roots in prayer. Years ago a missionary revivalist reported that in England he talked to a lady about the revival in China. She gave him certain dates when God specially pressed her to pray. He was startled to find that they were the very dates when God was doing his mightiest work in Manchuria and China. The day will come when the history of revival will be unveiled and show that it was brought about mainly by God's saints hidden away with Him in prayer. There will be an international prayer day for the unreached peoples of the world on 20 May. Will you pray? To find out more, go to