USA: Trump disappoints religious conservatives
12 May 2017
An executive order by President Trump last week fell short of what many had hoped for and drew widespread criticism. ‘The executive order on the whole looks to accomplish very little of substance, against the backdrop of a lot of show,’ said a professor of law and religion. Trump supporters argued that it was a first step in a multistep process that will lead to accomplishing all religious freedom objectives. Trump did nothing to address conflicts between gay rights advocates and Christian bakers or photographers who do not want to provide services for same-sex weddings.
KNOWING GOD’S HEART
10 May 2017
ne of the calls we believe God has given us at World Prayer Centre is to act as Watchmen. We know that watchmen have to make sense of what they can see, but their role is to serve. In this role, we will give you strategic overviews from time to time. We’d love to get your feedback but we hope this will encourage and bless your prayer life and focus.
Malcolm Duncan spoke powerfully at our recent ‘As One’ National Prayer Conference. He made the powerful comment that people of prayer are the lungs in the Body of Christ. The Body needs the lungs to function. Malcolm and others have helped us identify five themes we believe are on God’s heart at this time. Download Malcolm's podcasts.
Be filled
God wants us to ensure our lamps are constantly full of oil. In WPC, we are continuously praying to be filled. “Breathe on us breath of God,” let us be equipped, refreshed, energised and led by Your Spirit. This is a time to pray for those close to us to be filled, and for our churches to be filled with His Spirit, His presence and His love. This is a time to see things changed, and renewed by the breath of God.
God’s extraordinary
Ian Cole, WPC founder, has a vision for God’s extraordinary. We believe God wants to equip us, in these times with extraordinary resilience, extraordinary intimacy with Jesus, extraordinary unity and extraordinary faith. As we pray continuously to be filled, we want to keep praying for God’s extraordinary. He is equipping us for a new extraordinary time. Let us keep praying big prayers, and wait on God for the faith to see significant change. Let our 2017 testimonies be about the extraordinary love, goodness and power of God. Read Ian's article on the extraordinary.
Word and Spirit
The Word and Spirit are God’s great gift to His church and to the world, but they have been neglected. We have now moved into a time when they have been powerfully combined. Our experience in WPC is that the Spirit of God is revealing more and more from the Word. The Word is alive and active. This in turn is triggering powerful, authoritative prayer. So our encouragement to you is – expect more and keep your Bible by your side!
Call the midwives
At our conference in March, Brian Mills brought a simple word “Call the midwives”. We believe God is doing something new and very special in the nation; these will be God’s new babies! For us the “call the midwives” word links to our long wait since 1992 for what we call our Isaac – a World Prayer Centre building which can equip and empower people of prayer. We believe God was promising us that the wait is over and the promise will be fulfilled in the coming years. Many others have long term dreams and visions and it seems God was saying “now is the time” to them as well.
R.T. Kendall also carries an Isaac burden, also dating back to 1992. He believes God is going to release the greatest revival the world has ever seen – and it is God’s Isaac. He describes it in his remarkable book, “Prepare your heart for the Midnight Cry”. He looks at the story of the wise and foolish virgins – both had the Word and Spirit, the lamp and the oil – but only half of them had kept the lamp filled. We have always believed that the WPC building and the great revival would be aligned. 2017 is a highly significant year – heavens strategies are being unveiled.
Be alert
We believe God’s word to people of prayer is - “Be alert”. We are being instructed to be on constant look out and engage in spiritual warfare. We need to know the enemies tactics – sickness, unbelief, tiredness, lost confidence, broken relationships and fear. We stand with faith and perseverance and take ground from the enemy. We believe that our God is able, that Jesus’ commitment to us is total and the cross is the place of victory. As God’s army we stand together on the alert – not alone.
Knowing the Times
Part of our role is to understand these fast changing times. On the one hand we can see chaos, uncertainty, tension, intimidation and fear. On the other hand we see Jesus, the Rock, the Everlasting One, the Redeemer and Restorer whose depth of love can change everything. So our decision in these times is to look to Jesus. We believe it is harvest time. God is mobilising people of prayer first to prepare the ground but He is also declaring “Awake” to His whole church. The bridegroom is coming, let us hold the lamp, the Word of God close and let us ensure it is constantly filled with the oil of God’s Spirit. Here we are Lord, use us.
The election is in that context. God is calling a Parliament that will enable the great revival; He is preparing the nation for change. In His great mercy we have ten days of prayerwith Thy Kingdom Come and the great expectation of Pentecost leading up to the election.
Standing shoulder to shoulder
God is calling an army of ordinary people into His extraordinary. Unity is high on God’s agenda, and we are called to stand shoulder to shoulder, ready for God’s call. 2017 is a year of God’s extraordinary and we want to encourage you to stand with us and
- Be on the alert – so much will be happening in the place where God has put us. We are watchers on our local walls. Alongside that pray for our nation as we approach the election of this important parliament it will be a time of real spiritual contention. We also believe God has made us spiritually interdependent across the United Kingdom. Pray for the flames of God’s Spirit to blow across each of our nations.
- Pray with expectation and authority – we are stepping up!
- Join us to pray – our monthly Saturday Prayershift gatherings are events where we expect to see God move powerfully. Our monthly Monday meetings – WATCH + PRAY are to stand in the gap for our nation and the nations. We believe the most powerful prayer engine can often be a local small group. Use our 3 Things prayer videos, sign up to receive prayer issues identified in the Pulse and Prayer Alert. Make your requests known to the Lord.
- Send us your stories and testimonies – part of our standing together is to bring God glory! Contact us on social media or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Enjoy God’s presence – “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, Oh God, my God.”(Ps: 43.4). Let us ensure we always have oil in our lamps!
Steve Botham, Director of World Prayer Centre
Pakistan: church saved, prayer groups grow
05 May 2017
A prayer leader writes: ‘Many were praying for safety and no attacks during the Easter days. NL was a medical student who got involved with Daesh in Hyderabad and married a terrorist. Three days before Easter they went to Lahore, intending to bomb a big church, but a relative informed the police, saying she was acting strangely. The police followed this lead, and there was a shootout with the couple. The husband was killed, but NL was taken alive. The church was safe. Also on a more spiritual theme, at the medical school in Hyderabad one girl who had attended our prayer seminars decided to start a 24/7 prayer group in Hyderabad with medical students attending. It has become so strong that women from the outside asked to join, and it now has 150+ members.’
Telephone prayer-lines
05 May 2017
United Christian Broadcasting (UCB) Prayerline is a confidential service available to anyone, whoever they are and whatever their background. Christian volunteers take phone calls and pray with the callers over issues they are facing. Premier Christian Radio also have a telephone lifeline; trained volunteers create a confidential, anonymous place for people to talk about and pray into whatever they wish, without judgment or rejection. They could be worried about losing jobs, young people who do not know what to do next, people needing prayer for healing, those with money worries or family worries, or those who want to know more about what God can do in their lives. These are not counselling or advice services; it’s all about prayer and asking God for help. See also
Thousands of former Muslims baptised
05 May 2017
Pastor Paul, director of Bibles for Mideast, writes: ‘My risen Lord Jesus Christ has saved my life once again, and I praise and thank God for His unspeakable grace! Certainly, I am not worthy of it. The Assembly of Loving God Church of Bibles for Mideast started praying and fasting from 13 March to 2 April. As that period ended, over three thousand former Muslims were baptised in our churches in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Lord enabled me to baptise many people during this time. Then three weeks later, when I was changing after an early-morning baptism, militants began stoning our group. Although we were injured, God protected us from much worse.’
After Jesus’ ascension the apostles returned to Jerusalem to pray, and ten days later at Pentecost the Holy Spirit was released and the church was born. ‘Thy Kingdom Come 2017’ invites Christians to make a lasting difference in our nations and in our world by responding to Jesus’ call to find a deep unity of purpose in prayer.
(written by Jane Holloway, World Prayer Centre; Thy Kingdom Come)
Healthcare and election manifesto promises
05 May 2017
The main political parties have published their manifestos, and leaders have taken to the airwaves to define their ideas and criticise those of their opponents. There is a degree of common ground between Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat proposals on health. With the population living longer and more people living with long-term conditions, more seamless care will become a central challenge in the next parliament. Funding for social care for the elderly and vulnerable has been cut by 16 % recently. Although the Care Act brings clarity and consistency to social care entitlements, it will not end social care rationing. All three manifestos promote the importance of joined-up care, particularly for the elderly and chronically ill. We can praise God that this need is recognised, and pray that positive pledges will be implemented now that all parties have got the message that the NHS needs additional funding to survive.
Rev Gavin Ashenden, one of 33 chaplains to the Queen, had become involved in a controversy because he openly criticised the reading of the Qu’ran in an Epiphany church service in which Muslims took part. During the service, which celebrated the wise men’s visit to Bethlehem and their acknowledgment of Jesus being God in human form, passages from the Qu’ran were read in Arabic stating that Jesus was not the Son of God. Rev Ashenden said he needed to resign from his post to avoid any misunderstanding that his statements were said on behalf of the Queen. He added, ‘I think it a higher and more compelling duty to speak out on behalf of the faith than to retain a public honour which precludes me doing so at this time.’