Having preached here in Asbury chapel leading 100s of Asbury students in prayer late into the night, I am thrilled to hear the credible reports of a new, powerful work of the Spirit breaking out there over these last six days, and now beginning to spread to other universities I am particularly grateful to those who seem to be stewarding this humbly, wisely and well. Some of them will be joining me tomorrow night for a time of impartation at an online seminar organised by #ReviveEurope and @247prayer

ON THE FEAST OF STEPHEN
—-
So Christmas for consumers is over but for Christians it now begins. For us this one day resets the calendar; this birth begins the rebirth of a broken world; this historical nativity changes everything for everyone forever… And so, on this Feast of Stephen, remembering the first Christian martyr, we take the flickering flame from Bethlehem and start kindling fires, igniting tiny conspiracies of hope. In the stale hangover of the morning after, we open wide the windows and breathe deep…

I No Longer Pray for Peace by Ann Weems
——

On the edge of war, one foot already in,

I no longer pray for peace:
I pray for miracles. I pray that stone hearts will turn
to tenderheartedness,
and evil intentions will turn
to mercifulness,
and all the soldiers already deployed
will be snatched out of harm’s way,
and the whole world will be
astounded onto its knees.

As the Russian invasion of #Ukraine begins, @POTUS is assuring its citizens of ‘the world’s prayers’. But how do we actually do it? What do we say?

Here’s a prayer I wrote. Feel free to pray it on your own, share it online, and use it on Sunday (slides available @247prayer )

On this day in 1727 the #MoravianPentecost erupted amongst a community of refugees in the sleepy village of Bethelsdorf near Herrnhut in modern-day Germany.

Here are FIVE extraordinary ways in which that event went on to change the world >>> 1.🔥The *Moravian Pentecost* sparked a 24-7 #prayer meeting in Herrnhhut which continued night-and-day, without interruption for more than 100 years.

A SPECIAL PRAYER FOR MOTHERS

For many people, especially many women, one of the loveliest days in the year is also one of the loneliest. Since it is #MothersDay today in the UK, Ireland and Nigeria, let’s pray for mums.
—
📷 Thanks to Bex for permission to use her lovely photo We celebrate the all-round amazingness
of so many mothers today:
May the ones who are stressed
somehow get rest,
And those who have failed
be blessed.

Inspired today by the witness of John Harper - the ‘bravest man on The Titanic’ - whose last letter just sold at Sotheby’s for an eye-watering £42,000. John Harper boarded the #Titanic bound for #Chicago having been invited to preach at the city’s Moody Church. His wife had recently died so he was travelling with his sister and six-year-daughter Annie Jessie.

A LORD’S PRAYER FOR JUSTICE ~ by Ronald Rolheiser OMI
———

OUR FATHER… who always stands with the weak, the powerless, the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the aged, the very young, the unborn, and those who, by victim of circumstance, beat the heat of the day. WHO ART IN HEAVEN... where everything will be reversed, where the first will be last and the last will be first, but where all will be well and every manner of being, will be well.

You might have noticed that the last couple of months have been full-on for me. In fact, they have been some of the busiest and most challenging of my life. And now I face the greatest challenge of them all - to rest.

I don’t find this particularly easy... I frequently make the mistake of being lazy about leisure; assuming that rest is merely the absence of work (nothing more than a time to stop and swap busyness for pleasure). But few things deplete the joy of true sabbath more effectively than vacuity.

People who like interior design and dinner parties tend to conclude that they must have been blessed with the gift of #hospitality. But this is not the gift of hospitality. This is the gift of a box of chocolates. Having (or aspiring to have) a nice house with an underused spare room in which to entertain exotic guests who confirm the loveliness of your home has little to do with the deeply disruptive biblical notion of hospitality which starts in the heart (rather than the Ikea catalogue)

Can I be honest with you? I'm actually not into prayer. I’m into Jesus, so we talk.

I don’t believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of God. So I ask for his help. A lot.

I'm not into evangelism. I hate evangelism! I'm into Jesus. So I talk to people about him. I'm not into social justice. I'm into Jesus. So I find myself picking fights with his enemies.

I'm not into worship - all those soft rock songs, over and over again - I'm into Jesus. So when I see him I smile. I bow. And yes, OK I admit that I sing quite a bit too.

A PRAYER FOR MOTHERS

Today* we pray for mothers
to know love and joy
And for orphans, comfort
For not-yet mothers, hope
For single mothers, grace
And for those who are lonely, family We pray grace today
For the mothers of prodigals
For those whove lost children
And for those who don't know where their children are

May the embrace of grace displace shame
For mums in prison,
For those who cant feed a baby
For those who miscarried
And those who had an abortion

A VALENTINE PRAYER
We pray today for those in love, those out of love, and those in between. We remember especially those who find themselves a little bit lonelier than normal. We do not pray today for loved-up couples, exchanging overpriced flowers and foil wrapped hearts, leaking pheromones like diesel fumes at candlelit dinners. We are pretty sure, Lord, they will be OK (for now).