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An Invitation To You From The Interceders Dear Most people are aware of how the nation of Britain, that was once called "Great Britain" has, over the last hundred years, deserved the name "great" less and less. Whereas it once had a world wide reputation for honesty, integrity, high moral standards, low crime, hard work, thrift and duty, it is now polluted with immorality, dishonesty, crime, drink, drugs, swearing and blasphemy. It is obsessed with sport, sex and entertainment, is heavily in debt, and has overfull prisons and nearly empty churches. This has been due to the nation turning its back on the God who made it great, and the churches of the land abdicating their responsibility to declare the truth of God with authority, but, instead compromising with the world It has been shown in the past that only a purified, revived Church, preaching the holiness, the law, the anger of God against sinners, His unavoidable judgment on all, and His amazing mercy seen in the perfect Son of God bearing the punishment for our sins, preached with earnestness, passion and tears by the anointing of the Spirit, so that sinners are convicted of their sins, brought to genuine repentance, and set free from sin to live a life of holiness; only this has been shown to be adequate to bring a nation back from the brink of moral and spiritual collapse. Such preaching has to be backed by the consistent, earnest prayers of God's people for the Holy Spirit to be poured out. Without that, all our work is in vain. But God is a covenant keeping God, who answers the prayers of His people, and who is waiting for us to meet the conditions.(2Chron.7:14, Jer.33:3, Mal.3:10, Lk.11:9-10, etc.), so that the Spirit can be poured out. Even though God determines the particular nature of any revival or awakening, we still carry the responsibility to pray for it, for He has given us that responsibility. Dr A.T Pierson and Dr W. Edwin Orr, the greatest authorities on the history of revivals and awakenings, stated that there has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer, that is, earnest, concerted and sustained prayer. God never changes, (Mal.3:6), therefore anything He has ever done, He can do now. His arm never shortens, (Is. 59:1), He still desires all men to be saved, (1Tim.2:4). He is still able to do far more than we can ask or imagine, (Eph.3:20). The Son of God told us to go on praying and not give up, (Lk.18:1-8), to ask in prayer, expecting to receive,(Mt.21:22). Righteousness still exalts a nation, and sin is still a reproach to any people, (Prov.14:34), therefore God wants Britain to be righteous and to be brought back to Him. Even when judgment was decreed upon the city of Jerusalem, we are told that God sought for a man to stand in the breach before Him so that He could avert His judgment and not destroy it. The tragedy was that He found no one, so His indignation was poured out on the city.(Ezek.22:30-31) Therefore, even though God is angry with this nation, for our rejection of His standards, our disobedience, our moral pollution, our impotent, complacent Church are all crying out for His judgment and condemnation, yet God is still looking for a man who will stand in the gap before Him like Moses, (Ps. 106:23), and plead for God`s mercy on this land. I am, therefore, asking you to stand in the gap with me, and beseech God to hold back His hand of judgment, and pour out His Spirit and revive His work in the midst of these years, (Hab.3:2), knowing that God is not willing that any should perish, and His patience demonstrates His desire to save. (2Pet.3:9-15) This task, however, is not to be undertaken lightly. The history of revivals shows that there is a cost to pay, a battle to be fought, a cross before the crown. There needs to be repentance for personal sin, and for the sins of the Church and the nation; and an acknowledgment that the reason we haven’t seen revival is our fault, as God hasn’t changed. We haven’t declared the truth of God, especially the law of God; so people do not know what sin is. (Rom.7:7). We haven’t warned them about the consequences of their sins, (Ez.3:17-21, Acts 20:31), so the nation has gone further away from God and His ways. We haven’t been humble and contrite before Him, (Is.66:2), nor prayed enough in faith, (1Thess.5:17, Jas.5:8). We haven’t been earnest enough, nor prayed with tears, (Js.5:17, Ps.42:3, Ps.126:5). We haven’t wrestled with God for blessing, nor prayed back the promises of God with boldness, (Gen.22:24-30, Ex.32:7-14, Ps.27:7-9, Is.41:17-20, Is.44:3-5,etc.) We haven’t fasted enough, nor been persistent enough, (Ezra8:23, Neh.1:4, Dan.9:3, Mt.6:17-18, Lk.11:5-10, Lk.18:1-8, Lk.18:35-43, etc.). If Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, and was heard because of his reverent submission", (Heb.5:7), how much more do we sinners need to do so? Yet, in spite of all our failings, God is faithful and gracious to us, is willing to forgive us, grant us a fresh start, and is still waiting to hear and answer our prayers. But our prayers do need to be specific. 1. We need to confess our own sins, and pray for personal revival; for the humility, the brokenness, the openness to the Holy Spirit, and the obedience to Him that we need to have. (Is.57:15,Ps.139:23,Ps.51:10-13 etc.) 2. We need to confess the sins of the churches in Britain, and pray for God to revive them. We need to understand that revival does not mean a shallow, hyped up carnal enthusiasm, endorsing people’s selfishness and pride, but a genuine work of the Holy Spirit bringing brokenness, repentance, cleansing, restitution and empowering. "When the Holy Spirit comes," said Jesus, "He will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment" (Jn.16:8); and the world is in the Church, so that when He comes in revival, there is great conviction of sin, and brokenness in the Church. Most of the churches in Britain today are worldly, shallow, and inward looking, full of complacency and pride. They are disobedient to the word of God, and so compromised with the world that they need to repent and turn from their wicked ways, and be turned inside out, so that they become concerned about the things that God is concerned about; evangelism, holiness, righteousness and walking in the fear of God and in the light of eternity.(1 Pet.4:17, Ps.79:1-13, Ps.74:9-23, Ps.80:1-19, Ps.85:1-13, Joel 2:12-17, 2Chron.7:14, Mic.6:8, Mt.28:19-20, Tit.2:11-14,etc.) 3. We need to pray for God to raise up preachers of righteousness; holy humble, passionate men of God, who will boldly proclaim the truths of God`s word, fearlessly denouncing all forms of sin and disobedience, warning people of the consequences of their sins, (Jer.7:14-22, Ez.33:1-9, Mic.3:8, Acts 20:27-31, 2Tim.4:1-5, 2Thess.1:6-9, Rev.20:11-15) All deep, word based revivals have come about through the anointed preaching of men of God, who have used the word of God as the sword of the Spirit, as a fire and a hammer(Heb.4:12-13, Jer.23:29). 4. We need to pray for a spiritual awakening in Britain. A revival is the breaking down and rousing up of those who have spiritual life; but unbelievers cannot be revived, for they are spiritually dead. They need to be awakened to new life. An awakening is when the heavens are rent, and God comes down upon an area, so that the whole atmosphere becomes charged with the awareness of the presence of a holy God, people are convicted of their sin; and the issues of eternity, of heaven and hell, are made real and inescapable. As people cry out to God, they find His mercy in Christ, their lives are changed, and society is transformed. (Is.2:11-21, Is.41:17-20, Is.44:3-5, Is.45:8, Is.64:1-5, Acts 2:37, Acts 16:29-30 ) 5. We need to pray at least once a day. We are to be the Lord’s watchmen who will never hold their peace, day or night, (Is.62:6). Nehemiah prayed for the people of God day and night. (Neh.1:4-6) Jesus tells us that God will speedily avenge His elect who call to Him day and night, (Lk.18:7-8). We are told to pray without ceasing, and to go on asking, seeking and knocking. (1Thess.5:17, Lk.11:5-10) 6. We need to pray and not give up until He answers. We need to show the persistence and shamelessness of the man who went on knocking at the door of his friend’s house at midnight until he got what he wanted. (Lk.11:5-8) We need to commit ourselves to praying until the Spirit is poured out, and God’s glory is seen in our land. (Ps.85:9). WE need to pray God's promises back to Him with holy boldness. We should take no rest and give God no rest until He restores the Church and makes it a praise in the Earth (Is 62:1 and 7). We need to be like the people of Barvas in Lewis in 1949, who prayed these verses back to God in faith, and saw Him answer by pouring out His Holy Spirit. Will you, therefore, commit yourself to pray at least once a day in the way outlined above, until the Lord answers? Make your commitment to God by pasting and copying the form below, completing it and sending it back to me as a document attached to an e-mail or appended to an e-mail. May the Lord bless you and lead you in His way. Commitment Form To Pray For Revival
Depending on the help and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I commit myself to pray at least once a day for the following: 1. I will stand in the gap, (between God’s anger and the sinful nation of Britain), and will plead for God to have mercy on this land and revive His work. 2. I will confess my own sins, and pray for God to have His way with me, revive me and use me. 3. I will confess the sins of the churches of this land, and pray for God to pour out His Spirit on them, and bring them to conviction of sin, brokenness, repentance and revival. 4. I will confess the sins of this nation, and pray for God to rend the heavens and come down, so that the whole atmosphere is charged with an awareness of a holy God, and sinners are convicted of their sin, cry out to God to have mercy, and find it in Christ, so that this land is healed and transformed. 5. I will pray for God to raise up preachers of righteousness, who will fearlessly proclaim the holiness and the law of God, the anger of God against sin and sinners, and the incredible mercy of God in Christ. 6. I will persist in these prayers until God answers. Please enter my name as an Interceder: Name:...................................................................... Address:................................................................... .................................................................................. .................................................................................. Telephone No.............................................................. Email....................................................................... Date................................................................ When you return this form, I will send you a commitment prayer sheet, to remind you of the promise you have made, and other documents to help you.
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