Could The Church reach the whole of their city for Christ? 

Could The Church reach the whole of their city for Christ? A radical question?

Evangelist Dr Ed Silvoso from Argentina offers an answer from his personal experience. Here’s are the opening paragraphs of Ed’s story from his website: www.edsilvoso.com

PRINCIPLE: CITIES ARE CENTRAL TO GOD’S REDEMPTIVE STRATEGY. THE GREAT COMMISSION BEGINS WITH A CITY‚ JERUSALEM‚ AND CULMINATES WHEN ANOTHER CITY‚ THE NEW JERUSALEM‚ BECOMES GOD’S ETERNAL DWELLING WITH HIS PEOPLE. IN ORDER TO FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION, WE MUST REACH EVERY CITY ON EARTH WITH THE GOSPEL.HELLO

IS IT POSSIBLE TO REACH AN ENTIRE CITY FOR CHRIST? This was one of the first and most persistent questions I asked myself as a new believer. Acknowledging that God wishes that none should perish and that Christ gave Himself in ransom for all (see 1 Tim. 2:4,5; 2 Pet. 3:9), I constantly wondered what it would take for the Church in a given city to take the good news to everyone there.

I received the Lord when I was 13 and living in my native Argentina. The best decision I made as a new Christian was to have a weekly appointment with God. Every Thursday, at 7:00 P.M. sharp, I rode my bicycle to the western shore of the Parana River in my hometown of San Nicolas. During that precious hour, I poured out my heart to God, trying to understand the loneliness I felt as a born-again Christian high schooler in a spiritually skeptical town of almost 100,000 souls. If Jesus was indeed the only way, why was it that no one else wanted to find Him?…

Continue to read the story on his website – click here

Pray for personal revival

We are pleased to reproduce the latest Newsletter of Rev Tony Higton’s, Network for Revival.

Please go to networkforrevival.co.uk for further details or contact Tony at email: tony@higton.info

Prepare

Network for Revival April 2019

Pray for personal revival

“Revival begins with me” is a thought which God has put in my mind during my prayer times. And I recommend that thought to you. The aim of Network for Revival is to encourage persistent, in-depth intercession for revival, which is vitally important. But a twin aim is to encourage growing holiness on the part of those interceding. In fact, intercession is undermined without growth in holiness. We need a deeper, and ever-deepening, experience of the Lord himself – a Transfiguration experience.

Three of the disciples accompanied Jesus up the mountain. Suddenly “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light,” Then “a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” Little wonder that “when the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified” (Matt 17:2-6). What a transforming experience that must have been and how we need something like it ourselves!

In other words, we need personal revival, not only to deepen our prayer for revival profoundly but also to make us into people who manifest the presence of God (which is what revival is all about).

I encourage you to make Matthew 17:2-6 a basis for prayer and to ask the Lord to give you a transfiguration experience. It may be sudden or gradual, but the Lord will do it.

How to find time to pray

A member wrote to me saying he was having a problem finding time to pray and could I offer any advice from my own experience. I replied as follows and thought that the information might to be helpful for others.

I do understand the problem, especially for those in full time ministry/work. I have learnt a few things over the years since I started to pray for revival. Here are my thoughts:

1.      Think about motives for prayer for Revival

Motivation helps in the effort to find the time. Here are a few quick motives to meditate on:

·         Following Jesus who “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Lk 5:16).

·         For the sake of the dishonoured name of God

·         For the sake of the grief of God over the unrepentant

·         For the sake of the unrequited love of God

·         For the sake of the lost

·         For the sake of the church.

2.      Be assured of the immense spiritual rewards of regular prayer for Revival

I know that’s not the motive, but I can assure you that it is the result. I could (literally) write a book on what God has done and said to me in the last three and a half years of special prayer for revival.

3.      Be determined to pray

I was challenged by the thought that I find time for what I think is really important. But, after three and a half years of having a special time of prayer for revival every day (and being very encouraged by what God has done consistently in those prayer times) I still have to make an effort (often now only a small one) to ensure I do pray. So don’t be discouraged if you find a certain reluctance to pray.  By the way, I’m sure the devil doesn’t want us to pray for Revival and so distracts and discourages us. Another relevant thought is “I don’t have time to pray for Revival. I have to find time to pray for Revival.” I actually think that some tasks expand to fill the time available, so making time to pray can normally be fitted into the day without other urgent or essential tasks having to be neglected.

4.      Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Decide prayerfully how long and how often you should pray. I started with having a prayer time three times a week but eventually changed to having daily prayer. You might start with, say, 30 minutes whenever you pray for Revival. Remember also that prayer is dialogue and God will speak extensively to you if you spend time listening.

5.      If possible, pray fairly early in the day

My experience over the years is that my time of prayer for Revival has taken place any time from about 10.00am (after my personal prayers) to midnight, depending on the timetable for immovable events. But the danger is the later it gets in the day the greater the temptation to leave it until tomorrow. Once I’ve had the time of prayer I feel more at peace.  Obviously, if you are working full time, it may not be possible to pray early in the day.

6.      You might find it helpful to go to a lonely place, if possible.

I mentioned above that Jesus did this. In the early days of my prayer for revival, I drove a short distance to a beautiful isolated spot in the country. This helped me to get into the habit of such prayer times. Maybe, even if you live in an urban area you could find such a lonely spot. For example, you could use a church building (some of which are open every day), even if it’s not of your denomination. It gets away from the phone etc (and why not switch off the mobile?).

7.      Sometimes combine it with fasting

To miss a meal (especially lunch) provides a time to pray in a busy day, as well as being an opportunity for ‘fasting prayer.’

Quotations about revival

A description of revival in Point, on the West coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides Revival: “The outstanding feature of the 1949—52 revival was the presence of God … You could sense and feel the presence of God everywhere. Even the children sensed something. It was the power of God let loose! People went on their knees anywhere. We would be out at the meetings at 7.00 p.m. and then go home at about 9.00 p.m., have something to eat, then off to the next meeting in Aird or somewhere else until 11.00 p.m. or midnight. After that we would go to a house meeting until 4.00 or 5.00 a.m. This would go on night after night! Imagine Duncan Campbell going to all these meetings. He was not young! Amazingly, we kept going and did not get tired.  (Colin & Mary Peckham, Sounds from Heaven, p. 185).

Tony

Network for Revival banner

Worship on the Streets

Worship on the Streets is about sharing God’s love and power on the streets through worship.

What they are about reflects the vision of CTNTP of the Releasing of a Sound over our Nation.

Please check out their website: worshiponthestreets.co.uk and draw inspiration and support them in all they are doing..

Reproduced below is their latest newsletter -or view on MailChimp – Click Here

 

Stories from the Streets – April 2019

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though they may die, they shall live.” John 11:25

Easter is a time when we celebrate both the resurrection of Jesus and the new life He offers each of us. We ended this term on the streets celebrating that new life being given to one of the passers by we met whilst worshipping in North Shields…

We had been worshipping for a little while when I was suddenly reminded of the story of God telling Ezekiel to prophesy to the “dry bones” that they would come to life (Ezekiel 37). With that in mind, we began spontaneously singing “Let there be life!” over and over again. What we didn’t know though was at the same time as us singing this, one of our team members was sitting on a bench nearby sharing the gospel with a passerby. After about half an hour of chatting about what it means to follow Jesus, our team member simply asked the man if he wanted to receive Jesus into his life for himself. The man said he wanted to and together they bowed their heads, held hands and prayed together as this gift of a new life was received once again. In just over 15 years of following Jesus, there is still few things that compare to seeing someone come to know Him for themselves and experience the new life that He offers.

 


 

 

 

We wish you a very joy-filled Easter!.Thank you for all your support for Worship On The Streets and helping us share God’s gift of this new life with others.

With much love

Aaron and the Worship On The Streets Team x

Introducing City Vision and a Conference 22nd May

Introducing City Vision

City VisionThe Bible speaks much about Cities. They are important places both not only in the natural realm but spiritually too. The New Testament speaks  of the early Church being in Cities – ‘The Church in…’ – not individual churches, but one body consisting of all Believers – men and women to be reckoned with, full of the Holy Spirit, spreading the ‘leaven’ of The Gospel all around their communities and advancing The Kingdom of God right where they lived and worked.

Imagine being part of the early church in the City of Jerusalem, as described in Acts, Chapter 2, entitled in the NIV translation, The fellowship of the believers:

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

What if The Lord has a really amazing plan lined up, for The Church in our Cities all around the nation to become just like that in the book of Acts?… and The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved – wouldn’t that be wonderful!

Sound Interesting? Check out the below video and take a look at the website  of City Vision https://cityvision.life

They also have a one day Conference in Coventry on Wednesday 22 May – go to find out more – click here.

 

London Prayer Loop – prayer walks coming up in June

 

Here’s some exciting news from Neighbourhood Prayer Network about this year’s Prayer Walks of The London Loop, coming up 21st, 22nd and 23rd June.

Can you and your church join in?

Read more below and also download a letter you can use as an invitation to your church to take part – click here.

London loop

London Prayer LOOP Walk – The story so far

Lisa Hutt, of Neighbourhood Prayer Network

A few years ago I had a stirring in my heart to prayer walk the Sandstone Trail in Cheshire.  As I prayed into the idea to prayer walk the Sandstone Trail I was encouraged when a prayer ministry team member at my church shared she had a picture of a sandstone as she prayed with me!  She knew nothing about what was on my heart.  I waited for someone else to want to prayer walk the Sandstone Trail with me and in August 2017 I completed this prayer assignment with a good friend.

Shortly after this, I visited London.  Whilst there I did a prayer walk and came across a marker on a post for the London LOOP.  I had a strong prompting that God was asking me to do some prayer walking in London and said to God “you are not asking me to prayer walk London, are you?  It is a big place…!”  I went onto the internet and looked up what the London LOOP was and found the Transport for London website that gave more information about it.  As I looked at the map of the London LOOP on their website I saw the opportunity to prayer walk around the whole of London.

As I prayed God led me to share the idea and over a period of months everything came together so that all 24 sections (in total 150 miles) were prayer walked over three Saturdays in June and July 2018.  It was a spying out the land exercise and the feedback from those that prayer walked has meant that we are inviting individuals, prayer groups and churches from inside and outside of London to consider prayer walking one or more of the sections of the London LOOP over the weekend of Friday 21st June 2019, Saturday 22nd June 2019 and Sunday 23rd June 2019.

Last year we had a passion to pray for those impacted by gun and knife crime and for the Father’s love to be released across London as we prayer walked.  Many other prayers were said as people prayed what was on their heart.

You can sign up as an individual to the London Prayer Loop Walk here

You can sign up your Prayer Group to the London Prayer Loop Walk here

You can sign up as a Church interested in the London Prayer Loop Walk here

 

Lisa Hutt

Neighbourhood Prayer Network

Neighbourhood Prayer net

(Article from http://www.neighbourhoodprayer.net/projects/london-prayer-loop/)

Beacon Britain – a prophetic dream

The following was published on 29th March 2019 on the website: https://cooperteach.wordpress.com, authored by David Cooper.

It contains some themes that dovetail with words we at CTNTP have been hearing from other sources. You might hear echos of Jean Darnall’s 1967 prophecy of fires lighting around the nation – read here.

Also there is reference to the jump starting of a heart is mentioned – read here an article we published in June 2018

What does The Holy Spirit say to you:

David CooperJoel 2:28  And it shall come to pass in the last days…..

“…your old men shall dream dreams…”

The other night I dreamed a dream of BEACON BRITAIN.

There came a parting, a hole in the uniform layer of cloud. A shaft of brilliance from above arrowed down like a searchlight, and moved almost imperceptibly until it picked out and highlighted the small, crowded islands we call Great Britain, and there it stopped.

The aperture in the clouds widened and somehow changed until it resembled a lens that, like a magnifying glass, greatly increased the burning potential of the heavenly brilliance as it played over the earth below.

At first here and there, and then in a rapidly multiplying spread, random fires broke out across the nation, as if by spontaneous combustion.

“MY BEACON IS LIT”

Said the Voice.

For generations heaven had been gathering kindling for the beacon from many nations, cultures and religions. Then years of increasingly secularist society and government, followed by a season of confusion, insecurity and social and economic upheaval, as the U.K. faces leaving the E.U., had rendered the kindling tinder-dry and ready for heaven to use as an eye-catching “burning bush”.

In every part of British society more and more people are touched by the brooding Brilliance, but the most deeply affected, at least at first, is the “visible Church” of Jesus Christ.

“MY CHURCH IS TO BE THE NATION’S BEATING HEART, 

AND IT’S IMMUNE SYSTEM.”  

Said the Voice.

The radical intervention of the brilliance on the Church was like “jump-starting” the heart so that it regained rhythm and flexibility, circulation and functionality. Dry bones reconnected, were fleshed out, Spirit fuelled and radically realigned as a force to be reckoned with.

“I BUILT MY CHURCH TO WORK LIKE THAT.” 

Said The Voice.

As the Church grew miraculously, and in the miraculous, signs and wonders became commonplace, and society was increasingly influenced and affected. But the “climate change” effect of the brilliance went far, far beyond the visible Church organizations and the communities they served. The brilliance was an atmosphere, an ethos, which brooded over the entire nation rather than being centered on an organization or movement.

People of all ages, all classes, all types, all races, all religions, seemingly at random, were affected. They dreamed dreams, or saw visions, they heard “words”, or had overwhelming experiences, some had a “light bulb moment” or came to a moment of realization after long search. Often there was physical or emotional healing accompanying the experience. The common denominator in every case was that each felt that they had had a divine encounter, and somehow had “met the Jesus of the Bible”.

The Brilliance jumped religious and cultural barriers so that people of every corner of British society met the King. Soon the spread of the Kingdom dwarfed the explosive growth of the Church. People of all types and religions encountered Jesus, from business suited executives to burka clad wives, from boiler suited welders to bewigged lawyers, from schoolchildren to residents of care homes or inmates in prisons.

There were people from every possible part of society, street traders, street sweepers, street walkers and street sleepers. People of every political, sexual, philosophical or cultural persuasion were affected, but many, because of their cultural background, didn’t have much contact with the visible church, and didn’t go on to “do church” in the conventional way, though they now tended to instinctively affirm the visible Churches views and values.

“Clusters” formed of the family, friends and acquaintances of those touched by the Brilliance as others they knew sought and found a similar experience for themselves. Electronic “clusters” with a similar effect formed on social media and spread like wildfire across the nation and beyond.

The sale of Bibles jumped, and versions many in many languages were downloaded onto kindles and other screens, as people sought to understand what had happened to them. Although the effect of the Kingdom Brilliance did not coalesce into an organization, the changed hearts of so many across society meant that the moral and ethical tone of the nation rose from an all-time low to unprecedented heights.

“MY BUSH IS BURNING”.  

Said the Voice.

Winds from the North and West caught up showers of sparks, spreading the fires across Europe and on to encircle the globe. Spiritually from above the globe had resembled a dark night sky with a few glowing planets and a sprinkling of stars, but now more and more points of light, like newly birthed stars, were appearing everywhere, as Kingdom fire touched people of every kind. Once again the spread of the Kingdom dwarfed the considerable growth of the visible Church across the planet.

Now the Brilliance stood over Britain as a column of leaping flames, and the I AM Himself arose in the midst of the conflagration of Beacon Britain to address the nations of Earth.

“COME”    

Said the Voice.

Prayer brings Revival – what God did in the Hebrides

Hebridean revival
The elderly ‘praying’ sisters with evangelist Duncan Campbell, who was invited to help steward the Hebrides Revival

The last Revival upon the shores of the UK as a whole, was The Hebrides Revival, that took place between 1949 and 1952. It is a truly remarkable story of two elderly sisters, one blind, the other bent with arthritis, who heard from God and were persistent in prayer, until The Holy Spirit literally shook the islands in revival power!

CTNTP were recently reminded of this, after receiving an email containing an article, with part of the amazing story.

We have published the article as a page on the website, entitled, Intercessors of the Hebrides Revival – click here to view.

It is a timely reminder that persistent prayer, prayer that is offered up in response the prompting and guiding of The Spirit, can see this nation utterly transformed. The Hebrides Revival was surely a taster of the greater things to come for the UK?

Justin Welby – 5 days of Prayer approaching Brexit

The following article, dated 23 February, has been taken from the Daily Mail website, (click here to view). Isn’t it encouraging that the secular media are reporting like this?!

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, pictured, said 'life will go on' after Brexit and the nation must rise to the challenge to uniteChurch of England plans five days of PRAYER in a bid to help Britain’s departure from the EU as Archbishop of Canterbury says ‘life will go on’ after Brexit
  • Congregations will be asked to pray for country as Britain approaches March 29
  • Archbishop of Canterbury spoke at Church of England’s General Synod meeting
  • Justin Welby said UK’s facing signs of division ‘more clearly than for generations’

The Church of England is planning to urge churchgoers to take part in five days of prayer in a bid to help Britain’s departure from the EU.

Congregations will be asked to pray for the country as Britain approaches March 29.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said ‘life will go on’ after Brexit and the nation must rise to the challenge to unite around a common good that cares for the most vulnerable.

A church spokesman said the move would wedge support behind politicians, with healthy conversations taking place to try to ease unrest.

The Synod members also urged people to pray for ‘all who are in high positions, as it is easier to stand on the sidelines and judge, as we do not have to make the decisions’.

Speaking at the meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod, Justin Welby said Britain was facing signs of division ‘more clearly than for generations’.

The Archbishop said: ‘Today we see signs of division, perhaps more clearly than for generations in peace time, they concern inequality and injustice and they obscure hope for many.

‘There is exclusion from the sense of common purpose and of equal rights in our society, politically, economically and socially.

‘Life will go on, and God’s mission is not stopped by such events, rather we are called to rise to the challenge here and across Europe, where the diocese is particularly affected.

‘Brexit has revealed how our politics and society have for many decades not paid sufficient attention to the common good that is shared life in a society in which everyone is able to flourish.

‘The pain and exclusion continues in this country. If we do not as a nation pay attention it will cause greater division.’

He added: ‘We hear the prophets tell us that justice must roll down like rivers and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, the Bible does not do trickle-down economics, a theory long discredited.

‘It does rolling rivers of justice, the scriptures call us to solidarity with the poor and to common good.

‘The reality of exclusion and division is seen in the difficulty of our political system to build a consensus and find a common path forward.

‘How we recover from and heal these divisions may be the biggest challenge that lies ahead of us.’

The Archbishop of York John Sentamu, pictured, said a prayer ahead of Britain leaving the EUThe Archbishop of York John Sentamu said a prayer ahead of Britain leaving the EU.

This would be an open welcome plea to reconnect the fractured state of politics in the nation, working alongside other faith leaders.

National Call to Prayer 28th March

On 4th February, we published a Post with details of this National Call to Prayer from Christians in Government – click here.

A reminder to check out their website: nationalcall2prayer.com and check out this short video.

Note the references within the video to prayer during World War II. you might be interested in these accounts we published some while ago of Angels and Miracles during the World Wars – click here.