One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished praying, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples to pray.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, holy is your name, your kingdom come…..’ (Luke 11 v1-2)  I wonder which one of the disciples were so impacted by John the Baptist and Jesus’ passion for God and love-life of prayer that they were immediately inspired to take the lead on behalf of the disciples and ask, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’

I wonder what might happen if from now, through to Easter and beyond perhaps, we put all our books on prayer to one side for a time and continually came back to Jesus each day like little children with, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Imagine what God might do in response. Imagine what sudden surprises we might experience in our communities. Imagine. When was the last time you were surprised by the love of Jesus? I mean the kind of moment when we are truly taken-aback with childlike faith, worship, awe and wonder – left speechless by the God of the universe. Has it been a long time?

I recently gathered with a small group of friends in a barn set in the glorious southeast coast of England to pray and hear what God’s Spirit might be whispering to us at this time for our region of the Southdowns. Akin to our ancient friends in the Book of Acts we worshipped and prayed together as friends and co-conspirators, calling for ‘Kingdom Come.’ We cried out for 24-7Prayer to spread like wildfire across our area so that; people who do not know Jesus would find him, the church, the authentic new ‘Body of Christ’ would truly awake and become all God dreams it would be where we live and that our society would be transformed at every level and in every sphere. As the Psalmist encourages, we prayed that God would give us the desires of our heart for our area – which in time we can discover as the very hopes, dreams and desires of God himself (Psalm 37v4)

As we gathered, a wonderful godly church leader who has lived in our locality for over 60 years said something that captured my attention and sparked fresh imagination. Rodney has travelled to countless places, especially across China in recent decades and spent time with inspirational people like Jackie Pullinger and seen amazing healings, miracles and quite extraordinary answers to prayer – he has even met people who have prayed for people who have died from sickness and seen God bring them back to life!

“In the 64 years I have lived here”, Rodney began, “I have never known such an exciting time as this in region of West Sussex. I have never seen so many villages that have leaders and church communities experiencing such fresh signs of kingdom life. I expect to see this in some towns and certain cities, but not in lots of remote villages. God is positioning people across our area and there are many signs of true life.”

God is on the move in our region and a clear sign of this, as with moves of God throughout history, is that God is calling his people to perpetual prayer. 24-7prayer has become a significant part of this and as people are meeting afresh with God, church communities in our area are being awakened with a renewed passion for intimacy and involvement; love for God and a desire to see society transformed. At times on this journey 24-7Prayer has provided amazing opportunities for us to find God across borders into unexpected places.

During one period of 24-7Prayer we had in the last year or so, around 1am we had two guys from our local community knock on the prayer room door and ask if they could come in and pray. They are part of a well-known local traveller-family and we had never seen them at any of our church meetings. They walked straight to the front of the church and one of them began to weep. He continued to cry for nearly half-an-hour, whilst his friend sat next to him read reading the Bible.

Afterwards, as he asked for a cigarette (to which we offered him hot chocolate instead), he said that he had not been able to grieve for the loss of a close relative who had died several months earlier and that he had never cried since the age of 12. As soon as he stepped into the prayer room to pray, he found himself able to freely cry and find the comfort he had been searching for. Wow! This is why we do what we do. It felt like God was saying to us that when we pray and lean on his power this is what He can do. So true. Imagine.

Some people (including a senior area manager for a major high-street bank), met with God so wonderfully in the middle of the night that they stayed on after another hour because they loved it so much and wanted to spend more time with Jesus. A good number have done the same during our seasons of 24-7Prayer and many have continually commented that the speed at the which an hour of prayer passes and the richness of the presence of God leaves them amazed and surprised.

After the disciple asked Jesus to teach them to pray in Luke 11 he tells a story. It is the parable of the friend in need of food who cannot provide hospitality for someone who has just arrived at his house, so he goes to wake up a friend and disturb their deep REM sleep in the middle of the night pleading for help. It’s a fascinating insight into life and prayer. The man who has been asleep replies to his friend, “Don’t bother me. The door is locked and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.” Jesus goes on to say that although they are friends it is because of the friend’s perseverance that the door is opened and he is given the urgent help he needs. This directly follows the Disciple’s Prayer and is at the heart of his teaching on a life of prayer.

What do you hear God’s Spirit whispering to you in this story? Create some space this week to allow this to speak into your life and that of your community. Have the God-seeds of life and prayer been steadily chocked by weeds; worries, the deceitfulness of money and the desire for other things, making our lives unfruitful? (Mark 4 v 19) Has our first-love for Jesus over the long years withered into dryness and deadness through the slow cutting off of life? Are we sleepwalking and living on auto-pilot? Are we awake, alert and persevering in love, mission, justice and prayer?

I heard a friend say recently, “I love all the fantastic initiatives helping to make a difference and transform society that we as God’s people are involved in locally, nationally and globally. However, let’s not become a bunch of liberals who so spend our lives trying to save the planet that we end up losing our own souls. Our relationship with God is where it all began and anything that blocks that is where it will all end.” Wise advice to build a life on.

Here are some quotes from our latest time of 24-7Prayer recently:

“24-7Prayer surprised me and completely surpassed all my expectations. When is it happening again?!”

“I so enjoyed the opportunity to be with Jesus – it has been too long.”

“I simply wept for the whole hour.”

“24-7prayer has laid the foundations for a wonderful work of God in our community.”

“I find it so hard to find time with the Lord. 24-7Prayer provides that time and space; thank you!”

“What an experience! I wish I could be so close to Jesus like this all the time!”

Jesus teaching on prayer ends in Luke 11 with these words of truth, “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.” (Luke 11).  It is actually better translated as ‘ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking’ – always pray and never give up. Persevere. Kingdom Come. Heaven on earth. God-life breathing through us and breaking out on our part of the planet. Let’s keep loving God and each other. Let’s keep following Him wherever he takes us, persevering in peace, faithfulness, prayerfulness, mercy, mission and justice. Let’s remain in Him, remain in prayer and remain in love.

“We cannot find Him unless we know we need Him.” Thomas Merton