A Call to 24-7 Prayer for EuropeLyndall Bywater - 17 Mar 2010
"Dry bones hear the word of the Lord…I will put my Spirit in you and you will live and I will settle you in your land." (Ezekiel 37)
Twenty years ago, Pete Greig stood on Cape St Vincent praying towards Europe, envisioning ‘a faceless army of young people in every nation awaiting orders’
Ten years ago a continuous prayer movement exploded among young people, and spread like ‘wildfire’ across Europe through years of prayer, mission teams to dark places, and Boiler Rooms of intense prayer and mission.
Last year 200 of us gathered in Amsterdam from 16 European nations and God spoke! Now is the time for a new day for Europe, and we start on our knees in the place of prayer. If the presence of the Lord is not with us then we can do nothing.
Europe is the prodigal continent!
In just a few short generations we have squandered our God-given heritage. However, we may have left the Father, but He has not left us. Within 24-7 Prayer we firmly believe that this is a ‘kairos’ moment of opportunity for Europe. The Father is calling us to ‘rekindle the romance’ and return to His embrace in the place of prayer. He is also calling us to ‘recover the ground’ through Spirit energised action. God does not inspire so much prayer for fun. He is raising up an army that will follow the Holy Spirit wherever He leads us.
Dare we dream of fresh waves of mission and church planting?
Dare we pray for the raising up of workers to establish ‘colonies of heaven’ in the darkest, unreached places?
Dare we imagine an expression of church for every culture, tribe and tongue in Europe.
The vision is simple - a worldwide season of 24-7 Prayer for Europe. Urgently and unashamedly we want to call people around the world to pray for the prodigal continent – we need your help.
If you are a European Christian, whether in Greece, Russia, Spain, Iceland or anywhere in between, we want to ask you to give some time each week to pray for your continent. If you are elsewhere, like the first Macedonians, we want to urgently call you to ‘come over and help us’ in prayer. We want to call the hundreds and thousands but also the two’s and three’s and lone pray-ers to join us – everyone can play their part. We need your help.
The vision is an army of love, power and humility which exists to see a continent return to the Father’s love. The dream is that the glory of the latter ‘house’ in Europe will eclipse anything we have seen so far. The starting place is on our knees – please join us in praying 24-7 for Europe.
When?
Friday 26th March 2010 – Sunday 26th September 2010
Where?
Wherever you are …wherever in the world … you can take part!
How?
Start out at the web site:
http://www.24-7prayer.com/signup/europe
(A new European website to support the season of Prayer will be launched shortly)
Then do any or all of the following:
- Sign up to receive our inspiring and informative weekly emails, to help fire up your prayers for Europe.
- Sign up to pray! You can register as a Prayer Room, a church, a prayer group or just as yourself. You can pray once, you can pray once a week or you can pray once a day throughout the 6 months …however little or however much, Europe needs your prayers.
- Check out the resources section on the site to get info on every country in Europe, as well as some of 24-7 Prayer's excellent resources on how to pray creatively.
- Tune in to the voices of 21st-century saints with a heart for Europe. What are they saying about why we need to pray right now?
- … and then tell us what you can see God doing in this prodigal continent. Encourage us with your stories and challenge us with your dreams.
“Stand with us wherever you are in the world and lets pray together. Let’s pray for revival, lets pray for God to move in Europe, lets pray for God to get hold of hearts, lets pray for new leaders to be raised up in every field of society. We have an opportunity, let's gather together and seize it!” Pete Greig, 24-7 International