One VoiceJo Herbert - 15 Feb 2011
‘I call you to find those who will marry social justice with prayer…’ Cyndi Jacobs to 24-7 Prayer June 2008.
The summer of 2008 was one of increasing personal unrest. I had given 3 years of my life to learning and understanding how I, a privileged citizen living in the UK could make a real difference to the injustice that existed both on my doorstep and around the world. I had learnt a lot about how to act, what things to buy (and not buy), how to campaign, how to reduce my carbon footprint. Yet this wasn’t enough, I knew there was something more.
One night as I prayed for ‘the more’ (whatever that was) and for a generation to put their faith into action. In the quiet, I felt God reflect this question back to me back to me:
‘How will a generation be impacted?’
The answer was obvious; A generation will be impacted when it connects with the heart of God. When God had shown me a glimpse of his heart for the poor, it had ruined me, I was never the same. We need his heart to be changed, and we find his heart as we pray.
Days later I was at the 24-7 Prayer ‘Home’ international gathering in Southampton, UK, knowing that I needed to connect, I needed to learn how to pray more. And it was there that a prophetic word was shared.
‘I call you to find those who will marry social justice with prayer…I’m going to give you property, I am going to give you increase. Not only for the congregation, but for the poor. I am going to open a unique arm of this ministry that is a different place than you’ve known; it’s going to be a mantle of social justice.’
Cyndi Jacobs’s word to Pete Greig, 20th June ‘08, Phoenix, Arizona
‘I call you to find those who will marry social justice with prayer…’ I knew I was one of those!
Prayer, Mission and Justice have always been the core values of 24-7 Prayer. We know so many examples of where mission and justice have naturally overflowed from Prayer Rooms to the streets, we have heard inspiring stories of Prayer and Justice from Reynosa Mexico and Ibiza, Spain (If you haven't already you really should watch the excellent short films created a few years ago) but as Cindy’s word suggested, there was more to the marriage of Prayer and Justice ahead.
So we partnered with our friends at Tearfund in a prayer week called One Voice to call the global church to pray. A week where literally thousands come together with One Voice, to pray to One God for justice.
This is about making space to connect with God’s heart, to ask him to let us see what he see’s and to allow him to break our hearts for the things that break his. After leaving a prayer room during one of these weeks, someone wrote:
‘[I] was so amazed by the prayer room last night – it was just an awesome space, and a total wake up call for me personally. There's so much injustice everywhere ! what am I, …doing to help ? the answer was nothing.
..I’m going to…get a team together for the marathon so that some people in Uganda can actually have clean water and a toilet. Its just mind blowing and I was ignorant to it all.
Honestly, I didn’t do a huge amount of praying because I was beyond humbled at the problems going on, but it was like God just switched on this wee light and said do something.!’
One Voice prayer week 2011 starts on Sun Feb 27th through to Sun 6th Mar, there are stacks of resources including, a daily guide, prayer pod ideas and more. Will you take some time, use the resource if they are helpful (translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian) during that week and ask God to show you more of his heart and ask him how he wants you to respond? You can also register your prayer room and connect with others who are praying during the week.
There will always be something more, as we get closer to the heart of God in prayer we begin to comprehend his heart for the poor, the broken, the marginilsed (the widow and the orphan). And we will dare to see the magnitude of the injustice both on our doorsteps and around the world. There will always be something more but that far from paralysing us it should inspire and draw us as we follow Jesus and try to become more like him.