Unprecedented momentum of prayer in 2012!Carla Harding - 1 Aug 2011

What's so special about 2012?! That's all I can think as I scratch my head and hear another rumour of prayer planned throughout next year.  God seems to be up to something as cities, networks and nations are planning to pray in extreme ways.  Many are uniting to pray in 24-7 Prayer Rooms, passing the torch of prayer from one place to another creating an unbroken chain.

24-7 Prayer is partnering with Alpha in the United Kingdom and Ireland for a year of prayer, mission and justice.  When the eyes of the world turn to London for the 2012 Olympics, the Church is being invited to pray and reach out to the nations gathering to compete and spectate.  Are you in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern or South Ireland?  Find out more and plan when you're going to pray!

I'm meeting with the lovely guys involved in Alpha this week to talk about how quickly this year of prayer idea is spreading internationally!  Watch this space for 2013 - exciting!

Not to be outdone, Christians in Malaysia are calling the church to a year of 24-7 Prayer for justice. 

Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  

In Malaysia's jubilee year the church is uniting to pray for issues like poverty, peace and the younger generation.  Early drafts of the resources look amazing and I'm very excited about what God will do when His people pray.  We'll tell you more as it develops.

There are other rumours of chains of 24-7 Prayer Rooms filling 2012 in South Africa, Germany and across nations through international organisations but it doesn't stop there.  Others feel prayer is a priority and are calling people to participate in any way they can...

"To celebrate 50 years of ministry to Muslims around the world, Operation Mobilization (OM) is launching a special prayer initiative at the Transform 2011 conference in Rome. Pray4MuslimPeoples is a year-long focus on interceding for Muslims, and for OM teams working among Muslim peoples." Writes Graham Wells.

 

"From Rome, the prayer baton will be passed to Malta, where a Transform prayer team will worship and pray for the people of the Mediterranean for two weeks. Then it will be released to another OM team for a week and repeated until Transform 2012 next July. Each week will feature prayer for one Muslim country and/or people group.

OM began its first Muslim outreach in October 1961 in Turkey. That has multiplied to 1,000 OM workers serving Muslims in about 50 countries today, and it is all because of prayer. OM's calling to minister among Muslims was born in times of focused prayer in the 1950s, led by founder George Verwer while a student at Moody Bible College. Since then, the Lord has been faithful to transform countless Muslim lives through the ministries that grew out of those prayers.

 

You can be part of the next 50 years by joining the Pray4MuslimPeoples initiative. Visit the website and choose a week to partner in prayer. Or follow the Twitter and RSS feeds to pray throughout the year. Challenge your church to join in prayer with you. God is moving in the Muslim world and your prayers are powerful."

Also spanning the nations and starting in 2011, flowing into 2012 is a interesting intiative called Pray52.

"Pray52 is a year of non-stop prayer launching on the 5th September 2011 and culminating on the 2nd September 2012.  Non-stop prayer for the church and by the church for 52 weeks in 52 nations with Christian minorities" Writes Bennie Mostert from Jericho Walls, South Africa.

 

"Every week two nations are encouraged to mobilize all Christians to stand in the gap to pray for their nation, the national Christians, expats, missionaries and mission agencies working in that nation, and churches that are supporting missionaries in that nation. Every nation is encouraged to take 2 weeks of extraordinary, non-stop prayer for their nation, one week every 6 months."

Email the Pray52 team to find out more about the focus for prayer and how you can get involved.

The above is just a snapshot of the vision and intiatives building this year toward 2012.  What will God do with nations drenched in prayer?

This isn't a year to miss out on so what not pray, whereever you are, what ever church, community or network you're part of.  Ask God together, "when in 2012 will we pray?" and register your 24-7 Prayer Room here.