Over Iceland, 16th October 2006,

 

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I'm writing this about 12,000 meters above Reykavic! Phil Togwell and I are on our way home to England from New Zealand where God has been doing amazing things with 24-7 Prayer. Soon we will be reunited with our families, and we can't wait to see them, but our hearts are also full with what we have seen and heard on the other side of the world.

 

I must have one of the more exciting email inboxes in the world: most days I receive such encouraging reports about answered prayer. So as I nibble my bag of pretzels and gaze down at the clouds above Iceland (reflecting on a brilliant time in New Zealand), I thought I'd write and give you a snapshot of the 24-7 movement internationally over the last seven days...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 113 says that from the rising of the sun to its setting, the Lord's name is to be praised. Isaiah 42 anticipates a day when praise will rise from the ends of the earth because of the new thing God is about to do. Well, today we have travelled across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans from the ends of the earth (NZ is about as far as one can be from Jerusalem), over distant Polynesian islands where every calendar day begins, and it is thrilling to have witnessed the new thing that God is doing there and the new song of praise that is rising up.

 

In Wellington, Phil and I were privileged to address a gathering of 1,000 Salvationists who had come together as a result of 24-7 Prayer. The Territory of New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga began praying night and day 20 months ago hoping to continue for a year. But they haven't wanted to stop and are still going now in an unprecedented, unbroken stream of intercession.

 

These twenty months of non-stop prayer culminated this weekend with the singing of the New Zealand National Anthem - a powerful prayer for the nation - sang in the Maori language and accompanied by Conch shells. Three Members of the NZ Parliament were present, including the deputy leader of one of the national parties at a time of great political scandal. Over the weekend it was moving to see men and women flooding forward to respond 'at the mercy seat' again and again.

Looking around at all those faces - political leaders and men with tattoos up their arms - it occurred to me that, when a denomination like the Salvation Army rises up to pray in this way, we may well be witnessing the stirrings of a movement of the Holy Spirit in our time. Prayer is, in itself, an answer to prayer!

 

 

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We had a few spare hours in Auckland yesterday. It wasn't going to be possible to have coffee with everyone who had asked to hook-up during these few hours, so we suggested a small meeting at the YWAM base with our friend Jay Lucas, expecting around 20 people for an informal time of sharing. In fact, when we arrived the room was packed. Those who couldn't get chairs sat on the floor and spilled out into the foyer. More than 70 people had converged (some had driven many hours). After a moving Maori welcome, I spoke and then,  at the end,  an elderly  gentleman  called  Wynn  Fountain,

 

who's been mobilizing prayer in the country for more than SIXTY years, prayed for us. It was a fitting culmination to a thrilling few days.

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Everywhere we went in New Zealand we were surprised to see the impact of the stories told in Red Moon Rising. Major Judith Bennett showed me her own dog-eared copy pointing out the underlined passages she reads aloud to groups up and down the country, often, she said, with tears.

 

But Red Moon Rising was only the beginning. Since I compiled those stories the 24-7 movement has continued to spiral out of control. God is doing a new thing: a new song of praise in ascending from the rising of the sun to its setting.

 

 

For instance, while we've been away in New Zealand, my friend Ian Nicholson has been encouraging the 24-7 team in Ibiza. This summer they have personally prayed for 1200 non-Christians in the place once labelled as Sodom and Gomorrah! I also just received an email from Jaeson Ma describing the way that 24-7 is spreading on campuses in America 'beyond our dreams'. And while in Wellington I finally got round to watching a DVD from our friendsa at the Global Day of Prayer of some 24-7 prayer rooms in South Africa. Wow, those Africans REALLY know how to pray!

 

Meanwhile, in Germany, a community of 19 people (who are training to plant Boiler Rooms in the impoverished north east of Germany) are praying like crazy for the remaining money they need to have heating in their 20 bed school building before winter sets in! Further east, Scott and Misty Bowers have driven their hippy van as far as Macedonia where they will spend the winter encouraging Alec, Alpin (left) and the crew planting a new church for young people in Skopje. Even further east, there are thrilling - and sobering - developments in lands closed to the gospel, about which we cannot talk publicly. Meanwhile, back in England, Phil tells me that 300 people a week are visiting the Strawberry Fields Boiler Room (left) in Liverpool and in London we've been asked to help mobilize a year of mission in and for the British Houses of Parliament!