More travels

Last Saturday I spent in Birmingham in the heart of England, gathered with about 2000 other Christians to pray for our nation. It was a very blessed day with great worship and lament for these islands. One quote that stayed with me, when talking about the gospel being more than meetings was '2000 years ago the Word became flesh and we've spent 2000 years trying to turn it back to words.' As Martin Luther said 'a heart curved in upon itself is sin.'

After the gathering was ended I continued north to stay overnight with a friend - Sally Ann. She had been asked to take a prayer team to Newcastle and as I was born and brought up in the area, she asked me to join her, along with Val, a scottish woman who is currently living in the Midlands. So Sunday morning we travelled further north.

We spent the next three days in meetings and prayer-walking. It has been said that Newcastle has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe and people travel from long distances for one-night stands. We learned of sex slaves who have been smuggled in from eastern Europe and saw a building that exhibits pornographic and obscene art. It is considered to be a city in renewal with many building projects but we discovered statues of gods along the riverbank. Paul's words were continually with us as we prayed - 'Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.' (Ephesians 6:12)

I know that meeting together as a Body to worship and encourage each other is important but when you see things like that, you realise that the majority of people are not going to come to church looking for God. We have to take the gospel to them. Yet so often we spend a much greater percentage of our time doing things connected with the activities of the organised gathering than seeking and praying for the lost. These prayer teams give me a glimpse of God's heart and a determination to not make an idol of the organised church set-up and all that goes with it. Going to church on Sunday is not the culmination of my Christian life. Prayer walking softens the ground for the seed of His word to take root and grow and I hope He gives me many more years of travelling and praying and walking the land for His Kingdom's sake.