I thank Christen Forster for this post on his Blog about the initial outcome of the special listening-prayer meeting, to which my previous post referred:
“On June 12th 2012 more than eighty Christian leaders from throughout the UK gathered in St Mary’s Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster alongside Parliamentarians for an hour of listening to God in silence. Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics and Christian leaders from a wide cross-section of ministries were present. Two hours of feedback where then held in Committee Room 16 and written submissions made to the organisers. [For more details click here.]
“Below is the initial summary issued by the Organising group, a coalition of ministries under the banner “Together for the Nation” chaired by Maranatha Prayer Community. A full transcript will be available on request. [See Christen’s blog for more information, as well as my notes below.]
“Many of those who attended have said it was a very special time for them. Apparently this is the first time a group has gathered in Parliament just to listen to God with no other agenda. The summary contains a very sobering and challenging message. We are told to weigh prophecy, because while we see in part and prophesy in part, the seed of God’s “now” word are too valuable to miss.
“Don’t treat prophecy lightly, test it all; hold on to what is good and hold back from what seems bad.” 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22
“So, please read the summary below and where it seems good let it shape and inform your praying and ignore what doesn’t seem right to you.
“It is probably worth observing that like most prophecies to whole nations, it is quite broad – after all, it needs to frame the prayers of a million and more potential hearers and intercessors. So look for your own guidance within the framework it sets out.
If you accept this message, it demands an urgent response involving practical preparation and action. As one attendee wrote: “God is looking for people of skilful hands and integrity of heart who will listen to Him”.
“A theme only hinted at in the list above (see point 4) that struck a particular resonance with me was the call to the church, for reformers and builders to be released and to step up. We need to prepare for what is coming down, but Jesus is a builder, he clears the way not for destruction’s sake but to make space for the new.”
Notes:
My previous post referred to the forum at which Christen presented a detailed summary of the meeting. If you’d like to listen to those sessions their recordings are available free of charge here. Christen stressed the importance of recalling and honouring our very ancient Christian foundations, which I’d already had occasion to do in my earlier post Landmark Parliamentary Inquiry and provided a link to a fascinating historical item.
Christen also reported that the group had recognised that institutions and people had broken past covenants with the Lord (presumably not just our reneging against the one with Israel) – “A tree doesn’t stand without good roots and severe storms are coming!”
Since 1993 the Marantha Community has been committed to speaking out to challenge the steady and deliberate removal of Christian values from our society. The Community believes that if the people of God speak with one voice, the voice of God will be heard in the land. Over recent years they have researched prophetic words given to the wider Church and found that common themes emerged, from which collated messages have been compiled – click for their Prophecy page and One Voice Messages.
[Houses of Parliament by Vichaya Kiatying-Angulsee, courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net]


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