First things first

Father of glory, we praise you and magnify your holy Name. We dedicate this web-site to you, Father, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we ask you to help us to make it pleasing in your sight, full of love and wisdom and prayers of faith, anointed by your Spirit, and effective in fulfilling the purpose which you have for it. Father, forgive us our sins, strengthen us in our weakness, make us men of valour and humility and godliness. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

The purpose of this web-site is to release a men’s prayer movement, in accordance with the scripture:

Therefore I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands, without wrath or dissension. [1 Timothy 2 v 8 NASV]

(The Greek word for man here is ἀνηρ meaning man specifically, not woman.)

and also with a prophetic word released by Jean Darnall in 1987 (if not before) that the first sign of the great spiritual awakening that is coming to the island of Britain will be a men’s prayer movement:

There are three things that the Lord has asked me to share about this vision everywhere I go: three signs of this awakening. The first is that the Lord is sending a strong call to prayer among men. Early Morning Prayer meetings will start all over the land as men desire to pray, and they will start asking their pastors and leaders, ‘Can we meet together before work and pray?’ In those prayer meetings there will come strong intercession and an increased faith and vision in these men’s souls for the nation. They will not only pray in their own churches, but soon they will start combining together in other churches, with other church groups. And in some places these prayer meetings will grow too big for the building, and they will come out in the open and pray in the parks or in front of town halls.

Wouldn’t that be nice, to have a prayer meeting right out here, of hundreds and hundreds of men lifting their voices in prayer for the nation? And it will be a sign in itself: these prayer meetings will be a witness to the nation, and many people will come to the Lord just by witnessing these prayer meetings, and hearing the prayers of these men.

The call to men to pray is of course not limited to Britain but extends to every place where the gospel has been preached and a church of believers exists. Our first duty as Christians is to make supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings on behalf of all men (including women, the Greek word used here being ἄνθρωπος) that they may be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2 vv 1-4). This duty has been placed upon the men specifically, while the women are instructed to adorn themselves with good works (1 Timothy 2 vv 8-10). We have neglected this our primary calling, and as a result our churches are sliding into lukewarmness and worldliness and carnality, and our nations into secularism and the outright rejection of the gospel. Let us repent of our failure to pray for our people and churches and nations and return to the LORD with fasting and weeping and agonizing intercession for a broken world. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

2 thoughts on “First things first

  1. silver price

    b. That the men: Makes it clear Paul assumed men would take the lead at meetings of the congregation. Since the lifting up of hands was a common posture of prayer in ancient cultures, this text speaks of men leading public prayer – men representing the congregation before God’s throne.

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  2. Andrew Chapman Post author

    Yes, that is certainly one expression of Paul’s injunction to the men to pray, and I am inclined to think that it is good also for the men to meet together separately for times of prayer. Lifting up our hands helps us I think to pour out our whole being before the Lord in supplication and praise and worship and adoration, as we intercede for our cities and nations.

    Andrew

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