My first ever published book was prayers. I started writing it when I was sixteen or seventeen and it went out into the wild as a proper book when I was 18. I didn't start it as a book. That was never the intention. All that happened was that I read David Kossoff's book, You got a minute, Lord?, and had a go at writing my own stuff down. That was it.
I've never found prayer easy. Still, don't. I've tried setting specific times aside, but end up finding I'm doing other things instead. I've tried quiet times, reading other prayer books, taking walks, writing more prayer books and have come to the conclusion that perhaps it's not a case of trying to find 'something that works' but more 'doing what fits best when'.
Obviously, I'm dogged by the same questions as everyone else: why pray? Does it work? How do you know? Is anyone listening? How can it work anyway if millions of folk are all praying at the same time about different things? And I don't really have answers to any of those questions. Except that I'm convinced when I look back through my life, that prayer, and however or whenever I've done, is a vital part of everything I've experienced and all that I've become.
Thy Kingdom Come is a prayer movement which started in 2016 as an invitation from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Church of England. It is now, just two years later, an international and ecumenical call to prayer. Christians all around the world are asked to pray between Ascension and Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus Christ.
Knowing Jesus Christ can mean many different things. It doesn't necessarily mean a million road to Damascus experiences or it's been a failure. Meeting Jesus is a hundred and one different things and more. It's everything from a helping hand and an understanding ear to something life-changing. Perhaps it is simply the smallest of seeds sown all over the world which over time eventually grow into personal revelations about what and who Jesus is. Regardless, it strikes me that there is power behind millions of people getting together in prayer in the hope of, as Archbishop Justin Welby says, '... playing our part in the renewal of the nations and the transformation of communities.' And that's something I want to be a part of. What about you?
Written by Dave Gatward For more information about Thy Kingdom Come, check out the website: www.thykingdomcome.global