11th January, 2007

DAVID ADAMS

As much of Australia continues to suffer the worst drought on record, the Australian prayer movement has called for Christians across Australia to take part in a “national solemn assembly” to be held in Canberra late this year.

The assembly, which will be held in over the weekend of 9th to 11th of March in Canberra, is being organised by the Australian Prayer Network on behalf of a number of national prayer networks in Australia - including the Children’s Prayer Network, the Indigenous Prayer Network, the Parliamentary Prayer Network, Rise Up Australia and The Cause Australia.

PICTURE: Adrian Lynch (www.sxc.hu)   “We believe that as we humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wicked ways that He will hear our cry, forgive our sin and heal our land through the breaking of the drought,” says Brian Pickering.

Brian Pickering, the Australian Prayer Network’s national co-ordinator, says the purpose of the assembly is to gather Christians for a time of “deep repentance and to ask for (God’s) forgiveness for our errant ways and to seek His help for the future”.

“We are not undertaking this exercise primarily to see a result,” he says.

Rather, Pickering says the assembly is being held as “an act of obedience” in response to the feedback they received following the 40 days of prayer about why there is such severe drought over much of the nation.

“We do believe, however, that as we humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wicked ways that He will hear our cry, forgive our sin and heal our land through the breaking of the drought,” he says.

“We do not seek to put a timeframe on that, however, but simply rely on His grace, mercy and compassion as to when that occurs.”

News of the assembly comes after the Australian Prayer Network called for people to participate in 40 days of prayer in a time of drought late last year.

While the network has previously held a 40 day period of prayer for the drought in 2005, those behind the call said the 40 days was not so much to pray for the drought to end but to seek God as to whether there were any spiritual reasons which had led to the drought.

Following the conclusion of the designated 40 days of prayer at the end of November, the Australian Prayer Network has received around 400 responses from people around Australia and from these, compiled a list of the seven most quoted Scriptures.

All located in the Old Testament, they include II Chronicles 7:13-15, Psalm 68: 6-10, the full chapter of Isaiah 58, Jeremiah 3:2-5, Micah 6: 8, Haggai 1:2-14 and Malachi 4:1-6.

While Pickering says that verses such as the passage in II Chronicles were expected, others such as the Haggai passage had come as a surprise.

Alongside the Scriptures, organisers of the 40 days of prayer also compiled a list of the “the major sins that were grieving the heart of God” based on the feedback they received. These included a lack of intimacy with God, idolatry, sexual immorality, the shedding of innocent blood, broken covenants and injustice.

In a statement released following the 40 Days of Prayer, the Australian Prayer Network said that there was an “overwhelming expression that God was not interested in our words of repentance unless our hearts were also changed, evidenced by a measurable turning back to a more intimate and obedient walk with God”.

“There was also a strong expression that we should not just pray for rain, but to expect rain will come as a result of our lives being reconciled with God’s purposes for us as His people and nation.”

Pickering says that while the prayer movement in Australia often supports each others initiatives, to the best of his knowledge it’s the first time the networks have come together as one for a national assembly.

While the prayer networks are calling on church representatives to attend the assembly - which will be held at Canberra's Exhibition Park, they are also asking people to participate through their own churches by joining with other churches in their local area in prayer and bringing the themes of repentance and forgiveness into their services on the weekend.

~ www.ausprayernet.org.au

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