Prayer Explosion
The following report of the astonishing development in prayer in recent years is an extract from a document produced during the International Prayer Leaders' Consultation held in Cape Town from 12th-17th November 2002:
"Prayer ministries began in a few nations in the 60s and 70s. In 1978, for example, Dennis Clark of Intercessors for Britain invited 30 intercessors from 11 nations to a week of prayer in Jerusalem. The International Fellowship of Intercessors grew out of that week, which later organised the historic International Prayer Assembly for World Evangelisation in Seoul, Korea in 1984.
Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, sees that Assembly as the beginning of the modern global prayer movements. It set a number of ambitious targets, all of which have been reached or even exceeded. The global prayer net mobilised millions of intercessors to petition God for particular challenging situations. The following are some of the most significant answered prayers:
The fall of the Berlin Wall
In 1983, Open Doors called for seven years of prayer for the fall of the Iron Curtain and Communism. Exactly seven years later, in December 1989, bulldozers started demolishing the wall.
Christians in Cambodia
In 1992, the Government allowed Christians more religious freedom. That year, there were only 200 known Christians in the nation; today, there are 400,000.
The miracle of South Africa
The first multi-party elections were held in previously racist South Africa in 1994. Around the world, people prayed that the expected bloodbath would not happen. Three 40-day fasts were held before the elections, which turned out to be the most peaceful democratic elections in Africa - an internationally recognised miracle.
Yugoslavia
Intercessors in Yugoslavia united across denominational lines for five weeks of prayer. At the end of the time of intercession in 1995, the war in neighbouring Bosnia was ended, and the peace accord signed in Dayton and Paris.
(Friday Fax 2002 Issue 47, 29 November).