"My city is God's city"
From an initiative in Philadelphia, USA and Transform Our World
"The king proclaims the Lord’s decree: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession." Psalm 2v7-8 NLT
As believers, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. This means that just as God the Father has given Jesus the nations as an inheritance, so too can we ask our same Heavenly Father for the nations. We are in the position to ask our Father. We are in the position to declare truly, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth in the nation of ________, as it is in Heaven.” We ask God, knowing that we are His sons and daughters.
We can pray for nations to know God; pray that they embrace their identities as unique in His sight; pray that evil is retrained and that Kingdom good is released in the different spheres of society. We can pray for strategies. Changing nations can start in our prayer closets.
If we can pray for nations, we can also pray for our towns and cities. Here is a story of an initiative in Philadelphia, USA called, Philadelphia Gospel Movement. Executive Director, Rev. Terry Davis comments:
Philadelphia, with a population of 1.6 million, is known as the City of Brotherly Love. But our beloved city has been crying out for far too long.
We have left control of the spiritual climate in our city in the hands of the devil. This is evident when we look at the entanglement of sin, the hostility and anger, the criminal activity, including gun violence. There's been an increase in mental health problems. And the crushing weight of poverty and hopelessness on our fellow citizens. Our beloved city needs to be transformed.
The reality is that when transformation is taking place in real time, it is the result of the discovery that God passionately cares for people, for neighbourhoods, for the marketplace, and for cities and nations.
What if the Christians in the Philadelphia region began to experience a greater consciousness of God? A true revival of God? And from this consciousness came a kingdom thirst in every Christian to see people coming to Jesus. Just imagine massive numbers coming and also those returning to our King and then transformation.
What if all Christians declared, "I want my city to be God's city."
Can you imagine the rates of violence going down in our city if we all began to own the streets we live on? Christians connecting with other Christians, as little as two to three at a time, praying over and speaking blessing within the neighbourhoods they live in and bringing heaven into every sphere they move in? What if churches came together and contended for the spiritual climate change in the neighbourhood they share? More businesses and individuals with wealth giving to and meeting the needs of the broken communities in our city?
Can you imagine our city coming together and all of God's people owning the streets, owning the neighbourhoods, taking ownership of their spheres and making that declaration that, "I want my city to be God's city."?
Can we bring in revival? Can we see a harvest of people coming to Jesus in our city? Being transformed by the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ. Bringing about healing in the city that we love in the city that He loves?
Do you want your town, your city to be God's? Why not work with other churches in the area to bring transformation through declaration, prayer and blessing?
See also the blogs; Paranaque City transformation, Transformation Rosario Argentina, City-wide prayer evangelism - Sheffield.
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From an initiative in Philadelphia, USA, 13/12/2022