Lent is very early this year starting on the 11th of February. We have written a Lent resource, designed for Individuals, home groups or whole Church engagement. Each week has a scripture and one neighbour challenge for the week. For those of us who would like to do one small thing each day (Sunday's excluded as a day of rest), there are an additional 33 suggestions for you. There are also 7 prayer themes each week.
For those wanting to dig deeper into scripture, there is a reflection about the scripture and some questions to make you think about how the scripture relates to your neighbourhood.

The whole resource is 20 pages long and costs just £1 per booklet. We are going to print next week. In order for us to know how many to print, please pre-order now. We have asked a church leader for an opinion and he is keen to use it as a basis for a sermon series either this year or next year. We also have already had another ministry order 200 booklets for their ministry contacts to help them engage in Lent. Delivery first week of February. Click here to order.

The Supremacy of Christ is a key foundational issue for us in WPC. Ian Cole spoke passionately about it at both the UK and European Trumpet calls and we declared the Supremacy of Christ together reading from Colossians 1:15 – 20. What is our expectation as we pray? Imagine you are leading an army unit besieged by enemy forces and you have the option of a direct call to the SAS who will immediately send their best troops and resources – alternatively you could send an email to the Ministry of Defence and hope it will eventually reach the right committee. Sometimes we pray as if we need to send that polite memo but the reality of the supremacy of Christ is that we have authority through Jesus to see amazing things happen.

Paul starts Colossians saying he does not cease from praying that they be "filled with all spiritual knowledge and understanding, to lead a life worthy of the Lord." He then outlines his understanding of who Jesus is.

'He is the image of the invisible God' – when we see Jesus we see God, when we understand Jesus we understand the character of God. If we want to be like God we need to become more like Jesus.

'All things were created through Him and for Him' - this is a stark simple theology – He is the God of all things. There is no sacred/secular divide – Jesus is Lord of all.

'He is the head of the body, the church' - Jesus is the brains of the Church, everything is controlled through the head; the body responds to instructions from the head. He has all authority over His Church, we need to let Jesus take that authority.

'For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell' – Jesus is fully divine, and fully God. 30 years after His death Paul asserts that this Rabbi from Nazareth, this man hung on a cross is God Himself. He was so much more than a good man, or moral leader and teacher, He was, and is, God.

Jesus is the Reconciler – He has reconciled 'to Himself, all things'. He heals, redeems, releases, forgives and brings all things together under His authority. He reconciles each of us with Himself – we have relationship with Him. In Colossians 2, Paul goes on to describe the triumphant Jesus who has 'disarmed the principalities and powers'. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers and authorities, but we wrestle knowing that Jesus is victorious. He is the Lord of Hosts, the Victor on the Cross, the one who has defeated death and rules over all things.
So we see Jesus with authority and power over all things. He is the Head of the Church; He has reconciled us to Himself. Then Paul reveals one more key piece in this theological jigsaw – 'Christ is within us, the hope of glory."

Where we go Jesus goes, when we pray Jesus is with us, when we gather together Jesus is in our midst. As we proclaim the Supremacy of Christ – over our lives, homes, workplaces, communities and nation – we declare tremendous truth and we raise our faith.

As Paul says in Philippians, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." In these days of challenge and shaking let us grow in our confidence, not in ourselves but in our awesome Jesus, who is supreme over all things.

Written by Steve Botham, Director

"The only impossible journey is the one you never begin."
We are on a journey. It's full of excitement and hope and, like the Israelites of old, it needs the presence of God all along the way. It's a journey to see change in our lives and the towns and cities where we live. Specifically it's to pray for 40 days and then to invite everyone else to try praying so they can meet the creator God.

Over the next 10 weeks there are three stages to the journey...

In January.
Several places are looking to book advertising. In Scotland there is a target of £80,000 to book bus adverts for ALL Scotland. Some places in England are arranging for bus advertising. During each of the last 5 years money has come mostly from individuals andchurches rather than trusts. If your city/town is interested to join in this aspect contact us immediately to see if we can make a combined booking.  We would love a few large gifts, matching gifts or underwriting to help this. The figure for Scotland means that £120 buys one hour of advertising across ALL Scotland and £3000 buys a whole day.

In February.
Launching a 40 day prayer initiative from Wednesday 10th February (for Lent). With 100s (1000s?) of people praying for their big issue, for revival and for three friends to become Christians this may be the power-house of what happens this year. We hope for simultaneous prayer gatherings in several cities. We have a new 40 day prayer guide to help this called 'Catching the Wave'. Order copies for yourself, your house group or your church.

In March.
Click the image below for video. 1000 churches engaged with the 'Use it and lose it' strategy. The idea of using the trypraying booklet in this way is a simple and straightforward strategy that any church can use. We just need to start conversations. Is your church one of those that will join in? Join in.

Visit the trypraying website.

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 3:16pm, to say, pray, and share John 3:16, just one minute out of our busy day, simultaneously around the world.

There's nothing "magic" about this day or time, it's just easy to remember and realize that we are one in Christ.

The main idea is to communicate God's word back to God. If you saw the movie "War Room" you'll remember that quoting scripture is an effective part of prayer. So it's not really all about social media, it's about corporate prayer...social media is just a tool to post some of your awesome ideas, stories, photos, and video.

The mission

Tell your family, friends, youth group, life group, Bible study, missions, about sharing the love of John 3:16. #the316mission

Inspiration

Encourage one another with photos, video, and stories. How has God used John 3:16 in your life? Share the love! Stories, photos, video! :)

Visit the website and share your video.

Following the World Prayer Assembly held in Indonesia in 2012, Jerome and Abel Ocampo, a Pastor in Manilla who also heads up the Jesus Rev movement in the Philippines, supported by the International Prayer Council (IPC), felt that a call should go out to gather young people from around the world in Korea in 2016 to carry the baton of prayer and mission into their generation and generations to come.

Over recent months a youth dream team and an executive team of which Ian and Pauline Cole are members, have met together with leaders from Korea to talk and pray through the practical, logistical and spiritual requirements for such a gathering which will be held over four days 26-30 July with the final day being a worship event on the North Korean border.

This communication has a twofold purpose.

• Firstly for you to consider attending the UPRISING with young people you know who would grow and be inspired by such a global gathering, and

• Secondly if you are not able to attend, to recommend a young person who could represent your ministry. We are expecting upwards of 2500 young people to attend from many nations. We would love to see a good delegation from the UK and would be happy to appoint a UK coordinator.

For more information go to the United Prayer Rising web site where Pastor Jerome goes into the challenges facing our young people today and the opportunities the UPRISING presents.

Registration is now open, go to www.unitedprayerrising.com
The cost is $80 (US) per person until February, rising to $100 thereafter.

A movement of prophetic prayer for healing of the past, honour in the present and hope for the future.

2016 is a year of centenaries - the Battle of the Somme and the Easter Rising. In this moment, we are inviting Christians to unite and prayerfully engage in our nation's story - to grasp this unique pastoral and prophetic opportunity. From the 6th February to the 15th May, we hope to bring together individuals and churches over 100 days of continuous prayer for our nation. We would love you to be a part of this 100 days of prayer for 100 years of history, by hosting a prayer room in your church as part of the 100 days of continuous prayer or downloading the devotional app and praying along each day. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for updates!

Find out more information at www.100days100years.com.

A reliable source has asked us to pray for the situation in Burundi.

Burundi, a small country in the heart of Africa, the second poorest country in the world with a population of just over 10.5 million people is facing a very dangerous time. In the last civil war in the 1990s 300,000 people died. In the region over the last 22 years between 800,000 and 1 million people died in neighbouring Rwanda and a further 5.4 million in the Congo (formerly Zaire). In Burundi bodies are now being found on the streets of the capital Bujumbura and other areas nearly every day. Political violence is increasing and could turn inter-ethnic. Language being used is chillingly similar to the language in Rwanda prior to the 1994 Genocide of the Tutsis. There are already over 300,000 refugees in countries surrounding Burundi, and if the violence doesn't stop there is the potential to destabilise the region. Please pray for an end to the violence, for peace and reconciliation and a just solution to the internal difficulties.

A Prayer for Burundi

For the beautiful but poor country of Burundi, we pray dear Lord.
For the population living in fear and dread, afraid of the unknown and the uncertain, we ask for peace.
For those fleeing whether in Burundi or abroad, we pray for safety, freedom from disease and famine and the security that they may return home.
For those seeking the way of violence that they would stop and seek resolution through non-violence.
For the surrounding countries that they may remain at peace, act justly and broker reconciliation.
Enable an end to violence so that Burundi may become a beacon of hope rather than a place of fear and death.
We ask these things in the name of Him who carried all our human failings on the cross, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Throughout 2015 we often invited you to join us as we concentrated our praying into the Middle East. We trust you will agree that concentration needs to be intensified as we go into the New Year. Every day our media is reporting from the area on political upheaval, millions of displaced people, acts of terrorism, a generation of children and young people with no hope, and nation fighting nation.

In the first days of this year we see the breakdown in contact between Saudi Arabia and Iran; Riyadh and Tehran vying for religious and political influence in the region. This breakdown has serious consequences for the two countries as Shia and Sunni battle for supremacy. The consequences for the whole region especially Syria and Yemen are equally serious and of course sitting in the middle of all this waring is Israel. A destabilised Middle East will increasingly have global spiritual, political, social and economic repercussions.

At the same time we are receiving reports of increasing numbers of people in that region becoming followers of Jesus. Even in the face of severe persecution, both Sunni and Shia men and women of all age groups, often through dreams and visions, are willingly risking everything to follow the One who they met in their dreams.

So today we renew the call to pray for the Middle East and here are some suggestions for prayer for you, your prayer group and your church.

• We declare the sovereignty of Christ over the whole region.
• We declare God's love for every Middle East country and every person in those countries, including those who govern each nation.
• We pray for courage and wisdom for every Christian.
• We pray for God's mercy on the children and young people.
• We pray for every agency endeavouring to bring comfort, food and shelter to those in need.
• We pray for every peace maker.
• We bless those who persecute and pray they too will find Jesus the Prince of Peace.
• We pray, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done across the Middle East in 2016".

God is issuing a new call to pray in 2016. He is mobilising people across the generations and denominations; He is stirring a passion to pray for our communities, workplaces, towns and nations. The World Prayer Centre's national prayer conference, 7-9 March 2016, supports that mobilising call – it will be a time to review, refresh and revive your prayer calling. You may be an experienced prayer person, others will be new to prayer, others have a passion for evangelism, their community, for the weak or the vulnerable and see that prayer is needed if real change is to happen. We believe we are entering a period of harvest and intense spiritual warfare. It is also a time of acceleration – changes are happening at a rate that takes our breath away.

We are delighted to have Malcolm Duncan as our main speaker. He will focus on the role and calling of the watchmen in these changing times. Malcolm combines a deep biblical and theological understanding with a passion for God's Spirit and a watchmen's understanding of what is happening nationally. We will also be providing prayer briefings for the UK and internationally. Our prayer conference is evolving. This year, people will have the opportunity to attend a specialist workshop on subjects like praying blessing, prayer and prophecy, and being a watchman.

This is not just a teaching conference. We want everyone to be inspired by testimony of the tremendous things God is doing across the globe. We will worship, spending time in God's presence, praising and honouring him. We will pray – this conference has the authority to pray into national and international situations – to protect and bless, to release and bind. We will chat, exchange stories and leave inspired by God for the challenges ahead.

If you know anyone you think who would benefit from the conference, invite them to come. Help us to spread the word by sharing our posts, forwarding our newsletters and why not bring a friend!

Register for the conference and find out more details.

In December we issued a specific call to pray protection on our nation. We had heard from a credible source that there were a series of five terrorist attacks scheduled to hit five key English cities just before Christmas. We were keen to stress that the call to prayer was not simply because of the prophetic word but also because as watchmen we felt the nation was particularly vulnerable to terrorist attack over the entire Christmas and New Year period. Thankfully there were no attacks.

Was that due to our prayer or because nothing was ever going to happen? We can't say. What we do know is that we need to continue to be vigilant. ISIS is targeting the UK and has supporters in many of our cities and towns.

Isaiah 62 says "Upon your walls O Jerusalem I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent." Jesus says "What I say to you I say to everyone – WATCH" Mark 13: 37. So we encourage everyone to watch, to never be silent and to keep on praying. This is more than about terrorism. We are praying for SAFE HOMES - where children and families are protected, SAFE PLACES – for our schools, universities, churches to be protected, and SAFE CITIES – and towns and regions to be protected from attack, crime, despair. Out of this protection we can then pray blessing – for BLESSED HOMES, PLACES AND CITIES. 2016 is a year of prayer, a year of becoming more reliant on Jesus.